Article content
A Montreal-area couple who had their car stolen in March were stunned to receive a parking ticket for it in the mail last week.
The ticket was dated five days after the vehicle was stolen, leaving the couple to wonder why it wasn’t flagged when the ticket was being issued.
Article content
The couple went to the location where the 2018 Honda CR-V was last seen to find “broken lock pieces of the door” scattered on the ground.
Article content
“I just found it strange that we received a ticket for a car that was stolen and that the car wasn’t flagged in any system, and that made it a little bit frustrating because had it been flagged as stolen, we may have been able to retrieve it,” Oliver Frost told CTV News. He is now contesting the $156 parking ticket.
Recommended from Editorial
Their car was ticketed seven kilometers from where it was stolen before disappearing again.
Andre Durocher, CAA Quebec spokesperson, said parking attendants do not have access to the vehicle information of police. But Frost said he wanted to know why there is currently no system to track vehicles that are stolen before they end up in the port of Montreal and shipped elsewhere.
Earlier this year, the RCMP began sharing Canada’s database for stolen vehicles with Interpo,. According to the global police organization, stolen Canadian vehicles have been found around the globe at a rate of about 200 a week since February.
Article content
Had it been flagged as stolen, we may have been able to retrieve it
More than 1,500 vehicles have been identified thanks to the RCMP’s decision to share the database. Interpol’s own database collects information from 137 countries, indicating that so far this year Canada ranks among the world’s top 10 countries for stolen vehicles.
Auto thefts in Canada rose to a new record in 2023. The Insurance Bureau of Canada found in a report last week that the insurance claims costs for stolen vehicles soared to $1.54 billion in 2023, with 49,679 total claims made.
In comparison, between 2018 and 2021, cost of claims averaged $556 million a year. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of claims rose 10 per cent while the value rose by close to 20, indicating the value of the vehicle claims were getting higher.
According to a Rates.ca report cited by the Financial Post, the frequently stolen vehicles, such as the Honda CR-V, could be quoted premiums that are 25 per cent higher, plus an additional $500 surcharge.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Share this article in your social network
