Vehicle thefts are on the rise nationwide, are they in the Lowcountry?

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — Authorities in parts of the Lowcountry report there have been hundreds of vehicle thefts since the beginning of 2023.

This comes as a new report from the Council on Criminal Justice reports that this kind of crime is up 34% in the U.S.

While car thefts are actually down in both Charleston and North Charleston compared to this time last year, Charleston Police report 260 vehicles stolen from the beginning of 2023 to August 13. North Charleston Police report 443 vehicle thefts from Jan. 1 to August 6, 2023.

Recently, management at The Islands apartments and townhomes on James Island notified residents the property was the target of multiple car break-ins, and one vehicle was stolen altogether.

Charleston Police said one way to prevent these incidents is by using anti-theft devices.

“So like a steering wheel lock for example — that could be something that is definitely an option,” said Sgt. Anthony Gibson.

Data also shows there has been a surge in thefts of Kias and Hyundais, and experts like Mark Friedlander, with the Insurance Information Institute, believe social media has contributed to the trend.

“There was a Tik Tok video showing how easy it is to steal certain models of Kias and Hyundais,” Friedlander explained. “This covers about 100 different models between 2011 and 2021, and all of these vehicles are missing a critical theft deterrent called an engine immobilizer that most vehicles in the U.S. have.”

A new anti-theft software was released earlier this year for the impacted vehicles, but Friedlander said it hasn’t helped much.

“Instead of initiating a mandatory recall where the manufacturers would have installed the engine immobilizer, they decided to do this voluntary process of a software upgrade and it’s not being effective,” he said.

Now, some vehicle owners are being impacted by the problem when it comes to car insurance coverage.

“For customers shopping for a policy, many auto insurers have stopped writing new policies on these vehicles because of the theft situation — so it’s challenging,” Friedlander said. “There’s still some companies out there that are writing it — most likely you’re going to pay a lot more for this coverage than you did a year ago.”

News 2 reached out to State Farm about the issue, and received this statement:

“State Farm has stopped accepting new customer applications in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically. This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.

We take seriously our responsibility to manage risk and the impact of excess claim costs on all our customers. In this case, it became necessary to take action to protect our policyholders and our business.

We are monitoring this situation very closely and will adjust our approach as appropriate.”

While State Farm confirmed some states are impacted, it’s not exactly clear what that means for the Lowcountry.

“They don’t want their competitors to know what markets they have stopped writing certain types of policies in,” Friedlander explained. “So as a result they are allowed to keep this information confidential, state regulations allow that. And that’s why we are not seeing broad announcements that we’re going to stop writing these policies in these specific cities.”

Sgt. Gibson also offered advice for residents like parking in well-lit areas and avoiding environments that would allow a criminal to be hidden. He also recommends homeowners add security cameras to their properties.

“There’s a myriad of crimes that happen just by someone illegally entering your vehicle,” he said.

Besides vehicle thefts, Charleston Police also warn residents to remove valuables from their cars to prevent thieves from breaking in and stealing items from the vehicle.

A report from the agency shows thefts from vehicles average at about two incidents per day, with 421 reports this year as of August 13.

“It’s going to be a problem that we’ve seen for a while and it’s not going to be a problem that’s is just magically going to evaporate and go away,” Gibson said.

Charleston Police also report that firearms stolen from vehicles are up almost 15% this year, compared to the same time last year.