Hottest (For the Wrong Reason) Cars

While heads will turn whenever a flashy sports car assumes a prime parking position - and one can bet that its owner has fitted his or her coveted ride with every anti-theft device available - it’s the Plain Janes of the automotive world that actually draw the most attention from thieves. That’s according to the annual “Hot List” of the most stolen rides on the road, compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau in Des Plaines, Ill. This year there are actually two separate lists, one each for new cars and those from previous model years, and you won’t find the likes of a racy Chevrolet Corvette or pricey Mercedes-Benz S-Class on either of them. Rather, they’re populated with cars, trucks and crossovers that would otherwise get lost in a supermarket’s parking lot. To that end, the most stolen car during 2013 was an older model Honda Accord, with 53,995 units registered missing according to the NICB; other hot models included well worn Honda Civics (45,001 units), and Chevrolet Silverado (27,809 units) and Ford F-150 (26,494 units) pickup trucks. High volume used cars are the most valuable in this regard, largely for the sum of their parts. They’re typically swiped and immediately dismantled at so-called chop shops, harvested for their components (water pumps, catalytic converters, starters, engine blocks, etc.), which subsequently are marketed on Internet sites and/or sold to unscrupulous auto parts dealers. New cars more often are taken and resold intact, usually with doctored paperwork, with higher-end sports cars typically shipped abroad for resale. On the plus side, recent-model cars are more difficult for casual car thieves to “hot wire” and drive away, thanks to the proliferation of computer-chip-coded keys and built-in engine immobilizers. Fortunately for all car owners, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says car thefts of all kinds are on a downward trend after seeing a slight increase in 2012. The FBI predicts its final 2013 statistics (to be posted later this year) will see a 3.2 percent reduction, registering just less than 700,000 units, which would be a 50 percent drop since the crime’s peak year in 1991. “The drop in thefts is good news for all of us,” says NICB president and CEO Joe Wehrle. “But it still amounts to a vehicle being stolen every 45 seconds and losses of more than $4 billion a year. That’s why we applaud the vehicle manufacturers for their efforts to improve anti-theft technology and pledge to continue to work with our insurance company members and law enforcement to identify and seek vigorous prosecution of the organized criminal rings responsible for so many of these thefts.” For its part the NICB suggests consumers heed common sense precautions that are so often forgotten. These include never leaving the keys in the ignition when the vehicle is unattended, keeping the windows and sunroof closed and parking it in a well-lit and well-traveled area. Also, use an antitheft device, however basic, which might be enough of a deterrent to convince a crook to instead choose another car on the block. Even better, install an ignition kill switch or fuel cutoff device in a hidden location to make it that much more difficult for a crook to start a car or truck and drive it away. For even greater protection, consider a tracking device that uses GPS telematics to remotely monitor a vehicle via a smartphone or personal computer; the NICB says such devices are particularly effective in helping the police locate a car after it’s been stolen.