The scourge of car theft has increased the bill by more than $100 on average for Quebecers

OTTAWA | The scourge of car theft has consequences not only on the victims, but on all motorists since automobile insurance premiums in Quebec jumped by an average of $105 last year.

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This data, still unknown to the public, was revealed by the CEO of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Celyeste Power, during the summit on vehicle theft held in Ottawa yesterday.

The meeting brought together several federal and provincial ministers, representatives of the automobile and insurance industries as well as several police forces.

Other increases to come

The explosion in premiums is not over: they could continue to rise if the flight trend continues at its current pace, insisted Ian Jack, vice-president of public affairs at CAA.

For example, Ontario motorists saw their auto insurance premium increase by an average of $130 last year.

• Listen to the interview with Louis Cyr, insurance broker on Alexandre Dubé’s show via QUB radio:

Present on site, the general director of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Johanne Beausoleil, affirmed that the theft of vehicles on Quebec soil represented in 2023 “more than three times more cases” than in 2019. The most affected are those of Montreal, Montérégie, Laval, Laurentides, Lanaudière and Outaouais.

“Vehicle thefts are increasing at an alarming rate and are accompanied by a level of violence never seen in Canada,” worried the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Michael Duheme. They undermine the safety and well-being of communities across the country.”

Insurers adapt

The problem is such that the models most coveted by thieves have become “almost impossible to insure,” according to Guillaume Lamy, Intact vice-president for personal insurance.

The latter revealed some new practices adopted by the industry to deal with the problem, the impact of which has “tripled” in the last three years.

Like other companies, Intact now offers, at a discount or completely free, tracking systems that can be installed after purchase at the dealership, a solution that has proven to be “very effective in preventing theft.”

The window stickers that come with this technology help deter some more fearful thieves and, “when a vehicle with a tracking system is stolen, our recovery rate is almost 100 percent,” he noted.

Chiselling (anti-theft marking) also makes it easier to identify and recover stolen vehicles, noted Mr. Lamy.

Together, these two practices are now strongly suggested to insurers’ customers, to the point where more advantageous rates are now offered to them if they accept their adoption.

AUTO THEFT IN FIGURES

90,000
The number of vehicles stolen each year in Canada, including 15,000 in Quebec and 12,000 in Montreal.

57.9%
Thefts jumped by 57.9% in Quebec between 2021 and 2023, according to the organization fighting insurance fraud, Équité Association. In Ontario, the increase is 48.2%.

$1 billion
$1 billion in economic losses, including $542 million in annual costs for insurers.

17
This is the number of minutes that passed between each car theft in Ontario in 2023. From 2020 to 2023, the province saw a 78% increase in thefts, the vast majority of which transited through the Port of Montreal.

1800
In 2018, the Canada Border Services Agency seized 463 stolen vehicles, increasing to more than 1,800 in 2023. The agency’s efforts have seen the number of seizures increase by 290% over the past five years.

A PAID CRIMINAL MARKET

More and more criminals are getting involved in the high-paying economy of car theft, from the person responsible for spotting it to the final sale overseas.

Spotting and theft are often carried out by younger people, attracted by profit. A single stolen vehicle can earn up to $20,000 for the person committing the crime, often a young person at the bottom of the hierarchy.

This market is today very sophisticated and is controlled by criminal organizations spread across the world. The international scope of this market complicates investigations. The deputy commissioner of the RCMP announced that the Canadian stolen vehicle database will be integrated “as early as next week” into the international police service Interpol.

“Once entered into the system, information on vehicles stolen in Canada will be accessible to foreign authorities,” in 186 countries, he said.

Younger and more violent criminals

Of the 550 arrests made by the City of Montreal Police Department for car theft in 2023, 50% of the criminals were young people aged 12 to 24, according to Mayor Valérie Plante, who also participated in the summit.

“Not only is it a fairly simple way to have money, but it also allows them to get into crime and maybe even buy a weapon,” worried M^me Plante, flanked by her police chief, Fady Dagher.

“If we offer a young person the opportunity to work at $17/hour, versus a young person who will steal a vehicle for $5,000 or $6,000, you have the answer,” explained Mr. Dagher.

Car thieves are not only younger, but also more violent towards police officers or victims. “It’s extremely worrying. We had six or seven events, in 12 weeks, where the thieves either rushed towards the police or backed away from them, without any embarrassment,” underlined the police chief.

Violent auto thefts have increased by 200% in the Toronto region. Some thefts even occur at gunpoint.

The Port of Montreal, a sieve

In the criminal market of vehicle theft, all roads lead to Montreal, or almost. It is mainly at the port of Montreal that containers filled with vehicles stolen in Quebec and Ontario take the road abroad, most often to Africa and the Middle East.

For the president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Danny Smyth, “immediate attention should be paid to activities at the Port of Montreal.”

Vehicles stolen in Ontario most often arrive via Highway 401 from Toronto, but also via 417 from Ottawa. The 148 is also used to a lesser extent.

The Trudeau government announced $28 million to increase the number of agents and surveillance at the Port of Montreal.

Its CEO, Geneviève Deschamps, formalized yesterday the creation of a program to facilitate the detection of stolen vehicles using antennas placed in “strategic locations”.

“We are sending a message to the automotive industry and innovators, but also to criminals: vehicles equipped with tracking systems will be more easily found,” she said.

Penalties not harsh enough

The Trudeau government has blown hot and cold regarding the adoption of harsher penalties to counter the scourge of car theft. At the curtain-raiser of yesterday’s summit, Justin Trudeau said he was open to the idea. However, his Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, did not want to come forward.

Most of the actors present called for the offenders to be tightened.

“Unfortunately, a young person is arrested for vehicle theft. We had to release him the next morning. Two hours later, he found himself in the same corner. He’s going to steal a second vehicle. I said it earlier, the penalties are not severe enough,” said Quebec Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel.

All police forces agreed that car theft is a “low risk, high gain” crime.