Local car owners denied insurance coverage for viral challenge targeting certain vehicles
For months, Channel 11 has been telling you about the viral challenge targeting certain Kia and Hyundai vehicles. Now, some insurance companies are denying owners coverage because of this.
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“I don’t think anyone wants to steal my car,” said Naje James of Pittsburgh. “At least, I hope not!”
James owns an older KIA. Last summer, Channel 11 told you when a national crime trend hit the Pittsburgh area involving teenagers using USB cords to steal certain Kias and Hyundais.
“That scares me,” said James. “That scares me a lot.”
In February, Kia and Hyundai announced drivers of certain vehicles would be eligible for a free software upgrade.
“They come in and get the software update done,” said Jim Shorkey Kia Wexford General Manager Tim Ferraro. “Today alone, our service department has probably done 7 or 8.”
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Tim Ferraro says the update is available now ahead of schedule and takes about 45 minutes to complete. Afterward, they place an anti-theft logo on the front windows. Even still, State Farm and Progressive say they’re not covering new customers with these vehicles because of the uptick in thefts.
In a statement State Farm said:
State Farm has temporarily stopped accepting new customer applications in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically. This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry. We take seriously our responsibility to manage risk and the impact of excess claim costs on all our customers. In this case, it became necessary to take action to protect our policyholders and our business. We are monitoring this situation very closely and will adjust our approach as appropriate. For information on auto theft, we recommend reaching out to the Insurance Information Institute and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
“That’s a business decision that they decided to do,” said Ferraro. “I can’t say that I believe that’s right. You get cars that are older that don’t have theft deterrent systems. They get stolen the same way.”
And in an effort to help its impacted customers, Hyundai just announced a new partnership with AAA.
“We are renewing all of our current members that have these vehicles and we are continuing to write all new business policies those owners who have those vehicles,” said AAA East Central Vice President of Insurance Jonathon King.
Hyundai says it will also reimburse impacted customers for the purchase of steering wheel locks.
“First thing they need to realize is they need to go to hyundaiantitheft.com and see if their vehicle is impacted by this,” said King. “In the meantime, Hyundai is recommending they get anti-theft devices whether it’s the steering wheel locks or parking in well-lit areas.”
Ferraro says they’re not seeing a spike in people wanting to trade in their Kias because of this.
“Obviously everybody likes the vehicle that they’re currently driving,” said Ferraro. “They’ve been driving it for a while, and all of a sudden you get this Tik Tok challenge that comes out, and people are breaking into the car and using the USB somehow to steal a vehicle. If someone’s going to steal your vehicle, they’re going to steal it regardless. So it’s just one of those things, we get this done. If they’re going to trade them in, we have vehicles on the lot. I’m more than happy to trade a vehicle and get you into something new that’s got different bells and whistles. This software update just ensures a preventative maintenance against it being stolen.”
Ferraro says to call their service department now to get on their schedule. Some other service departments in our area say they are already scheduled out to June for these software updates.
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