According to National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the U.S. is seeing the highest vehicle theft numbers since 2008, with no hopes for a downward trend anytime soon.
Nearly half a million vehicles were stolen in the first half of 2022 (as of June 30), equating to an estimated $4.5 billion dollars’ worth of vehicle losses from thefts. This represents a 25% increase over the vehicle theft total reported for the first half of the year in 2019. Additionally, NICB estimates 100,000 more vehicles will have been stolen by the end of 2022 in comparison to pre-pandemic totals.
“Since the start of the pandemic, used car prices have increased 35 to 40 percent. Criminals are exploiting these high prices as vehicle and catalytic converter thefts are crimes of opportunity. And crime is a business, and business is good,” said David Glawe, President and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
