Ottawa moves up two spots on Ontario’s most costly auto theft claims list

The nation’s capital rose two spots to fourth place on a list by the Insurance Bureau of Canada of the top costliest cities for vehicle theft claims.

According to the organization, Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga take the top three, but Ottawa moves from sixth place in 2024 to fourth in 2025. The data shows that last year, people filed $19,840,978 in claims in the city, a 363 per cent increase from 2017.

Claims across the province reached $485 million, which is down from the $723 million reported in 2024. However, the organization notes that the persistence of auto thefts in Ontario remains well above historical levels.

“While IBC applauds the efforts of provincial and municipal governments, law enforcement and insurers in helping to curb the auto theft crisis, there is still more work to be done by all stakeholders,” said Amanda Dean, Vice-President, Ontario and Atlantic, IBC. “Ending auto theft requires a sustained, coordinated and whole–of–society approach.”

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Rank	City	2025 claims	2017 claims	Difference between 2017 and 2025
1	Toronto	$114,512,629	$32,474,335	253 %
2	Brampton	$43,230,222	$6,499,751	565 %
3	Mississauga	$31,571,336	$9,986,857	216 %
4	Ottawa	$19,840,978	$4,285,184	363 %
5	Hamilton	$19,415,456	$6,054,175	221 %
6	Markham	$17,837,060	$2,403,756	642 %
7	Vaughan	$17,156,566	$3,642,865	371 %
8	Oakville	$12,752,952	$1,680,582	659 %
9	London	$11,696,594	$3,339,791	250 %
10	Richmond Hill	$8,159,317	$1,019,930	700 %

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It also notes that even though the province’s most populous cities occupy the top spots, several smaller municipalities are seeing exploding costs in claims.

Auto theft claims in the last eight years in Bowmanville and Clarington, just east of Toronto, rose 1,261 per cent, from $200,000 to over $2.7 million.

302 vehicles stolen in Ottawa this year

Ottawa police are working with a national not-for-profit organization to aiming to reduce stolen vehicles in the nation’s capital.

So far this year, police have collected 302 reports of stolen vehicles across the city, and 187 have been recovered. Officials said in a press release that auto theft is a concern in Ottawa. In 2025, Ottawa police had 1,458 reports of stolen vehicles and recovered 979 of them.

“Auto theft is a multifaceted issue funding organized crime,” said Superintendent Jaime Dunlop, Serious & Organized Crime.

To combat the increasing risks to vehicle owners, police are partnering with Équité Association, which helps educate people on vehicle thefts and uses data and analytics to recover cars faster

SUVs continue to be the most targeted type of vehicle in Ottawa, police said. According to Équité Association, this trend is reflected across the province. In its latest round-up of the top 10 most stolen vehicles in Ontario, the Honda CR-V tops the list, followed by several other SUVs such as the Jeep Wrangler, Lexus RX Series, Toyota RAV4, Toyota Highlander and the Land Rover Range Rover Series.