An explosive rise in theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles has led some insurance companies to cease writing insurance for new customers. The thefts are mainly among Kia cars newer than 2011 and Hyundai cars newer than 2015.
“The Highway Loss Data Institute reviewed 2021 insurance claims and found that among 2015-19 vehicles, theft claims were nearly twice as common for Hyundai and Kia vehicles than all other car manufacturers.
The institute thinks it’s because the companies sell vehicles that don’t have electronic immobilizers to prevent thieves from taking them. People are able to break in and bypass the ignition, the institute said.” – USA Today
To date, State Farm, Travelers, Auto Owners, and Progressive have announced new business underwriting guidelines that affect these Kia and Hyundia owners. We will try to keep you up to date below on current guidelines for the companies we write auto policies through (we do not write State Farm policies- for more information, please contact them directly) that affect South Carolina.
TRAVELERS: Starting March 3, Kia model-year vehicles 2011-2021 and Hyundai model-year vehicles 2015-2021 will only be eligible for liability coverage on new business policies in SC. Existing customers will not be impacted by this underwriting update. These actions will remain in effect until further notice.
AUTO OWNERS: Effective February 10, 2023, we are making changes to vehicle acceptability for Kia vehicles with model years 2011 – 2021 and Hyundai vehicles with model years 2015 – 2021 and may not be able to provide pricing in our quoting system until additional information is received. Your CT Lowndes agent may be able to quote with Auto Owners if there have been any anti-theft devices used or installed. Examples of such devices include:
- an installed security kit provided by the manufacturer
- secondary alarm system
- anti-theft feature or immobilizer (steering wheel lock, steering column lock, wheel lock)
Vehicles with a push button start do not present an increased theft exposure and therefore do not require any additional mitigation.
PROGRESSIVE: while Progressive has announced some restrictions, they have not announced any for South Carolina. If this changes we will update this post.
