Thefts and break-ins in cars are becoming more and more common and last year a record was broken in paid insurance compensation linked to the crime. This is shown by new figures from the insurance industry. In particular, the thieves target the cars’ catalytic converters. Last year, the insurance industry paid out just over 1 billion kroner in compensation for motor vehicles. For passenger cars alone, the sum of over SEK 700 million landed, making 2022 a record year. This is shown by If’s Car Crime Barometer, which is based on statistics from the industry organization Swedish Insurance, which includes all insurance companies. – Private individuals are affected by this in everyday life, it becomes difficult to get to work, to drive children to school because you may have the car in a workshop. It is difficult to get hold of spare parts, which means that this can take a very long time, says Ann Hassel Tano, head of investigations at If Skadeförsäkring. Foreign leagues More expensive spare parts and theft of catalytic converters are two explanations for the increase. At the same time, 90 percent of everything that is stolen leaves Sweden. Here, the insurance industry has long requested that the export of stolen goods be criminalised. – It is leaking like a sieve at our borders and the authorities that are set to work with this issue do not have enough mandate, resources or conditions. It is also important that we can develop measures to limit and hopefully stop this type of crime, says Ann Hassel Tano.
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