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: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: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.