The latest figures from the Ministry of Justice show that vehicle theft is still a major issue for car owners – and insurers. According to news reports, vehicle theft increased by nearly 50% in 2023 with 19,000 more reported instances than the previous year.
“Probably the biggest thing for us is it’s definitely spiked in the last few years,” said Beau Paparoa (pictured above), head of motor claims for AA Insurance.
However, Auckland-based Paparoa, who has 20 years of industry experience, said more recent figures show that the rate of increase is starting to come down.
“Interestingly, over the last 12 months we’ve seen that taper off and we’ve seen a slight reduction,” he said. “It’s hard to say why, but we’ve noticed about a 6% decrease from that spike that we saw in 2023.”
Nonetheless, car theft is still a big concern. Paparoa said many cases of vehicle theft can be linked to opportunistic behaviour.
He said some of the immediate causes of this behaviour could be visible items of value inside the car or the stolen vehicle having less security features than others.
In the past, ram raids on parked cars, he said, were one of the dominant methods used to steal them. He said that method was starting to fade in popularity but recently those numbers have gone up again.
“The other thing we see is there’s a fair bit of joy riding and people just stealing vehicles to get from point A to point B,” said Paparoa.
The AA Insurance claims data also shows that car thefts are skewed towards vehicles parked on roads and in poorly lit areas. Cars parked in driveways or garages are less often a target.
“The types of vehicles that we’re monitoring are those vehicles that are a little bit older and at the lower end of the value chain so they may not come with the security features that can be standard in other cars,” said Paparoa.
He said they’ve put out information about the vehicles that tend to be targeted so people can take measures that might help prevent the thefts.
“Probably car manufacturers don’t necessarily want to talk about what [models] those vehicles are but we’ve put the information out just to raise awareness that there are some vehicles that are more at risk,” said Paparoa.
He said the Toyota Aqua, Mazda Demio and Nissan Tiida are some of the models that tend to feature in the car theft claims stats. However, he hastened to add that as more affordable cars these play an important role in the car market.
“They don’t have built in mobilizers,” he said.
In order to deter the criminals, AA Insurance is urging people to keep valuables out of their cars and park in well-lit areas. If they can’t afford immobilisers, Paparoa said steering locks are an alternative option.
However, despite the somewhat dramatic number of stolen cars, Paparoa said the vast majority of claims AA Insurance deals with concern prangs and collisions.
Despite that, stolen car claims are very expensive.
“There’s a difference between replacing a bumper and replacing a whole vehicle,” said Paparoa.
The claims head said these claims also create “a whole lot of discomfort” for customers because of their intrusive nature.
“It’s also really upending in terms of trying to figure out what to do once you don’t have a car,” he said.
Earlier this year, the general insurer AMI, revealed that the Toyota Aqua was the most stolen car in the country for the second year in a row.
According to the insurer’s data, there were nearly 17,000 vehicle theft claims during 2023. That year was the second highest year for vehicle theft in five years.
Figures from that insurer show that, compared to other regions, the Auckland area tends to report more cases of vehicle theft. Despite high instances of theft, AMI said recovery rates also remain high - often more than nine out of 10 vehicles are recovered.
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