Which region saw sharpest auto theft increase?

Skip the lobster dinner and go straight to the empty parking space where your car used to be. Atlantic Canada is now, increasingly, a great place to get your car stolen, according to new data from Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).

The region (comprised of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) saw a a 13% jump in auto theft claims in the first half of 2024. That’s the largest regional increase in the country.

And, over the last decade, Atlantic Canada’s seen a 116% rise in auto theft claims.

“Opportunistic car thieves are increasingly shifting their focus to Atlantic Canada and away from provinces such as Ontario and Quebec, which have invested significantly in combating auto theft,” says Amanda Dean, IBC’s vice president of the Ontario and Atlantic regions, in an Oct. 15 press release.

“The growth in auto theft in Atlantic Canada is putting pressure on auto premiums and compromising the safety and security of residents.”

Costs related to those surging auto theft claims are also increasing, notes IBC. The first half of 2024 saw an 11.8% jump in claims costs compared with the same period in the previous year. And, costs for auto theft claims in the Atlantic provinces have shot up 265% over the past decade.

Provincial breakdown

Of the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia saw the highest increase in car theft claims in the region at 26.6%, when comparing the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2023.

New Brunswick follows at a 14.4% increase over the same period and Prince Edward Island experienced a 10.5% hike.

One Atlantic province, Newfoundland and Labrador, actually experienced a 26% drop in theft claims, but overall claims costs in the province held steady with those seen in the first half of 2023.

During 2023, the value of insurance claims for auto theft hit $1.5 billion for the first time ever. This year, says IBC, that number can be expected to go higher.

Several analyses of claims costs conducted over the past three years note inflation-driven spikes in vehicle sticker prices have driven rising costs for both auto theft and auto repair claims.