Data for 2023 shows that auto theft claims costs in Hamilton were almost $20 million, compared to $7.4 million just five years ago in 2018. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Images.
According to recently released data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the City of Hamilton ranks as the ninth costliest city in Ontario for auto theft claims.
Data for 2023 shows that auto theft claims costs in Hamilton were almost $20 million, compared to $7.4 million just five years ago in 2018.
That means that auto theft claims costs in Hamilton have increased 170 per cent in just five years.
This is the first time that IBC, which is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, auto, and business insurers, has released this type of data.
In other data, the costliest three cities in Ontario for auto theft claims were Toronto ($371.8 million), Brampton ($93.2 million), and Mississauga ($90 million).
Rounding out the top ten after that was Vaughan, Markham, Ottawa, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Hamilton and then London.
IBC also released a list of the Ontario cities that have seen the highest increase in auto theft claims costs between 2018 and 2023.
Hamilton’s 170 per cent increase in auto theft claims costs did not make the top ten list for highest increases.
The top three increases were Whitby (up 2,269 per cent), Pickering (up 1,228 per cent), and Milton (up 1,010 per cent).
Rounding out the top ten after that for the percentage increase statistic were Markham, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Ajax, Vaughan, Clarington, and Brampton.
Overall, auto theft claims across Ontario have increased by 524 per cent since 2018, with auto theft claims costs surpassing $1 billion for the very first time in 2023.
Amanda Dean, IBC’s Vice-President for Ontario says that the province is seeing “an alarming increase in auto theft claims and auto thefts claims costs.”
She says that the costs “speak to the growing severity of the auto theft crisis in Ontario” which she adds has a “material impact on auto insurance premiums” while also causing “concern and trauma” to Ontarians.
Dean adds that IBC is also calling for policy changes to help deal with auto theft, which the group calls “a national emergency.”
Dean continued, “We applaud the Ontario government for the significant investments it has made to help mitigate the crisis. However, more must be done to tighten the vehicle registration process to make it harder for criminals to re-VIN and sell stolen vehicles to unsuspecting Ontarians.”
“With auto theft claims skyrocketing across Ontario, we urge all orders of government – including the province and municipalities – not to delay in working with the federal government to implement the recommendations in the National Action Plan on Combating Auto Theft.”
“This initiative must include measures that make it more difficult to transport and export stolen cars,” she concluded.
Auto thieves in Canada are known to steal vehicles and transport them overseas in order to sell them.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
