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Newer remote-start SUVs and trucks top the list of most frequently stolen vehicles in Canada, the Canadian Insurance Bureau said Wednesday.
The group representing insurance companies across the country said theft from their driveway using widely available electronic tools is on the rise across the country as thieves respond to demand from overseas high-end shoppers and runners away from home here.
The 2018 four-door Honda CRV with all-wheel drive holds the ignominious title of being the most stolen vehicle in Canada this year, with 350 thefts reported by insurers across the country – nearly one per day. When the 2017 and 2019 models were included in the tally, 758 were stolen, or more than two per day.
Here is the rest of the list:
Drivers often worry about something like their window being broken and their car being stolen like that. But cheap and plentiful tech tools make it much easier to steal a car today.
Bryan Gast, national director of investigative services at IBC, said in an interview with CBC News that the biggest trend he is seeing this year is what is known as a “relay attack.”
“This means they are acquiring your signal from your keychain, cloning your keychain and [then] having the ability to start your vehicle without ever having the original key fob, “he said.
“It’s as simple as getting to your front door, seeing if they can catch the signal from a key fob that might be inside. They’re not going anywhere in your house. They’re capturing it from the outside. And they have the ability. to technologically clone the device and have the ability to start your car and go. “
New technology “makes it easy for the criminal”
The best tool to combat electronic theft, says Gast, is to not do what most people do: walk into the house and leave the keys in a bowl or other exposed location, just behind the front door. . Instead, he recommends getting a metal box for car keys that blocks radio frequencies.
“If you put it in a box, it doesn’t emit radio frequency. Basically, it’s in a protective box or case and [criminals] I am unable to capture that key fob signal. “
Cars manufactured since 2008 have imposed some sort of built-in car mobilization technology, and that has changed trends in auto theft ever since, says Gast.
“Most of the time, when people leave the key fobs in their vehicle, that’s where they keep it. They make it easy to get in, push the button to start and go. But it also makes it easy for the criminal, too.”
There is another vulnerability built into something many drivers do as a precaution: When in a parking lot, they double check that their car is locked by pressing the key fob.
But a thief in the area with the right technology can clone the remote from that.
“You’re emitting that frequency, which can also be captured,” Gast said.
Many of the most stolen vehicles are high-end, expensive, oversized cars that can be difficult to acquire outside of North America, which is why Gast says a great motivator for theft isn’t a criminal looking for a ride. joy or to sell locally. The thief often has a specific request for a specific vehicle and then sets out to find it.
Affordable technology is only making things easier, such that a car is currently stolen somewhere in Canada every six minutes.
Theft on the rise in COVID
While COVID-19 has led to more cars being parked due to people working from home, it has also led to an increase in one type of car theft, says Gast. Namely, people looking for specific parts and vehicles to use in street racing events and other reckless driving behaviors.
“The problem is stealing parts from some of these modified vehicles in the vehicles themselves,” he said. “The police have definitely their hands full.”
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