The Insurance Bureau of Canada has released a list of the costliest cities in Ontario for auto theft claims and Toronto has topped that list with a staggering 561 per cent increase in costs over the last five years.
According to the data from the IBC, the costs for auto theft claims have surged.
When it comes to how much auto theft claims cost in 2023, the IBC’s data showed Toronto saw the highest amount overall at around $371 million, followed by Brampton with $93 million in costs, Mississauga with nearly $90 million and Vaughan with $62 million. Markham was ranked fifth with $43 million.
Other GTA cities to round out the top 10 were Ottawa, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Hamilton and London.
In another list of data, IBC said there are several “mid-sized” cities in southern Ontario with high percentage increases in auto theft claims costs even if the overall costs were lower than the top 10 list of claims costs.
IBC’s data showed Whitby had the highest increase, 2,269 per cent, in auto theft claims costs from 2018 to 2023 — from $512,751 to just over $12 million.
Pickering saw a 1,228 per cent jump over the five years from $802,520 to just over $10 million, the data indicated.
“Ontario is seeing an alarming increase in auto theft claims and auto theft claims costs,” said Amanda Dean, vice-president, Ontario and Atlantic, at the IBC.
“As IBC’s numbers reveal, the Greater Toronto Area has been hit particularly hard by the auto theft crisis,” Dean said. “These claims costs speak to the growing severity of the auto theft crisis in Ontario – a crisis that is having a material impact on auto insurance premiums, to say nothing of the concern and trauma it is causing Ontarians.”
Dean said in an interview that nationally, the IBC saw $1.5 billion in claims costs for replacing stolen vehicles, with Ontario breaking the $1 billion mark.
“It is incredible when you think of how many claims that would entail,” she said. “Even we were shocked at some of the percentage increases in some of the communities.”
She said their data shows auto thefts is “beyond crisis, we are in an auto theft epidemic in Ontario.”
Bryan Gast, vice-president of the investigative services division at Équité Association, told Global News that 2023 was a “bad year” for auto thefts and he is not surprised by IBC’s numbers.
However, he said a lot of measures have been put in place since late last year that are giving him hope for improvement in the situation.
Already, Gast said they haven’t seen a spike in auto theft activity in 2024 like they saw between 2022 and 2023.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re starting to see some positive effects from the measures that have been put in place,” he said. “There are some early indications 2024 is definitely looking better than 2023.”
— with files from Global News’ Eric Stober
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