Auto thefts continue downward trend across Canada, new report shows

Gast said the drop in auto thefts is encouraging but luxury vehicles are still being stolen and the profits are still used to fund organized crime.

“Stakeholders have to continue doing what we’re doing because if we take our foot off the gas, criminals will see this is a very high reward, low-risk (crime),” Gast said.

While the first half of 2025 saw 23,093 vehicles reported stolen, just 20,759 were reported stolen over the first six months of this year, the report found.

Atlantic Canada saw the smallest reduction in reported auto thefts — from 910 in the first half of 2025 to 873 reported in this first half of 2026, a decrease of 4.1 per cent.

An Angus Reid survey commissioned by Équité Association earlier this year found that, despite the drop in reported auto thefts, the overwhelming majority of Canadians still feel their vehicles’ anti-theft technology isn’t as robust as it should be.

The July survey found nearly 80 per cent of Canadians think their vehicles are or could be vulnerable to thieves.

The Angus Reid survey suggested 60 per cent of Canadians want government-mandated anti-theft technology in new vehicles.

Équité Association released a report in February that said while the number of vehicles stolen in Canada fell sharply in 2025, almost 47,000 thefts were reported that year and more than a third of those vehicles were never recovered.

In 2024, the federal government announced a new national action plan to “disrupt, dismantle and prosecute” the organized crime groups behind auto thefts through tougher criminal penalties, more inspections of shipping containers and better intelligence-sharing.

The Équité report from February said that while the strategy appeared to be working, Canadians remain vulnerable to car theft rings and a spike in vehicle finance fraud detected at ports in Montreal and Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Auto thefts continue downward trend across Canada, new report shows

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