Canada’s car theft rate for private passenger vehicles fell by almost 19 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, but the non -profit organization that compiled the data says that the number of stolen vehicles remains ” unreasonably “high.
And Alberta is emerging as an area of concern because thieves there seem to be moving their attention from the oldest trucks, often used to commit crimes and then abandoned, towards newer vehicles and of greater stolen value for export.
Équité Association, an insurance crime surveillance, reports that more than 57,000 private passenger vehicles were stolen in Canada last year, below more than 70,000 in 2023.
The Association report tracks the theft of domestic vehicles such as cars, trucks, trucks and SUVs, and does not include robberies of commercial vehicles.
Stolen for export
Bryan Gast, Vice President of Research Services of the Association Équité, said that Albert Practice known as revile, they are “emerging.”
He said that when registering false Vin numbers with a provincial body, thieves make it much more difficult to determine if a vehicle has been stolen.
“Vehicles that are revive are exported more and more, in addition to being used by organized crimes groups,” Gast said.
“Essentially, it is a way to obtain free vehicles because they have stolen them, they have registered and drives them as a legitimate vehicle.”
The report blames Vin’s false records for reducing the recovery rate of stolen vehicles in Alberta, from 87 and 85 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively, to 77 percent in 2024.
The national rate of recovery of the stolen vehicle was just under 60 percent in 2024, compared to approximately 56 percent in 2023. Gast said the national recovery rate is much lower than the Alberta rate in part due to that vehicles steal for export.
Gast added that the police are tracking an increase in the number of alberta stolen vehicles that are sent outside the eastern ports, including the port of Montreal.
Criminal networks that lead trade
“That is the whole network of these groups of organized crimes. It’s not just a person who is doing this. They have a network,” he said. “If there is a lot of application in a part of one country, they will gravitate another.”
When the Federal Government launched its National Automobile Action Plan last May, much of its approach focused on Ontario and Quebec.
Gast said insurance crimes, including car theft, are a key source of cash that allows organized crimes groups to finance other operations in drugs and weapons.
“They are very connected, and vehicle theft is how organized crimes groups are financed to themselves,” he said.
Gast said there is work in “behind the scene” to combat the propagation of fake vin numbers. He declined to share details publicly to “hinder criminals.”
He pointed out that tactics to frustrate the use of fake vin numbers “definitely work better” in Ontario.
The report attributes much of the decrease in vehicle theft to the improvated law strategies promulgated last year as part of the broader federal action plan.
This action plan increased coordination between several police agencies, increased X -ray scan of shipping containers in the ports and introduced more pronounced criminal penalties.
The greatest regional decrease in car theft was recorded in Quebec, where the number fell from 15,000 in 2023 to approximately 10,000 last year.
Ontario saw that the number of car theft fell from approximately 30,000 in 2023 to just under 25,000 in 2024. That remained the most stolen registered by any province in 2024.
BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba saw a combined 13 percent decrease in car theft, just over 20,000 vehicle robberies last year. Alberta saw a 10 percent drop in robberies last year.
The Atlantic provinces registered 2,000 stolen vehicles both in 2023 and 2024.
Gast asked the Federal Government to advance in the updates promised to the anti-theft regulations, part of the National Auto-Pheft Action Plan.
The Minister of Transportation, Anita Anand, said in October that consultations on the new rules concluded last summer and promised to introduce modernized regulations in 2025.
But Parliament is currently protected until March 24 and there is a great probability that opposition parties quickly defeat the liberal government and trigger an early election.
“The fact that new and high value vehicles can be stolen in 20, 30 seconds is a problem. So I hope it remains a priority,” Gast said.
