It might be the wrong time to steal a vehicle in Manitoba, as more than 300 delegates are in Winnipeg to talk about how to combat auto theft.

Experts from around the world are in the city, the auto-theft capital of Canada, to talk about new methods of battling the high-profile crime.

Nearly 8,000 vehicles were stolen in the province last year.

Brian Smiley of the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation said this of the delegates from more than 35 countries: "Well, they've certainly seen a number of auto-theft trends which perhaps haven't even come to [the] surface here."

"They can give us the heads-up on what's coming down the road. They can tell us about auto theft and the patterns that can develop."

Smiley says there will be many things that international investigators will be able to reveal at the conference.
 
"The exchanging of VIN numbers and cloning of vehicles and how that's changing, and how the bad guys are going about doing that. Obviously there's jurisdictions around the world that have experienced it and they can share that with us."

Smiley says hopefully with what's learned at the meeting, along with initatives like the vehicle imobilizer program, Manitoba can bring down its record of car thefts.

The conference will run until Aug. 11.