Less than 10 years ago Australia’s car theft industry was a serious pain to insurers and police. But now the goodies are winning, thanks in large part to the installation of vehicle immobilisers.

The latest statistics from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) show the use of new security technology in new and near-new vehicles has helped to reduce the number of thefts.

Between 2000 and 2004, thefts of vehicles five years old or less fell more than 50%. For older cars, the improvement is less.

The NMVTRC says it expects vehicle theft to continue falling as a greater proportion of the national fleet is fitted with immobilisers. But there will be some short-term displacement as thieves concentrate on vehicles with less protection.

It is also examining Australia’s high rate of unrecovered stolen vehicles – 13,600 passenger and light commercial vehicles in 2004.

Preliminary analysis suggests that most were dumped (with up to 5500 re-birthed or stripped for parts), but the council has vowed to go deeper. It has commissioned the University of Western Sydney to undertake full forensic analysis of the theft statistics.

It is also looking at the differing rates of theft of vehicles protected by agreed-value policies, compared with those based on market value. This will be the first study into the incidence of theft for the two policy types and the potential for agreed value to encourage insurance fraud.