The coming of autumn brings a considerable rise in the number of CASCO claims regarding car thefts and third party damages to cars, according to figures of BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA). At the beginning of September –just within a week’s time, BTA received six insurance claims for stolen cars, which is triple the number for the entire August, with just two cars gone the wrong way.
The history keeps repeating – this September, just like a year ago, when the daylight dims faster making evenings darker and more comfortable for thieves to carry out their deeds unimpeded, the activity of car thieves has sprung. According to BTA’s data, the most preferred car brand by thieves is Toyota. Four of the six BTA customers’ cars hijacked in this September were Toyotas, and two – Volkswagens. Four of the stolen cars were not older than five years.
"Having analysed the received claims for car thefts, we can say that car thieves, just as the last year, are most active in Riga and Riga region, stealing cars as from unguarded parking lots, and the yards of private homes. Nowadays at the disposal of thieves are quite advanced technologies for remote data acquisition and breaking into most recent cars, therefore car owners should give more concern to additional security measures. For example, if the car is equipped with the Keyless Go system, we recommend to keep the keys as far as possible from windows and doors of the house to reduce the possibility of the vehicle’s Keyless key signal being tapped. Car owners should certainly consider the option of installing additional automotive safety systems as an additional measure to protect their car. To make things more complicated for thieves, who mainly rely on the modern electronic equipment at their disposal, it might turn out to be useful, for example, to use a steering lock, install a complementary immobilizer, a secret key or a search engine in the car," says Iveta Rijniece, Director of BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department.
BTA has received a total of 36 CASCO claims for stolen cars this year, which include Toyotas being stolen in one third of the cases. Volkswagens were second highest by the number of vehicle thefts reported to BTA, with Audis coming third. According to BTA data, this year the proportion of new cars stolen has doubled, where during the first eight months of last year the percentage of cars under three years if age stolen from customers of BTA was 15%, then this year the share of such cars of the total vehicles stolen is already 33%. The colour preference this year is the same as in previous years, thieves mainly prefer black and grey cars.
Analysis of CASCO claims received by BTA in September shows that the number of claims of compensation for damages caused to cars by third parties has also increased in September. BTA has already received more than 20 claims for compensation for various damages to vehicles caused by third parties, including broken windows, damaged lights and roofs, and stolen mirrors, lights, etc. Some BTA customers had their DVRs stolen from their cars by car windows being knocked out. In a number of cases, the damage caused to cars suggests that the thieves most likely had tried to steal the car. BTA advises car drivers to be careful and not to leave valuable items in visible places inside the car – video recorders, computers, navigation devices and other valuables that might attract the attention of thieves.
BTA is one of the largest indemnity payers in the Baltics. Last year BTA has disbursed an average of 398 thousand euros each business day in insurance indemnities in the Baltic States, which makes it 50 thousand euros every business hour.
About BTA
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter - BTA) was established in 2014 as a result of reorganization of BTA Insurance Company SE, by splitting the company according to the geographic boundaries of business: the Baltic States and the rest of Europe. In August 2016, Vienna Insurance Group AG, a leading insurer in Europe, became as the biggest shareholder of the company. BTA has obtained a licence for provision of all type of non-life insurance services across the three Baltic States.
More information:
Agnese Grīnberga
Public Relations Manager
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
E-mail agnese.grinberga@bta.lv
Phone: +371 67025661, mobile: +371 27828796
