Here are the top 10 most commonly stolen cars in Ontario. What to do if yours is on the list

Toronto residentZeynel Ari says it tookless than 20 minutes for someone to steal his car.

That, he says, is about how much time it took to walk to the bank from hisparking spot alongKipling Avenue and The Queensway, complete his errands and return to find his white, 2021 Land Rover Range Rover sports car gone.

"Your mind is like shocked, you know? Because you want to see your carthere," said Ari, who's also known as 'Dino'in the community.

"I feel really terrible ...I feel not secure anymore."

While he's heard stories of increased auto thefts in the city and was warned by others that Range Rovers seem to be particular targets for thieves, Ari says he didn't think it'd happen to him, let alone be so easy to pull off.

But according to the latest data from 2021, that's the opposite of what's happening.Ari's type of car bumped up to the sixthmost commonly stolen car in the province from the 10th spot the year before, coming in with a 4.2per cent theft rate.

And according to an expert, the latest figuresshow thieves and organized crime groups are not only getting faster and better at stealing cars across the board, but they're also using upgraded technology, like key fobs and push-to-start buttonsthat new and luxury models have, to their advantagemakingstories like Ari's increasingly common.

"This is about the the fifth year in a row that the number of thefts in Ontario has increased," saidBryan Gast, the vice president of investigative services atnon-profit quit Association,which investigates and analyzes insurance fraud and crime.

"These vehicles are being used for these organizations to profit from, and there's significant profits thatthey're earning."

Aninvestigation by CBC Torontolast month found car thefts are up nearly 45 per cent in the city compared to last year and up 54 per cent in Peel Region as of Aug. 31. That's on top of violent car thefts calledcarjackings,which in Toronto are up 209 per cent from 2021 so far this year.

Is your car on the list? Here's how to better protect it

Gast says thieves can get into cars by intercepting the locking signal sent from thekey fob, which can take less than 30 seconds, or by manually breaking in andplugging into the car's diagnostic portto reprogram the keyfob andstartthe vehicle.

That's why it's crucial to have multiple layers of protection to deter thieves from targeting your vehicle in the first place, such as using a steering wheel or diagnostic port lock, parking your car in a garage or a well-lit area, or using aftermarket tracking services or devices and flagging any suspicious activity to law enforcement.

"The more layers that you have, the more time that it's going to take them to defeat," Gast said.

This year, quit Association released the amount of recorded thefts for each vehicle onthe list. All together, there were 5,745vehicles stolenfrom Ontario, accounting for more thanhalf of the nearly 11,000 car thefts the association logged country-wide.

What makes Toronto a target for thieves?

The province's biggest city continues to lead the country in the number of cars stolen each yearaccording to the association's analysis, with Gast saying Toronto'sproximity to transportation ports, along with the number of carsto choose from, make it a prime target for thieves.

Gast says thievesoftenprofit from exporting the cars or by takingadvantage of the supply chain issues across the globeby renting the vehicles out then selling it to unsuspecting consumers.

Recovery rates for stolen cars are "significantly lower" in Ontario and the GTA compared to Western Canada, Gastsays, which suggests that most stolen cars arebeing exported away orthieves are changing the vehicle identification number.

Ari says he hasn't heard word on the status of his car, but hopes a greater solution to the problem materializes.

"We need to do morein order to secure our belongings, our cars, our family, you know, ourselves," Ari said.