ASSESSOR SUMMER 2025 FULL MAGAZINE v2 - Flipbook - Page 10
[continued from page 8]
MERCEDES SEE
49% INCREASE IN
MERCEDES-BENZ
COUNTERFEIT
PRODUCTS IN 2024
INTERNATIONAL
SCALE OF THE
UK’S STOLEN
VEHICLE
PROBLEM
In 2024 alone, authorities secured more than 1.5 million
Mercedes-Benz counterfeit products in 793 raids and with the help
of customs worldwide – an upward trend.
There was a 49% increase in 2024: with more than 212,000 counterfeit
product listings removed from social media and online platforms.
This included 793 raids: globally, more than two raids daily conducted
by trade supervisory and law enforcement agencies targeting
Mercedes-Benz counterfeits.
CARS WITH ADAS
COST 40% MORE TO
REPAIR
Thatcham Research has joined forces with the
National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service
(NaVCIS) on a new investigation which reveals
the international scale of the UK’s stolen vehicle
problem.
Despite the UK having the highest levels of
on-vehicle security in the world, a vehicle was
stolen every 昀椀ve minutes in 2024. In terms of
standard features and optional extras, vehicles
from the UK are often better equipped than
those from other markets, making them a target
for international criminal gangs.
Uncovering the major routes and countries
used by organised criminal gangs to export a
wide variety of luxury cars, SUVs and pickups,
Thatcham Research’s new data also reveals the
reasons why vehicles stolen in the UK are being
exported to countries around the world. 52% of
the vehicles intercepted by NaVCIS were from
premium and luxury manufacturers and 79% of
all interceptions were SUVs, showing a strong
appetite for this class of vehicle for usage and
parts.
Research in the US that suggests that the cost of repairing cars with
ADAS features is around 40% higher than cars without these features,
with variation based on type of collision and ADAS equipment
damaged (for example, a 70% increase for side mirror repairs and
25% for windscreen replacement). Will Chamberlain, Principal at
LEK Consulting, says “ADAS reduces collisions and claims rates, but
increases average repair cost” and “this is reshaping motor insurance
and vehicle repairs.”
The top 昀椀ve countries identi昀椀ed for stolen vehicle
export by Thatcham Research and NAVCIS’s
new data (2021-2024) are the Democratic
Republic of Congo (38.5%), UAE (20.1%),
Cyprus (6.7%), Jamaica (5.7%) and Georgia
(5.1%). This illegal export market is driven by
factors as wide ranging as the scarcity of vehicle
parts, desirability of certain makes and models,
geopolitical events and even natural disasters.
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THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | SUMMER 2025 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
