Stolen-car exports have passed their peak — but remain elevated
For three years organized crime turned Canada's ports into an export channel for stolen vehicles, shipping cars overseas in containers chiefly through Montreal and the Greater Toronto Area. Border interceptions rose roughly fivefold to a 2024 peak before easing in 2025, and the underlying theft wave — a record in 2023 — fell sharply in 2024. The crisis is receding, but thefts and exports are still well above where they sat before 2022.
Related metrics. This is one strand of the illicit-economy and border-security picture. See also:
Border integrity — who Canada admits and whether departures are tracked.
Cross-border crime — the contraband — cocaine and firearms — moving across the border.
Fentanyl production — Canada's shift from importing to producing synthetic opioids.
Human trafficking — reported trafficking trends, which are largely domestic.
Money laundering — Canada's exposure to illicit financial flows.
Auto theft for export is a distinct organized-crime business: vehicles are stolen — often in the GTA — driven to a port, loaded into shipping containers, and exported, frequently through the Port of Montreal, to markets overseas. The Canada Border Services Agency acts on 100% of police referrals to intercept these containers before they leave. Two complementary series track the problem: CBSA's interceptions at the border, and Équité Association's count of private-passenger vehicles stolen nationwide. Both surged into 2023–24 and both have since turned down.
Vehicles intercepted at the border, 2024
2,277
About 5× the 2018 level (463) — the peak year. Interceptions fell to 1,590 in 2025 as the wave eased.
Vehicles stolen nationwide, 2024
~57,000
Down 18.6% from 2023's record 70,475. Quebec fell 32.4%, Ontario 17.4% — but still above pre-2022 levels.
Theft-related insurance claims, 2024
~$1B
Down from a record $1.5B in 2023. The national recovery rate is 59.3% — about 40% of stolen vehicles are never recovered.
Border interceptions: up fivefold, then down
CBSA interceptions of stolen vehicles climbed from 463 in 2018 to 2,277 in 2024 — roughly fivefold — before falling to 1,590 in 2025. Quebec dominates the count (1,313 in 2024), reflecting the Port of Montreal's role as the principal export gateway, followed by the Greater Toronto Area (680). The 2025 decline coincides with intensified port screening and the federal response that followed the February 2024 National Auto Theft Summit.
Stolen vehicles intercepted and detained by the CBSA, by calendar year (2018–2025)
Source: CBSA Enforcement Action Statistics, "Stolen vehicle data by calendar year" (accessed June 2026). 2026 (306 to April) is partial and excluded. Interceptions reflect both export attempts and enforcement effort — the CBSA acts on 100% of police referrals — so the series is not a direct count of vehicles exported. Quebec and the GTA account for the large majority.
The theft wave: record, then retreat
The underlying theft numbers tell the same story one step upstream. Private-passenger vehicle thefts jumped from 53,382 in 2021 to a record 70,475 in 2023, then fell 18.6% in 2024 to about 57,000 — the first material decline of the crisis, led by a 32.4% drop in Quebec. Équité reports a further national decline through the first half of 2025. The level remains high: 2024 was still well above 2021. Seen over a longer horizon, the surge was a sharp reversal of a long decline — Statistics Canada's police-reported motor-vehicle-theft rate had fallen from a 2003 peak of 550.6 per 100,000 (more than double today's level) to a modern low around 2020, before the recent climb and a 17% easing in 2024 to 239.2.
Private-passenger vehicles stolen in Canada, 2021–2024 (Équité Association)
Source: Équité Association auto-theft trend reports. 2024 ≈ 57,000 ("over 57,000" per Équité; shown as 57,367 = 70,475 × (1 − 18.6%)). Équité counts insurer-reported private-passenger thefts, which differ from Statistics Canada police-reported motor-vehicle theft; the two are not spliced. National recovery rate 59.3% in 2024.
Findings
Finding 1
Export interdiction rose fivefold, then turned
CBSA interceptions went from 463 (2018) to a peak of 2,277 (2024), then fell to 1,590 (2025). Quebec — the Port of Montreal — accounts for the majority (1,313 in 2024), with the GTA next. The figure tracks both export attempts and enforcement, which the CBSA scaled up sharply.
Finding 2
The theft wave crested in 2023
Thefts rose from 53,382 (2021) to a record 70,475 (2023), then fell 18.6% in 2024 to about 57,000 — the first real decline of the crisis, led by Quebec (−32.4%). Équité reports continued decline into the first half of 2025.
Finding 3
Costly, and often unrecovered
Theft-related insurance claims hit a record $1.5B in 2023 and ran near $1B in 2024, with Équité putting the annual cost to Canadians around $900M. The national recovery rate is 59.3% — roughly 40% of stolen vehicles are never returned to their owners. Spread across all policyholders, the Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates auto theft adds about $130 a year to the average Ontario auto premium — and owners of high-theft models pay far more directly (one insurer lifted its high-theft surcharge from $500 to $1,500 for 2026).
Finding 4
Improving, not solved
Both series turned down after the February 2024 National Auto Theft Summit and tighter port screening — a genuine improvement. But 2024 thefts and interceptions remained well above pre-2022 levels, and the gains depend on sustained enforcement, so the verdict is Watch rather than strong.
Why "Watch." The direction is encouraging — interceptions and thefts both fell from their 2023–24 peaks. But interception counts blend export attempts with enforcement effort, so part of the earlier rise was the CBSA catching more; and the absolute level of theft is still far above its pre-crisis base. The trend has turned, but it has not normalised.
Two distinct series. CBSA interceptions count stolen vehicles stopped at the border (export-specific); Équité counts insurer-reported private-passenger thefts nationwide (the upstream crime). They measure different things and are not added or spliced.
Interceptions blend crime and enforcement. Because the CBSA acts on 100% of police referrals and scaled up port screening, interception counts reflect enforcement effort as well as export attempts — they are not a direct count of vehicles successfully exported.
2024 theft figure. Équité reports "over 57,000" for 2024 (−18.6% vs 2023); the chart uses 57,367 = 70,475 × (1 − 18.6%) for consistency with the reported change.
Premium impact is an Ontario, industry estimate. The ~$130/year per-driver figure is the Insurance Bureau of Canada's estimate for Ontario specifically; because auto insurance is regulated provincially it does not transfer cleanly to other provinces, and it reflects all auto theft (only part of which is export-bound). As claims fall, premium relief typically lags.
Long-arc context is a third measure. The 2003-peak and 2020-low figures are Statistics Canada's police-reported motor-vehicle-theft rate — all vehicle theft, not export-specific and not limited to private-passenger vehicles. It is cited only to place the recent surge in historical context and is deliberately not charted alongside the export and Équité series, which measure different things.
No international comparison. Export-theft and stolen-vehicle definitions and reporting differ across countries, so no G7 comparison is attempted; this is a Canada series.
Companion workbook. The editable series live in Securing_Stolen-Vehicle-Export_Data.xlsx: CBSA interceptions by year, Équité thefts by year, and the cost/recovery context.
Page last reviewed June 2026 · Data current to 2025 — the latest full year in CBSA enforcement statistics