A new study finds that British Columbia had the third-highest number of auto thefts in Canada in 2019.
The study, conducted by Hellosafe.ca, determined that 87,006 cars were stolen in Canada in 2019. This figure increased by 1.01% in one year, with 874 more car thefts reported than in 2018.
Ontario, with almost 24,000 car thefts in 2019, ranks first among Canadian provinces in this regard, followed closely by Alberta (23,535). With 13,352 auto thefts, B.C. came third followed by Quebec (11,961).
"When taking strictly the numbers of car thefts per province, it is not surprising that the most populous provinces have the highest number of crimes," notes Hellosafe.ca.
However, report authors note that the number of stolen vehicles affects provinces differently based on their respective populations. So, Hellosafe.ca counted the number of stolen cars per inhabitants in every province.
Prairie provinces most affected by auto theft
When looking at the number of thefts per capita, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba were the most affected provinces in Canada.
With an index of 54.84 stolen cars per 10,000 inhabitants, Alberta is the province most affected by auto theft, ahead of Saskatchewan (45.01) and Manitoba (40.51).
In contrast, Ontario (17.07 stolen cars per 10,000 population), Quebec (14.09) and the Atlantic Provinces (12.22) were the provinces least affected by auto theft in 2019.
”The number of stolen cars in Canada is on the rise, which is not good news for policyholders. Indeed, the more thefts reported, the more insurance premiums are likely to go up, to cover those rising theft risks," said Antoine Fruchard, Chief Director at Hellosafe.ca.
"It is quite interesting to observe in the numbers that the central provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) are more affected by this phenomenon, whereas great provinces like Quebec and Ontario seem to be quite spared when putting in relation the number of stolen cars with the global population. The public authorities of the most affected provinces should maybe take action to prevent this kind of crime from happening in the future."
The most stolen car in Canada for 2020 is the 2018 Honday CR-V 4DR AWD, according to data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada. In 2019, it was the 2007 Ford F350 SD 4WD that was the most-stolen in the nation.
In British Columbia and Alberta, the 2006 Ford F350 SD 4WD was the most stolen vehicle of 2020.
The Hellosafe.ca study was developed using data published by Statistics Canada and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
