Ally All Ears Podcast | Rising vehicle theft

In this episode of the Ally All Ears podcast, host Emma Hancock interviews Matt Broome, Senior Director of Product Development at Ally Financial, discusses the rise in auto theft, which has increased by 25% since 2019, and the need for better theft prevention and recovery solutions.  

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Emma Hancock: Hi everyone. Welcome back to the All Ears podcast. I'm Emma Hancock with Automotive News. This podcast is sponsored by Ally Financial and produced by the Automotive News Content Studio. In each episode, we explore topics that are important to leaders in automotive retailing. Our guests include experts in their field from Ally, plus dealers from around the country to offer actionable solutions in our ever changing industry.

Today we catch up with Matt Broome, Senior Director, Product Development at Ally Financial. And we're talking about the rise in auto theft. Over 1 million cars were stolen in 2022 and in 2023. And this dramatic increase has led to dealers and consumers looking for additional theft prevention and recovery options.

Matt, thank you so much for taking the time.

Matt Broome: I really appreciate it, Emma. Thank you.

Emma Hancock: Great to have you here. So Matt, vehicle theft is a growing concern among consumers. Can you talk about the trends and recovery of stolen vehicles in the U. S.?

Matt Broome: Yeah, of course. And like you mentioned in the lead in, the big punchline is it's getting worse.

And what's interesting is when you look back at statistics over the past several decades, vehicle theft, in general, across the country, it's actually been declining since the mid-sixties. And for much of most consumers lives, it's been a trend that's getting better. Then, like many things, the pandemic happened, and we've seen a pretty stark increase since that time. Since 2019 auto thefts have risen by 25 percent. In 2022, they eclipsed a million and it continued to be over there. And I think what concerns most consumers is, I think some folks have a perception that I go park my car in a public space and then it gets stolen. That's just simply not the case.

Most vehicle thefts actually happen at somebody's home or right near their home. So, it's common and it happens pretty consistently. You mentioned recovery rates. Most of these cars do end up coming back about a third. You get back same day, over 80 percent end up getting recovered.

But what's interesting when you peel the layers back, auto theft rates have one of the lowest completion rates for law enforcement authority. So, whereas the vehicles are eventually recovered the individuals who were involved in a theft are not brought to justice.

And so, this happens again, but it also means that a lot of times the cars were dumped. And so, while you might get the car back, it's not in the shape that you had left it in, which obviously is poor for consumers.

Emma Hancock: That’s a really good point. Even though it's recovered, does the actual original owner ever get to have it again. And the answer is not usually. You know certainly, Matt, vehicle theft products have evolved over the years. What types of products might help consumers protect their vehicle from being stolen as well as recover the vehicle if it is stolen?

Matt Broome: So, consumers have protection against theft through their personal auto policies, through their comprehensive coverage. And if they buy GAP, there would also be theft protection. But like you mentioned those are backward looking coverages. They're not actually preventing anything.

And with that, with consumers not only wanting protection against theft if it does happen, but also preventative measures, there's a role for dealers to play. And traditionally, I would say most dealers offer some form of a theft coverage. And the traditional dynamic is there's something that's applied to the vehicle that makes it less likely to be stolen, or if it is stolen, easier to track down and get the vehicle back to the original owner. That comes with a warranty.

But the technology really hasn't evolved a ton up until late, and we've seen a trend where more technology is put into this process. So, the actual device that's preventing the theft or allowing connectivity back to the actual consumer, there's technology driving that. And so, it allows for actual tracking of vehicles in real time. So, consumers that have the vehicle is stolen, they're able to go on either an app, work with the police department and get paired back to their vehicle pretty quickly, which is interesting because it also comes with the warranty component as well.

Emma Hancock: Really customers are looking for tools that give them the ability to be extra vigilant, tools that help them protect what is their property. And for dealers, it's not only their property, their inventory, it's essentially their livelihood.

So, with the advancement of technology, the ability to recover a stolen vehicle is also increasing. Can you share some of the benefits stolen vehicle recovery products can offer to dealers in terms of monitoring, tracking, and locating inventory?

Matt Broome: This is where I think it's really interesting for auto dealers. We've witnessed this trend of technology adoption within the theft prevention space.

One of the things we did was we went and found a couple companies that do this. We piloted it with a number of dealers and got fantastic feedback. Eventually, we teamed up with a company called RecovR, which we are taking that product and marketing it to dealers who do business with us.

But if you think about the F&I process. You often hear the phrase like a micro moment, or there's a point in time transaction that happens. And so, you're, selling theft coverage. That coverage is sold at the point of sale and then you hope that a claim is never managed. The introduction of technology into that process changes it.

So one, the consumer leaves with an app with connectivity back to the dealership. And, those apps, RecovR has one, we hope that the consumer is using that. And every time they do, it draws the consumer back to the dealer, right?

It makes the consumer think about the dealer when they use the app. So, it creates connectivity throughout the product life cycle. What's also interesting, and it's similar to how a ceramic paint product works or some of the other products in F&I, dealers are not charged for these products until they're actually sold to the end consumer.

And so, what RecovR does and what some of their contemporaries are doing is they're actually providing these devices ahead of time and actually allowing dealers to install them on their inventory. So, dealers, as vehicles sit on the lot, they have all these anti-theft prevention devices on the lot.

If there is a vehicle that is stolen, pretty quickly the RecovR system, or the other contemporary would identify that, hey, a vehicle has been driven off a lot. It's 2 a. m. We know that's not a customer that's going off for a test drive. There's probably a vehicle theft. Automatically tell the police department and what we have found through the pilot or through our research is recovery rates on those vehicles are pretty significant. Dealers are able to get paired back with those vehicles rather quickly, which, again, that puts a vehicle back in a lot ready for sale. And it's just a headache that they don't have to deal with which, the F&I product is exciting, the ability to continue to interact with the consumer throughout the life cycle of the vehicle is exciting. But just dealing with the headache of theft and being able to get rid of that, I think is super, super important.

And then the last piece, and it's again, it just makes lives easier. It allows you to track inventory in real time. And so, if you think about, especially groups dealing with multi-locations, you have storage slots. Through these apps, you're able to tell exactly where a car is at any time. I think most dealers, could tell you a story about they have a customer in front of them that wants to test drive vehicle and they have trouble finding it.

This technology reduces that burden.

Emma Hancock: So many good points there, Matt. I was going to ask you about recovery rates, and you've basically answered that. An app like RecovR where it just does so much, it's the type of app you could see a dealer, just using on a daily basis.

And as we know, sometimes when thieves have their sights set on a particular vehicle, there's just no stopping them, so having a strong recovery method is critical now. I've personally had my car stolen and I've witnessed recovery in real time and not all recovery efforts are created equal.

When you talk about the benefits of RecovR, I think you've really told us a lot of them, what are the benefits that RecovR could provide to customers?

Matt Broome: Yeah, so the biggest one is its real time tracking of the vehicle. And so, if we talk about the RecovR device in particular, they're constantly pinging that device and where your car is. And so, there's an app. You can look at where your car is at any point in time. But in the event of a theft, you're going to want to know in real time exactly where that car is, but then tie that data back to the police department and that's exactly what the app does. You go into recovery mode. The RecovR is pinging that device constantly, letting police know where it is, it allows for very quick recovery. Earlier I had mentioned that about a third of these vehicles get back same day. That's a big delta where vehicles are not recovered. And so, you're out of vehicle. That's your mode of transportation. For a lot of consumers, its one of the biggest investments that they make and to have that level of uncertainty is tough.

So RecovR gives you that peace of mind. The other piece is and it's similar to how some of the other products are sold within F&I, it does also come with a warranty.

And so where, I think most companies like RecovR or their competitors would say, hey, this device protects against that and allows recovery. But if it doesn't happen, the consumer has a financial benefit because there's actually a warranty that's saying that this product will work. And for RecovR, for instance, there's a $5,000 benefit if the vehicle isn't recovered.

Again, just adding more peace of mind to consumers who are witnessing the trend, like I mentioned nationwide, where this is just becoming, unfortunately, more prevalent in today's world.

Emma Hancock: It really is prevalent. Everything the way you've explained RecovR, it's really a no brainer.

And certainly, it is the speed at which you are aware of the theft that really gives you a chance to get that vehicle back.

This has been such a timely discussion Matt. I want to thank you for speaking with us today. That is it for this episode of the All Ears podcast. I hope everyone found this helpful.

I certainly did. On behalf of Ally Financial and the Automotive News Content Studio, thanks for listening, and bye for now.

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