[RahulNagaraj]

Last year, a social media post went viral demonstrating how easy it was for someone to steal cars from Hyundai and Kia built between 2011 and 2021. The theft of these cars skyrocketed across the USA, with police departments and city officials calling for action from both owners and the carmaker.

The result of this is that most major insurance companies are refusing to offer coverage for such high theft-risk Hyundai & Kia cars. According to media reports, insurance companies in Colorado and Missouri (which had the highest spike in thefts) are flat-out refusing to provide insurance coverage if their customer has a vulnerable Hyundai or Kia model.



Reports state that insurance firm Progressive told a news channel in Denver that they restricted offering coverage on certain models of Hyundai & Kia because of the alarming rate at which these vehicles were getting stolen. The company is said to have made the decision to stop offering new policies to certain models from the Korean automakers in November last year.

A few insurance firms have also been reported to have dramatically increased the prices of their new policies. Other insurance companies seem to have increased premiums, even on vehicles which aren't as vulnerable. These premiums are said to have gone up by around 25 per cent, even for Hyundai and Kia cars which aren't susceptible to theft.

Source: TheDrive

Link to Team-BHP news

[ruzbehxyz]

Thanks for sharing. Does this apply to India as well, considering that Kia is relatively a newish brand ?

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Thanks for sharing. Does this apply to India as well, considering that Kia is relatively a newish brand ?

I don't think so. India never had the insurance premium tied to parameters like your driving record, make of car, location, vulnerability level etc., which is not the case in U.S. (More info)

[NT_GT]

Scotty Kilmer covered this few days ago in one of his 10-min videos. Apparently at some point, it became a dare/challenge for teenagers and young adults to steal a Hyundai/Kia car. Lot more info in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIoUR_hUTwo

[Siddj38]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

I don't think so. India never had the insurance premium tied to parameters like your driving record, make of car, location, vulnerability level etc., which is not the case in U.S. (More info)

I have learned from my friend who is into insurance that companies even here tend to give a higher quote for certain cars like white fortuners, white scorpios etc because they are stolen more.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by Siddj38

I have learned from my friend who is into insurance that companies even here tend to give a higher quote for certain cars like white fortuners, white scorpios etc because they are stolen more.

This has nothing to do with the probability of the car being stolen AFAIK.
Below are from sites of various insurance companies in India:
Bajaj Alliance
Acko
HDFC Ergo

[Cresterk]

Feel bad for the customers really. Not only were they the victims of some bean counter at hyundai, now they are the victims of insurance companies. Hopefully they enforce this decision for brand new hyundai/kia cars as well because that will hurt sales and will force the manufacturer to actually do something.

[steadfast]

Even Indian insurance companies follow such practices. There is a whitelist and risky list of cars according to which premium is decided. Though a common man does not know such tactics happening around.

[RedTerrano]

Sadly we live in a world full of TikTokkers, who follow "trends" like hordes of sheep, and participate in {insert_name_here} challenge. One trend which goes viral, can ruin your reputation and/or business.

I see only one way out for auto manufacturers. Spruce their security systems and launch their own Break into my brand vehicle challenge.

Like the election commission had done some years ago, where they invited anyone to tamper the EVMs. All loud mouths shied away from the event and the common man's faith in EVMs was restored.