Your Car May No Longer Be Insured Because of Rise in Auto Thefts

Crime has taken an unprecedented bite out of America the past few years.  One area that has been impacted in a big way is auto theft.

Interestingly, auto theft had been on a steady decline for years.  However, during the pandemic, the numbers have spiked in a significant way.  In fact, between 2019 and 2021, its estimated that auto theft had risen 27%.

Experts say the theft of autos has an impact on all of us, including in some ways we may not have taken into account.  A recent study points to the high number of crimes associated with stolen vehicles.  They say that in many cases, a stolen vehicle is used to commit many other crimes like robberies, drive-by shootings, and others.

The numbers are staggering.   According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, through the first three quarters of 2022, there were 745,000 thefts.  That's a 24% increase over pre-pandemic totals.  When a vehicle is stolen, many times it is recovered, though usually not in the same condition as before the theft.  That cost, nationally, was said to be over 6.5 billion dollars last year.

Now, two big auto insurers have announced they plan to stop insuring two particular car models.  State Farm and Progressive have announced they'll no longer insure some older model Kia and Hyundai cars.  The models affected were manufactured between 2015 and 2019.  The reason for this decision is that many of those older models, lack electronic immobilizers.  These devices make it more difficult for thieves to swipe a car.  It should be noted that Kias and Hundais now have the device, and the number of thefts has dropped dramatically.

Sources: NYPost.com, Yahoo.com, NICB.org