this Insurance Bureau of Canada List of Ontario's most expensive cities to live in released Car theft The city with the highest claims is Toronto, where claims costs have increased by a staggering 561% over the past five years.
According to IBC, the cost of car theft claims has increased significantly.
When it comes to the amount of auto theft claims in 2023, IBC data shows that Toronto had the highest total at about $371 million, followed by Brampton at $93 million, Mississauga at nearly $90 million, and Vaughan at $62 million. Markham ranked fifth with $43 million.
Other GTA cities in the top ten include Ottawa, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Hamilton and London.
In another list of data, the IBC said several “mid-sized” cities in Southern Ontario saw large percentage increases in auto theft claim costs, even if overall costs were lower than the top 10 list for claim costs.
The IBC data showed Whitby had the highest increase in car theft claim costs, up 2,269 per cent from 2018 to 2023, from $512,751 to more than $12 million.
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The data showed Pickering's wealth had increased 1,228 per cent in five years, from $802,520 to more than $10 million.
“Ontario has seen an alarming increase in auto theft claims and the cost of auto theft claims,” said Amanda Dean, IBC’s vice-president for Ontario and the Atlantic region.
“As the IBC data shows, the Greater Toronto Area has been particularly hard hit by the auto theft crisis,” said Dean. “These claim costs are indicative of the growing auto theft crisis in Ontario — a crisis that is having a significant impact on auto insurance premiums, not to mention the worry and trauma it is causing Ontarians.”
Dean said in an interview that nationwide, the IBC found that the cost of replacing stolen vehicle claims reached $1.5 billion, with Ontario breaking the $1 billion mark.
“It’s incredible to think how many claims this is going to bring,” she said. “Even we were shocked by the percentage increases in some communities.”
She said their data shows auto theft is “beyond crisis territory, we are in the midst of an auto theft epidemic in Ontario.”
Bryan Gast, vice president of investigative services at the Équité Association, told Global News that 2023 is 'Bad year' for car thefts The IBC data doesn’t surprise him.
However, he said a number of measures had been put in place since late last year, giving him hope that the situation would improve.
Gast has said they are not seeing the same surge in auto thefts in 2024 as they did between 2022 and 2023.
“I am cautiously optimistic that we are starting to see some positive impacts from the measures that have been put in place. Some early signs suggest that 2024 will certainly be better than 2023,” he said.
— With files from Global News Eric Stobbe
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
