Vehicle theft

Protect your car. Tomorrow, it might be on the way to Europe or Asia – without your permission. Motor vehicle theft is big business these days – so big that organized crime is heavily involved.

An estimated 170,000 motor vehicles are stolen every year in Canada. About 30 per cent are never recovered. Many of these stolen cars are shipped by criminal gangs to foreign countries in container vessels leaving the major ports of Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver.

• Gangs will often change the vehicle identification number of stolen vehicles so they can’t be traced. Or, they’ll lease a car and ship it out of the country.
• Criminal gangs often specialize in different aspects of car theft. One gang may steal a car and another provides the counterfeit paperwork. Still another may have an auto body shop that strips cars for parts and changes vehicle identification numbers.
• The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates that motor vehicle theft costs insurers and the public about $1 billion a year.
• Motor vehicle theft also helps finance other criminal activities such as trafficking in drugs.

Find out more about motor vehicle theft from the Insurance Bureau of Canada.