In the first six months of this year, most frequent victims of car thieves have been owners of Toyotas, BMWs and Volvos, and the volume of insurance indemnities paid has increased by nearly 24%, according to BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA) summary of data on CASCO insurance claims made.

“The car brands stolen most in Latvia in 2019 have been Toyota and BMW, together accounting for 44% of the stolen cars in the age group newer than 10 years. Having analysed the statistics, we assume that the stolen cars have not been equipped by additional security systems, or the installed systems have not been appropriate for the peculiarities of a particular brand,” indicates BTA Auto Insurance Product Manager Gunārs Faļkovskis.

In the first six months of this year, insurance claims made regarding car thefts have increased by 24%, compared to the same period of 2018. In the first six months, thieves have particularly targeted Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Yaris, Volvo XC60, BMW X5, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda CRV, Mercedes Benz C220 D and Mitsubishi L 200.

“Most often cars are stolen for the reason of inappropriate additional security systems, installed on the car, or absence of an additional security system. Although, there are cases, when, due to the fast pace of the modern life, the driver parks their car in unusual places and then forgets about it. After a while, the driver goes to the usual car parking place and does not find it there, where the driver believes, it should have been. Then the driver decides that the car must have been stolen, and notifies about the car theft the police as well as the insurer. And later, having a thorough look at the surroundings, the driver realizes that the car has simply been parked elsewhere,” G. Faļkovskis outlines some new tendencies in motor insurance.  

Car brands that most often get stolen from, are BMW, with Volvo and Mercedes Benz slightly trailing, whereas notably less frequently car parts get picked from Audis and other cars.

The indemnities paid for theft of parts of BMWs are on average by 20% larger than the size of indemnities in case of Volvo parts theft. It can be explained by the fact that a case of BMW’s parts theft usually involves a number of parts gone missing, while in the case of Volvos, it primarily is headlights and all-wheel drive control units that get stolen.

In addition to the parts commonly stolen from BMWs – mirror glass and lights, more often the theft targets are BMW models of the third, fourth and fifth series, with the largest indemnity amounts being paid for interior parts thefts.

“It is still a tendency that older car get stolen from more, as thieves are looking to get their parts. The rise in indemnity amounts can also be explained by the rise in prices of car spare parts and repair costs, and in some cases the scope of losses is considerably larger for the reason that purchasing and replacing just the stolen part alone is impossible – you need to purchase the entire set of particular parts,” explains G. Faļkovskis.    

BTA statistics for CASCO insurance claims received for the first six months indicated that, just like in previous periods, the car parts stolen most have been side mirrors and their glass.

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 25 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is the clear market leader in its CEE markets. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.

Additional information:

Elīna Rasmane

Marketing and Public Relations Department Director

BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS

e-mail elina.rasmane@bta.lv