Mahaz News
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Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to jot down insurance policies in sure cities for some older Hyundai and Kia fashions which were deemed too simple to steal, in response to the businesses.
Several reviews say the businesses have stopped providing insurance coverage on these autos in cities that embody Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance coverage corporations didn’t inform Mahaz News which cities or states had been concerned.
The Highway Loss Data Institute launched insurance coverage claims information final September that confirmed what varied social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 via 2019 Hyundai and Kia fashions are roughly twice as more likely to be stolen as different autos of comparable age, as a result of a lot of them lack a number of the primary auto theft prevention know-how included in most different autos in these years, in response to the HLDI.
Specifically, these SUVs and automobiles don’t have digital immobilizers, which depend on a pc chip within the automobile and one other in the important thing that talk to substantiate that the important thing actually belongs to that automobile. Without the proper key, an immobilizer ought to do exactly that – cease the automobile from shifting.
Immobilizers had been customary tools on 96% of autos offered for the 2015-2019 mannequin years, in accordance the HLDI, however solely 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at the moment. Vehicles which have push-button begin techniques, slightly than counting on metallic keys that should be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, however not all fashions with turn-key ignitions do.
Stealing these autos turned a social media development in 2021, in response to HLDI, as automobile thieves started posting movies of their thefts and joyrides and even movies explaining steal the automobiles. In Wisconsin, the place the crimes first turned prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to greater than 30 instances 2019 ranges in greenback phrases.
“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer mentioned in an announcement offered to Mahaz News. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”
Progressive can also be slicing again on insuring these automobiles in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel mentioned in an emailed assertion.
“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” he wrote. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”
Progressive continues to insure those that have already got insurance policies with the corporate, he mentioned. Progressive can also be offering them with recommendation on defend their autos from theft.
Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, mentioned it was very uncommon for auto insurers to easily cease writing new insurance policies on a given make or mannequin of auto.
“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he mentioned.
Hyundai and Kia function as separate corporations within the United States, however Hyundai Motor Group owns a big stake in Kia and varied Hyundai and Kia fashions share a lot of their engineering.
Engine immobilizers at the moment are customary on all Kia and Hyundai autos, the businesses mentioned in separate statements. Both automakers additionally mentioned they’re creating safety software program for autos that weren’t initially outfitted with an immobilizer. Kia mentioned it has begun notifying house owners of the provision of this software program, which will likely be offered at no cost. Hyundai mentioned its free software program free replace will likely be accessible subsequent month.
Hyundai additionally mentioned it’s offering free steering wheel locks to some police departments across the nation to provide native residents who’ve Hyundai fashions that might be simply stolen. Hyundai sellers are additionally promoting and putting in safety kits for the autos, the corporate mentioned.
Correction: A earlier model of this story misstated the price of Hyundai safety kits.
Source web site: www.cnn.com
