Insurers are urging customers to install trackers—sometimes even two—to lessen the impact on premiums as high-end vehicle theft increases.

According to Tracker’s latest Vehicle Crime Index, hijackings accounted for 55% of all vehicle crime incidents.

South African car owners face an increasingly high risk of vehicle theft or hijacking, and many insurers now insist that certain vehicles have tracking devices installed before granting cover.

Car hijackings have been on the rise since 2020. According to the latest SAPS crime statistics, there were 5,973 carjackings in the fourth quarter of 2023.

This equates to about 66 cars being hijacked per day, which represents an increase of 34% over pre-pandemic levels.

Gauteng is the worst region in South Africa for this type of crime. Of the almost 6,000 cars hijacked in the fourth quarter of 2023, half (3,010, or 50.4%) were from Gauteng.

The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were the next worst-hit provinces, at about 14% each.

“These statistics are only for hijackings involving some sort of violence or coercion against the driver. Total vehicle thefts are around 10,000 per quarter or about 40,000 annually,” said Marius Kemp, Head of Personal Lines Insurance at Santam.

Premiums

A hijacking trend highlighted in the 2022/23 Santam Insurance Barometer Report showed that there has been a shift away from older, low-value vehicles with limited security features towards more expensive double cabs and SUVs.

This aligned with the experiences of private security companies such as Fidelity ADT.

Fidelity noted that high-value cars such as Toyota Prados and Toyota Landcruisers are among the most popular models for criminals, along with the Hilux bakkie and Fortuner SUV.

“The hi-tech features on newer, higher-end cars often aren’t the deterrent one would think. For example, cars with keyless entry have become specific targets for criminals, who are able to intercept the signal coming from the driver’s remote,” Kemp says.

Faced with a post-pandemic spike in car theft claims, insurance companies, including Santam, were forced to introduce mandatory hijacking and theft countermeasures.

Some of the measures include doubling up on vehicle trackers, discussing tech-linked weaknesses with vehicle manufacturers, and promoting Faraday pouches to prevent the cloning of keyless access signals.

In some instances, Santam insists that clients install two tracking devices in their cars, depending on the make and model of the vehicle, to mitigate the increase in the cost of claims.

“The reduction will depend on your risk profile, type of vehicle and where you live, but all other things being equal, a car owner with a tracking device will pay a lower premium each month than a car owner without one,” Kemp said.

“In some cases, the monthly discount on the premium will be higher than the monthly cost of the device.”

This mandatory countermeasure may also extend to businesses, as hijackers are increasingly targeting business-owned vehicles as well, especially delivery vehicles, due to the boom in online shopping.