The number of cars stolen has increased by 24% last year, according to BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA) data compiled about the reported CASCO insurance claims. Also a new tendency has emerged last year – medium class cars get stolen increasingly often. At the same time the average amount of indemnity disbursed for thefts of car parts, and this tendency persists this year as well. BTA has paid 819 thousand euros in indemnities for cars stolen or stolen from last year.
Volvo parts – most often stolen
“Last year the average amount of indemnity disbursed for theft of car parts has grown and reached 1,142 euros. The average losses that car part thieves cause to car owners keep increasing also in the first two months of 2017,” says Gunārs Faļkovskis, BTA Car Insurance Product Manager. “The increase in indemnity amounts can be explained by the fact that the costs of spare parts and car repairs have become expensive, and the fact that in some cases the amount of losses is considerably larger due to the fact that purchasing and replacing just one stolen spare part is not feasible and you have to purchase the entire set of the particular spare parts.”
Analysing the CASCO insurance claims received by BTA for theft of car parts, the conclusions are that most often the victims to such theft last year have become the owners of Volvos. A contributing factor to this is the fact that parts of Volvo cars, such as headlights, are relatively easier to be stolen due to their fastening constructions.
Although BMWs in 2016 have been second the most often stolen from, last year the number of such insurance cases has dropped by 26 % compared to 2015. Volkswagens come third by the number of CASCO insurance claims received by BTA for stolen car parts. In the first two months of this year, the received insurance claims for stolen car parts are still dominated by Volvos.
BTA’s statistics on CASCO insurance claims received for the past year indicates that car parts stolen most (on each third insured event), just as in previous years, have been wing mirrors, with and without their casing. Most often wing mirrors are stolen bare, although in a range of cases they have been stolen together with their casing. The most frequent victims of theft of this type have been BMW owners, and this year as well, most frequently they have suffered losses with respect to mirror theft.
Car headlights have been the second most stolen car parts by the number of CASCO insurance claims received by BTA. Headlights of Volvos have been stolen most often, in 65 % of cases. Thefts of this type inflict relatively large losses to car owners, as the average amount of indemnity paid by BTA for stolen headlights was 2,082 euros.
Along to headlight thefts, the number of thefts of various units of Volvos has considerably increased last year. Rear-wheel drive control units are primarily stolen. “Such thefts not always can be immediately spotted, therefore we suggest Volvo owners to watch out,” says Gunārs Faļkovskis. ”This year as well, we have already received a number of claims from Volvo owners for thefts of rear axle control units, discovered by experts only while visiting a car repair shop.”
The top leader of “most stolen car” among BTA customers last year – Toyota
The number of CASCO insurance claims for car thefts received by BTA has considerably increased in 2016 compared to 2015 – by 24 %, and two tendencies have become more pronounced – increasingly often get stolen cars of medium class, as well as cars with the Keyless Go system, therefore we suggest customers to install additional security equipment on cars having this system.
At least each third of cars stolen from BTA customers was a Toyota, and the number of thefts of them has nearly tripled, compared to 2015. Among stolen cars last year there also were cars of Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Honda and other brands. We can note that last year there has been a considerably decrease in the number of thefts of Mercedes Benz cars, which was dominant a year before.
As thefts have mostly occurred to medium class cars last year, the average amount of indemnity disbursed for car thefts has also decreased. Where the average indemnity disbursed for a car theft was 22,474 euros in 2015, then in 2016 this amount was 15,240 euros.
“BTA’s CASCO insurance claims statistics for the first two months of this year indicates that thieves steal cars of various classes this year, the value of which ranged from 7 to 38 thousand euros,” says G. Faļkovskis. ”Our customers have parted with equal quantities of Audis, BMWs, Hondas and Volkswagens, as well as other cars of brands due to thieves this year.”
About BTA
BTA Baltic Insurance Company (hereinafter – BTA) is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltic States, providing all types of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA is also one of the largest indemnity payers in the Baltics – in 2016, BTA disbursed an average of 300 thousand euros each business day in insurance indemnities in the Baltic States or approximately 38 thousand euros every business hour.
The largest shareholder of BTA is one of the leading ore than 50 companies in 25 countries constitute a group with a solid brand, with 190 year experience in the insurance field and close cooperation with customers. VIG employs 23,000 employees and is a clear leader in its core markets. VIG is a group with the best rating of all companies in the ATX, the leading index of the Vienna Stock Exchange, with a secondary listing on the Prague Stock Exchange.
More information:
Linda Upeniece
Marketing and Public Relations Department Director
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
email: linda.upeniece@bta.lv
Phone: +371 67025676, mobile: +371 26756841
