Winnipeg Demands Immobilizers on High-Risk Cars

mytrip writes with a Reuters article about a new, unusual insurance requirement for drivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Apparently Winnipeg is one of the worst cities in Canada for auto thefts. New and 'high-risk' cars will now be required to install an electronic immobilizers in order to qualify for car insurance. "Chomiak said cars are stolen twice as often in Winnipeg as in other Manitoba cities, while a 2005 report from Statistics Canada said the city had a higher per-capita car theft rate than larger cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. The province, where cars are insured through Manitoba Public Insurance, will fork over C$15 million ($14 million) so that owners without immobilizers can have them installed."

Comments

Re:Eh?

[onosson]

I'm from Winnipeg, and actually Manitoba Public Insurance pays the entire cost of the immobilizer for the high-risk vehicles, so it's not even a cost issue. Plus, you get a discount on your annual insurance for having it installed as well. I got mine immediately when the program started, it's only saved me money.

Re:Anyone want to give details

[onosson]

To address one of your comments - Manitoba Public Insurance pays the entire cost of the immobilizer, and provides a discount on your premium once you have it installed. Also, it seems that most of the vehicle theft here in Winnipeg is by youth taking the cars on joyrides, so the electronic bypass methods are probably not a big issue. And Winnipeg is FAR from any other major cities (Minneapolis is the closest large city - almost 800 kms away!) so I don't think thieves are going to be going cross-border as a result.

Re:Actually, government insurance works quite well

[TheLink]

"charging the fewer high risk customers more they can charge the rest of their customers less" "This is a text-book example of how free markets can accomplish good things."

But is it actually cheaper or not? Do they actually charge the rest of their customers less?

After all another poster said: "You might think so, but Manitoba has one of the lowest overall insurance rates in the whole country"

To be fair we will have to factor in any public money the Government puts in or takes out from the insurance scheme. But it seems that Manitoba is doing OK:

http://www.mpi.mb.ca/English/newsroom/articles/200 7/nr_PUB_Highlights.html

Quote: "Manitoba Public Insurance reported net income from annual operations of $68.4 million, thanks to a strong economy and investment revenue. This was reduced to $8.7 million after the corporation provided customers with a $59.7 million premium rebate."

How many private insurance companies are going to do that? The CxO's will get multi million dollar bonuses and say it's their right after all they did a good job.

In my opinion, "the free market" is quite overrated. I'm not against it of course, just too many people seem to blindly worship it or something. They forget it's _their_ job to be the "Invisible Hand". If you have good people in charge, even a crappy system can work ok.

Here's my light bulb joke for you:

Q: How many free market economists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Free market economists don't change lightbulbs, they prefer to write their papers in the darkness while waiting for Adam Smith's invisible hand to do it for them

Re:Naive

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

the vast majority of theifts are punks stealing a car for a joy ride, they aren't bright enough or organised enough to have a laptop on hand to hack the cars electrical systems. the only cars that might be targeted by professional gangs would be expensive or hard to get cars they can resell, You obviously don't know a thing about car theft, except perhaps what you've seen in the movies.
Here's the top-ten list of most stolen cars in the USA for 2005:

1. 1991 Honda Accord
   
2. 1995 Honda Civic
   
3. 1989 Toyota Camry
   
4. 1994 Dodge Caravan
   
5. 1994 Nissan Sentra
   
6. 1997 Ford F150 Series
   
7. 1990 Acura Integra
   
8. 1986 Toyota Pickup
   
9. 1993 Saturn SL
   
10. 2004 Dodge Ram Pickup

Professional car theft is ALL about the used-parts markets - stolen cars invariable end up in chop shops and sold for parts. The biggest market for car parts isn't going to be high-end one in a million models, it is the mom and pop with a million on the road models.