Automotive News Canada - September 2023 - 23

* SEPTEMBER 2023
23
ONDS
Thieves are able to reprogram keys through the
vehicle OBD-II ports. For a relay theft, one thief
captures the radio signal from a key fob, often
by standing at the front door of a house, near
where owners leave their keys. The signal is
then transmitted to a second thief standing next
to the vehicle who can open and start the car.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Canada to introduce an updated set of regulations that
would compel automakers to add standard countermeasures
to tech-centric auto thefts in the new vehicles they
sell across Canada.
" This new standard will bring that protection to the
vehicles and require all manufacturers to meet or exceed
that as they work through their engineering, " the insurance
organization said.
Transport Canada said it was watching the problem
but was noncommittal on new regulations.
As anti-theft technology evolves, the agency " will
continue to monitor the effect of vehicle theft on road
safety, with the goal of ensuring our federal standards
reflect safety issues related to theft for convenience, " a
Transport Canada spokesperson wrote in an email to
Automotive News Canada. - ANC
Having products like this that
help give the consumer some
protection give the dealer an
answer. "
Jeff Schulz
Executive vice-president of marketing,
LGM Financial Services
And while it's difficult to measure if or how much the
decals act as a deterrent, Schulz said, opting for the protection
gives the buyer a discount of up to $5,000 on a replacement
if their decaled vehicle is stolen and not recovered.
Increasingly, Schulz said, dealers are putting the decals
on all the vehicles they sell, to protect both consumers and
themselves.
Auto experts and law enforcement point to consumers
as the main targets of vehicle thieves, but dealers are not
immune.
Data from the Toronto Police Service, one of the forces
that breaks down stolen vehicles by source, shows that
seven per cent of the city's 9,606 vehicles reported stolen in
2022 were commercial thefts.
The rising rate of lot thefts is prompting dealers to focus
more on security, Williams said.
" They're definitely trying to mitigate, harden up against
organized crime. " - ANC
There's no silver bullet
for tackling auto theft
Law enforcement-
and the law of
supply and demand
- is helping to crack
down on theft
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
AUTO THEFT IN CANADA,WHICH
has been described as reaching " epidemic "
proportions in recent years,
might be close to topping out as
renewed law-enforcement attention
and higher vehicle inventories offer
early hope of reversing the trend,
automotive and police insiders say.
" This is the first time that I've
been optimistic in the last three years
that we're getting to
the point that we're
going to see some
positive change, "
said Bryan Gast,
vice-president of the
investigative services
division at the
Équité Association,
an insurance industry-backed
not-forprofit.
It's
a complex
problem with no
" silver bullet, " so
exactly how quickly
the situation
could improve is
highly speculative,
Gast added, but the
focus from all quaring
containers as they're leaving the
country, " Williams said.
Despite auto theft rates increasing
nearly 50 per cent in 2022 from 2021,
the CBSA intercepted only three more
vehicles in 2022 - 1,348 vs. 1,345 -
according to internal agency data.
CBSA spokesperson Rebecca
Purdy said the agency works with
law enforcement across the country
to intercept contraband goods,
but she did not directly address questions
about what additional resources
the agency has placed on inspecting
container shipments since the vehicle-theft
problem has come into focus.
" Border officers assigned to the
marine mode are primarily involved
in container and vessel examinations
as well as port operations and
are focused on enforcement - analysis,
targeting, inspection and monitoring
of activities in the container
terminals, " she wrote in an email to
Automotive News Canada.
Williams:
The Canada
Border
Services
Agency " is
not searching
containers
as they're
leaving the
country. "
FILE PHOTO
ters after the issue spent years on the
backburner is encouraging.
He pointed to the formation in May
of a new Ontario Provincial Police
(OPP) unit focused on auto theft, as
well as comparable moves within
local police departments, as particularly
positive steps.
Vehicle theft has been steadily rising
in Canada for years, but it accelerated
during the COVID-19 pandemic
as the microchip shortage squeezed
new-vehicle inventories and drove up
the value of vehicles for both legitimate
and illegal sellers.
In 2022, the number of vehicles stolen
across the country totaled more
than 70,000, according to a June report
from Équité, while insurance claims
topped $1 billion for the first time.
Theft figures were highest in
Ontario and Quebec, where vehicles
are also least likely to be recovered,
the report said. Although the recovery
rate of vehicles stolen is 57 per cent
nationally, only 34 per cent of vehicles
stolen in Quebec and 45 per cent in
Ontario are recovered.
This suggests " organized crime
rings " are exporting the vehicles
overseas for resale before they can be
located, the report said.
POROUS PORTS
Huw Williams, public affairs director
for the Canadian Automobile
Dealers Association (CADA), along
with other auto industry stakeholders,
have been pressuring Ottawa for
months to crack down on illegal shipments
leaving the Port of Montreal.
" It's largely because Canada Border
Services Agency [CBSA] is not searchThe
auto industry has been pushing the federal government to stop
stolen vehicles leaving Canada through the Port of Montreal. Auto theft
has increased nearly 50 per cent in 2022 from 2021, but Canada Border
Services Agency intercepted only three more vehicles in 2022 - 1,348
vs. 1,345 - according to internal agency data. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
Williams has been a vocal critic of
the federal government's handling of
auto theft, but he expressed optimism
that Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's
newly appointed minister of public
safety, democratic institutions and
intergovernmental affairs, will prove
more responsive than the outgoing
minister. LeBlanc's ministerial portfolio
includes oversight of the CBSA.
PANDEMIC-DRIVEN THEFT
Market dynamics might also help
relieve the ongoing theft crisis.
The demand for stolen vehicles has
been driven in part by the new-vehicle
shortage since the pandemic,
said York Regional Police Detective
Sgt. Patrick Smyth, who oversees
the department's auto-theft unit. As
inventories rise and vehicle prices
begin to decline, criminals will see
their profits shrink, Smyth said.
" If you take that away, " he said,
" they'll move onto something else. "
The York Region auto theft team,
along with comparable teams in other
cities, have notched several recent
major busts. In August, York broke up
one theft ring, arresting three people
and recovering $2.8 million in stolen
vehicles.
It's often a lengthy process, Smyth
REVIVAL OF
AUTO-THEFT UNITS
TRANSPORT CANADA
mandated that immobilizer technology
be installed in new passenger
vehicles in 2007, leading to a
roughly 50-per-cent decline in auto
thefts as vehicles became more
difficult to steal. Because of the
decline, many dedicated auto-theft
units at Canadian police departments
were disbanded or merged
into other crime units in the early
2010s.
With the rise of technology-fueled
thefts, however, police have
begun reforming the units. In May,
for instance, the Ontario government
committed $51 million over
three years to allow the Ontario
Provincial Police to spearhead a
new Organized Crime Towing and
Auto Theft Team.
said, as the unit is playing the long
game to dismantle the crime rings
from the top down.
" The end is not just necessarily to
take out the lower-level thieves, " he
said. " We're trying to work up the ladder. "
Other
busts include the arrest
of 23 people and the recovery of 138
stolen vehicles in late July after an
investigation that involved the OPP
and Windsor Police Service, among
others. In April, the Toronto Police
Service charged 119 people and recovered
more than 556 vehicles.
As automakers work to harden
their vehicles against theft, law
enforcement has also been encouraging
drivers to take added steps to
secure their vehicles, such as using
radio-signal blockers for key fobs and
steering-wheel locks.
Despite ongoing progress, Smyth
warns that thefts have not crested
yet. The York Region saw about 3,200
vehicles stolen in 2022, and he said the
department expects to see that figure
rise by about 70 per cent in 2023.
- ANC
Automotive News Canada - September 2023

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