Nir Sheratzky, CEO of Ituran, said that due to the economic situation and unemployment, it is expected that in 2021 there will be an increase in the number of car thefts as well as other types of crime.
In the first quarter of 2021, there were about four times as many car theft incidents in underground parking lots compared to 2020.
There was also a 6% increase in thefts of jeeps and SUVs compared to 2020, which was 37% of all attempted vehicle thefts in the quarter.
From the beginning of 2021, Ituran led to the arrest of 27 squads of car thieves, which will save the economy about NIS 150 million ($42 m.) in the year.
In the first quarter of 2021, the car key was in the thief’s possession in 28% of the theft incidents, some 36% began with a violent burglary method and then an attempt to hack the car computers, 16% of the incidents were coded through the OBD socket in the vehicle, 12% were done by towing and loading onto another vehicle, the vehicle was forcefully hijacked from its owner in 3% of the thefts, and 5% of the cases cannot be determined.