With six kids to get ready for Saturday sport, Melisa Kerehoma has her hands full.
A couple of weeks ago Kerehoma went shopping at a local mall and left her van for 15 minutes. It was gone when she returned to the carpark.
"Knowing that a car could just disappear within 15 minutes, that was really shocking to me," she said.
READ MORE: Insurance company releases list of most stolen cars in New Zealand
Kerehoma used the van for running the kids to school and sports, as well as for shopping and other appointments. She worries her car's been stolen by criminals.
"I might one day see my van on TV, and it just scares me to think that that's what's happening to society today."
Kerehoma’s experience is reflected in a growing number of vehicle thefts, and the Insurance Council says this will eventually mean higher premiums.
Police data shows more than 30,000 vehicles were stolen in 2019, rising to more than 36,000 last year. In the first six months of this year, the figures show around 24,000 thefts, suggesting a very high total by year's end.
"That's a big number of cars," said John Lucas of the Insurance Council. "Quite a lot of them actually are written off. They're beyond repair in a lot of cases so that will have a big increase on premium changes."
Lucas says it's not clear how much and how soon premiums will rise, but it's likely to be a gradual increase. And different groups of vehicle owners could be affected. They include those living in areas with a high incidence of theft.
"We know that there's been a massive increase in thefts in the Auckland region in the last six months, 12 months," he points out.
The owners of lower-value cars may also feel the brunt.
"If certain models of cars are getting stolen more often, then the insurers would probably have a higher premium allocated to those higher risk cars."
Then there's the matter of those with no insurance at all. Kerehoma had no cover, believing she couldn't afford it. Now she realises how that has backfired.
"Now I have to go out on my own pocket and you know I'm already on a budget,” she said.
The Insurance Council estimates around 8% of vehicle owners are currently uninsured. Considering the 24,000 vehicles stolen in the first part of this year, if the rate of uninsured vehicles is the same among those car owners, that could translate to nearly 2000 car owners.
Kerehoma is getting by on weekends with a van lent to her by her mum, and she's also gone online to ask her community for another vehicle. "Which I am able to pay off weekly because that's my affordability,” she said.
And after a discussion with 1News, she also says she'll get advice on third-party fire and theft insurance, for the next time she owns a vehicle.
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