Toowoomba leads the state in rising car theft insurance claims

The unenviable title of Toowoomba being the car theft capital has been reinforced by new RACQ data which has shown an alarming 89% jump in vehicles being stolen. See the insurance data here:

Alarming data has reinforced Toowoomba’s title as the car theft capital of Queensland, with RACQ revealing an 89.2 per cent spike in car theft insurance claims submitted to them this last year.

The motor vehicle company has about a 20 per cent share of the car insurance market yet 123 of its Toowoomba clients have made a claim after their car was stolen in the 2021-22 financial year.

This almost doubles the previous year when the motoring group received 65 claims and shows Toowoomba has led the state in rising insurance claims for car theft.

It is followed closely by Cairns.

RACQ received 150 claims in the 2021-22 financial year, up 87.5 per cent from the year before.

The Maranoa and Darling Downs were up about 45.5 percent from 22 in the 2020-21 financial year to 32 in 2021-22.

RACQ spokeswoman Ashleigh Paterson said RACQ received 1827 claims for stolen vehicles across Queensland last financial year.

“It’s really concerning that car theft is a growing problem and causing issues for thousands of motorists,” she said.

“We’ve seen a 20 per cent increase in car theft claims between FY21 and FY22, and that upward trend has continued in recent months with rates now above pre-Covid levels.

“Our data also reinforced that areas with larger populations or elevated crime rates tend to continuously experience a high number of vehicles being stolen each year, rather than large spikes.”

Motorists are advised to keep their vehicles secure by parking them off the street or in a locked garage.

Likewise, keeping vehicle keys in a secure place that is out of sight reduces the chance that a prowler could find them.

“Don’t leave your keys laying around in easily accessible locations such as a table near the door or a key hook, and don’t tag your keys with identifiers like your name or address,” Ms Patterson said.

“Make sure, whenever you leave your vehicle, your windows are up, doors are locked and don’t leave valuables visible in the car.”

Darling Downs police have launched Operation Copperfield to tackle the persistent problem of car theft and property crime perpetrated by young offenders.

It resulted in 177 people charged with 359 offences in the district since it started on May 25, 2022.

“The result is that June was our lowest month for car thefts since September 2021,” Insp McQueen said.

Property offences committed by juveniles have decreased from 236 offences committed in May and 102 offences in June, down to 70 offences recorded in July.

Darling Downs Detective Inspector Heath McQueen said specialist officers, including a dedicated property crime team and criminal investigators, have been deployed to investigate matters of this nature.

“Officers undertake proactive and intelligence-driven patrols throughout Toowoomba and the surrounding areas,” he said.

“Additionally, resources such as Police Liaison Officers and officers from the Tactical Crime Unit have recently been deployed to assist in ongoing strategies to address property crime issues.”