Stolen car claims top $100 million

Motorists are paying more than $60 extra on their insurance premiums each year to cover stolen car claims topping $100 million.

Police figures show 20,000 cars are stolen each year - insurance estimates are double that - with 67 per cent of those cars recovered and only one in five cases solved.

A Weekend Herald investigation has found that the 6500 cars never found are a huge source of business for gangs who steal the cars to order for parts, or to "rebirth" into legitimate vehicles.

The average extra cost of $60 a year for each owner is based on an estimated 70 per cent of the 2.3 million cars in New Zealand that are covered by insurance policies.

Police have had some success in recent years, including one operation which found hundreds of Toyota vans had been taken to "chop shops" then shipped to the Middle East in parts.

Another inquiry tracked cars being taken from Auckland supermarket carparks, driven as far away as Hawkes Bay in the middle of the night, then stripped down in a few hours.

Often, car thieves would be paid in P - as little as $200 worth for each car.

But police in greater Auckland no longer have a dedicated car-theft squad, although half the number of stolen cars are taken from the region.

Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said police needed more staff to tackle the problem.

"We have big problems with organised crime. We think the cost to the insurance industry is more than $100 million a year. Which is a heck of a lot of money to our customers."

That cost is passed on as increasing premiums for car insurance, says Frank de Jong, a qualified automotive engineer who runs a car recovery and reward business (www.spotter.co.nz), financed by insurance companies.

Mr de Jong said car theft was "not high on the police agenda" and a national unit was needed to target car rings as a way to crack organised crime groups.

"It's not just a stolen Subaru. It's a car that is used by drug dealers to ferry their drugs around before being dumped," said Mr de Jong.

"Or the Subaru is stolen by a burglar to carry away your $2000 flat screen TV, then chopped into parts to pay for his P habit.

"And who is paying for all this? We do, every time insurance premiums go up. If we targeted car theft, it would make a huge impact on organised crime in New Zealand."

Of the 20,240 cars stolen in New Zealand last year, 13,479 - 67 per cent - were recovered.

Queensland- with a similar population of 4.4 million - had 7253 thefts and a 78 per cent recovery rate.

The police national crime manager, Detective Superintendent Win van der Velde, said there were no plans to re-introduce specialist car-theft squads.

Individual police districts were able to identify organised crime trends and prioritise officers to investigate. But police were researching car theft nationwide for an internal intelligence report would be completed in the next fortnight.

"The sort of work we are looking at nationally should help us identify specific problems. For example, if we saw a spate of Morris Oxfords being stolen, but we're not finding many, that should trigger concerns for us.

"It will identify hot spots and hot times as to when cars are disappearing - and hopefully why they're disappearing - among other intelligence.

"The profile will show us how we can better police vehicle crime and make strategic decisions to attack it."

Mr van der Velde also said police were considering publishing a list of stolen car registrations on-line to "increase the number of eyes out there".

This would mean the public, particularly people such as taxi drivers and security guards who spent a lot of time on the road, could check the number plates of any suspicious vehicle.

BEAT THE THIEVES

Five tips to keep your car safe:

1. Buy a "club" steering wheel lock and use it. Costs about $50.

2. Get a good alarm with immobiliser and motion sensor.

3. Park in a secure garage or in well-lit areas.

4. Keep car keys hidden, even at home. Keys are one of the first things a burglar will steal.

5. Get car insurance - as a minimum get third party, fire and theft which costs about $150 a year.

Source: Frank de Jong of spotter.co.nz