But the drop came a year after a 50 per cent increase.
Quebec saw a drop of 36 per cent in stolen vehicles in the first six months of 2024 compared with the same period last year, an insurance fraud prevention group said in its report.
Nationwide, thefts were down 17 per cent year-over-year, including 14 per cent in Ontario.
Collective efforts have reduced theft and money flowing toward organized crime and have reversed the concerning trend of recent years, said Bryan Gast, vice-president of investigative services at Équité.
“Police services across Canada, particularly Ontario and Quebec, have been building their auto theft units and then working collaboratively,” said Gast in an interview Wednesday.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada paid around $1.5 billion in claims in 2023, a record high. That year, vehicle thefts rose by 50 per cent in Quebec and almost as much in Ontario.
Insurers have said the majority of vehicles are being stolen from Ontario and Quebec and exported through the busy Port of Montreal. Around 1.7 million containers moved through the port last year, including 70 per cent of Canada’s legal vehicle exports, according to port authorities.
The federal government estimates 90,000 cars are stolen each year in Canada and many of the thefts involve connections to organized crime.
“This is not just a victimless crime. It’s not just a property crime,” Gast said. “This is organized crime that is targeting the vehicle as a commodity to profit from and fund their criminal operations.”
He added the goal is to lower the theft numbers and take away profits from organized crime.
Meanwhile, the theft rate in Atlantic Canada went up by 11 per cent. The rise is likely tied to better deterrent measures in Ontario and Quebec, the report added.
Gast said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the six-month trend and hopes it continues for the rest of the year. Although, he added, continued focus on collaborative efforts is needed.
“It’s a complex problem with a complex solution. There’s no one silver bullet,” he said. “Everything’s got to come together, right from making the vehicle harder to steal in the first place to helping Canadians — making them aware of some of the precautions.”
One of the action plans to disrupt organized crimes, Gast said, was to report all stolen vehicles internationally through the database — notifying all countries they might have stolen vehicles there.
Other strategies call for shipment container inspections to expand even further, including deploying scanning and detection technology beyond ports in places like rail yards. It also said Public Safety Canada will lead a working group involving all provincial and territorial governments.