Car Theft Enigma !

The car insurance industry has come under the spotlight  because its investigators are accused of heavy handed tactics when they seek to eliminate outright fraud which is prevalent in accident claims.  The main victim has been the compulsory third party insurance required when every car registration is renewed and it was discovered that this was becoming a new industry with carefully managed, low speed crashes where a multitude of people claimed compensation for injuries which were difficult to medically disprove.

Now attention is directed at how claims for stolen cars are handled.  An enquiry by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission found that only a small proportion of claims are actually investigated and that seventy percent are usually passed for payment.   On average, only four percent are rejected on the basis that the claim is fraudulent.

One of the instances examined  was the experience of a man who had the misfortune of having his car stolen from the carport outside his home and which was later found abandoned - and torched.   A lengthy investigation concluded that he had not dealt with the insurer in good faith and the claim was rejected.

This man persisted, obtained help from Financial Rights Legal Centre and after two years the claim was approved and he got his insurance money.  But successive information requests over the length of the investigation included a search to discover if he had a criminal record and perusal of his bank accounts, telephone and text records and even his social media activities.  He found the investigation intrusive and the insurer has apologised.

The vast majority of the cars on Australian roads are less than ten years old.  The safety aspect of the modern car makes incremental bounds with each new model and safety has never been more paramount.  The only thing that fails to increase - year to year - is the security that prevents the car being drive away by a thief.

Those with a long memory recall the promises that have been made to deliver car security.  All cars not so long ago came with a steering security lock.   You needed to park with the wheels inclined towards the kerb and the security lock prevented any form of steering until the key deactivated that security device.  A few years later it was announced all new cars would be automatically fitted with an " Immobilizer "  that prevented the engine being started.  This was something installed by the car manufacturer, but it seems that a fifteen year old kid, armed with a screwdriver is still capable of making off with the average vehicle in less than a minute.

We live in a marvellous, electronic age and the only conclusion is that the car industry is simply not interested in vehicle security.  Unfortunately, it seems that includes the actual new car buyers.  In todays world it is all about convenience and  buyers seem disinclined to pay money for car security or to fuss about setting and unsetting security devices to protect their investment.

One of those precautions involved discontinuing the wiring colour code so that a bandit could not simply connect two wires to circumvent the ignition switch.  It seems that was abandoned after complaints from the electrical repair industry about the inconvenience it would cause  repair technicians.

Despite the involvement of the modern car as an example of high end technology, it remains a thieves dream.  It will remain that way until the inclusion of a device to consistently stop theft must be in place before the car can be covered for theft insurance.   It will take that sort of legislation to get the car industry to take theft seriously.