Todd Kendrick, Director of Sales and Products at RGC Automotive, which sells CarRX by Elo GPS in Canada
Auto theft continues to decline across Canada, but one important measure is moving in the opposite direction: the share of stolen vehicles being recovered has slipped.
Équité Association reported that 20,759 private passenger vehicles were stolen during the first half of 2026, down 10.1 per cent from the same period last year. But the national recovery rate fell to 53.9 per cent from 56.5 per cent. The recovery rate was even lower in Ontario, at 44.8 per cent, and Quebec, at 43.9 per cent.
Those figures add context to comments made this week by Michael Rothe, President and CEO of the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association (CFLA), during an Ottawa press conference on fraudulent vehicle financing and crime.
“Recovery rates of stolen vehicles remain low. Approximately half of those vehicles are never ever recovered,” said Rothe.
Michael Rothe, President and CEO of the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association (CFLA)
Rothe said Canada has made significant progress against auto theft through greater enforcement, government action and increased involvement by the Canada Border Services Agency. But the CFLA is also warning that organized crime is adapting. Its latest report cites a 72 per cent year-over-year increase in fraudulently financed vehicles being funnelled toward export through major Canadian ports.
Todd Kendrick, Director of Sales and Products at RGC Automotive, which sells CarRX by Elo GPS in Canada, said declining theft numbers are encouraging, but should not give dealers a false sense that the problem is disappearing.
“The criminals are evolving faster than anybody else predicted or suspected they would,” said Kendrick, who reached out to Canadian auto dealer to discuss the evolving situation.
CarRX is a connected vehicle tracking and stolen-vehicle recovery system that also provides dealerships with inventory-management and loss-prevention tools.
Kendrick supports Équité’s call to modernize vehicle anti-theft requirements, but said the industry also needs to focus on what happens when prevention fails.
Kendrick said he has recently encountered cases in which thieves attempted to defeat factory-installed tracking systems. Kendrick cited thefts involving a Ford Expedition and F-150 where factory communications hardware had been disconnected, preventing the OEM systems from locating the vehicles.
That is why he said the company favours a layered approach that combines stronger factory security with dealership procedures, physical barriers and a recovery system that does not depend solely on the vehicle’s factory communications.
“There’s no layer that’s perfect, but together the layers work,” said Kendrick. “We teach our dealers to treat it like a medieval castle.”
Kendrick also cautioned dealers against viewing auto theft primarily as a Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver problem. The company is increasingly encountering thefts in smaller communities, where quieter dealership lots and fewer people around overnight can create different opportunities for thieves.
He said criminals are also looking for vulnerabilities earlier in the dealership process. In one recent case, a newly delivered vehicle was stolen before its pre-delivery inspection was completed. The dealer subsequently changed its procedures so recovery devices are installed shortly after vehicles arrive from the transporter.
The tactics used after vehicles are stolen are changing as well.
Kendrick said thieves have traditionally left vehicles in parking lots or other locations for a “cooling-off” period to see whether they are being tracked. The company has recently located stolen vehicles parked on ordinary residential streets instead.
He said recent cases suggest dealers may have an eight- to 12-hour window while a vehicle is being left to cool before criminals return for it, making rapid detection and contact with police particularly important.
The company says that to date, 100% of the CarRX-equipped dealer vehicles reported stolen in Canada have been recovered.
For dealers, the improving national theft numbers are welcome. But with the recovery rate moving the other way and criminals continuing to change tactics, the message is to remain vigilant. “It’s not over,” said Kendrick.
