According to various reports, both Progressive and State Farm have withdrawn from insuring some older Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to a lack of anti-theft features.
The move comes following social media posts showed how to start certain Hyundais and Kias without the use of a key, prompting theft warnings from police.
Ira Gabriel, a Hyundai spokesman, expected the actions to be temporary, but did not specify which years of vehicles were affected.
State Farm said in a statement that the company has temporarily stopped accepting applications from new customers in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because losses from theft have increased dramatically.
The company said the move is part of an attempt to assess the risk and impact of excessive claims costs on its customers.
Insurance competitor Progressive announced a similar move
Progressive spokesperson Jeff Sibel said: “Over the past year, we have seen theft rates of certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple, and in some markets these vehicles are nearly 20 times more likely to be stolen than others. vehicles”.
“In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”
What areas are affected ?
Neither the insurance companies nor the automakers said which cities or states would be affected by the measure targeting some Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
CNN reported that insurance companies have stopped offering new policies in cities like Denver and St. Louis, as theft claims are nearly twice as common for older Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
An organization that studies vehicle insurance data, the Highway Loss Data Institute, previously claimed that Hyundai and Kia vehicles lack anti-theft technology, making them more susceptible to theft.
In September, the Highway Loss Data Institute conducted an analysis of 2021 insurance claims and said both Hyundais and Kias are easy targets.
Among vehicles from 2015 to 2019, theft claims were almost twice as common for Hyundai and Kia vehicles than for all other manufacturers.
The reason, the institute said, is probably because both companies sell vehicles that do not have electronic immobilizers to prevent thieves from taking the cars. Thieves can break in and prevent ignition, the researchers said.
The Highway Loss Data Institute said that both Hyundai and Kia have been slow to add the precautionary features, calling the anti-theft capabilities standard equipment on almost all vehicles of that era made by other manufacturers.
“Our previous studies show that vehicle theft losses plummeted following immobilizers were introduced,” HLDI Senior Vice President Matt Moore said in September.
“Unfortunately, Hyundai and Kia have lagged behind other automakers in manufacturing standard equipment.” But the new models already have them.
Source: USA Today