Car Thieves Love Luxury Rides
26 Feb 2015The National Insurance Crime Board (NICB) recently released a detailed forecast report related to luxury vehicle thefts across the U.S. The report revealed a few surprising details about auto theft. One that’s not so surprising is that car thieves do indeed love luxury automobiles.
The report focused on luxury cars between model years 2010 and 2012 and revealed a top ten list dominated by famous luxury makers Mercedes-Benz, with the C Class taking top spot followed closely by the BMW 3 Series.
Mercedes-Benz was also represented in the top 10 by the E Class and S Class models while BMW’s 5 series made the list as well. American cars in the top ten included Cadillac CTS and Lincoln MKZ. Japanese luxury cars in the top ten included Infiniti G Series, Acura TSX, and Lexus IS.
Only thefts entered into the NICB database are included in the report. Among those included in the report, compact luxury cars seemed to be the most attractive automobiles to thieves, representing 49 percent of luxury car thefts. Mid-size luxury cars accounted for 39.6 percent of luxury car thefts, leaving premium luxury vehicles with 11.4 percent of the thefts.
Don’t let these numbers be misleading, though. While the lowest percentage of luxury cars stolen belonged to the premium luxury cars, they also represented the highest percentage of vehicles unrecovered in the aftermath of the theft, with 34.4 percent remaining unrecovered. Compact luxury cars were next with 14.3 percent of the vehicles stolen remaining and unrecovered, and 13.5 percent of mid-sized luxury cars remain unrecovered.
One interesting note to consider when planning a car purchase, especially for those considering luxury vehicles, is that New Jersey, Florida, and New York have the highest rates of unrecovered luxuryvehicles in the aftermath of a theft incident.
Some U.S. states seem to have bigger problems with luxury car thefts than other states. The top five states for luxury vehicle thefts from 2009-2012 are listed below.
California – 1,063 thefts
Florida – 674 thefts
New Jersey – 453 thefts
New York – 404 thefts
Michigan/Texas – 230/229 thefts respectively
Luxury auto thefts in California account for 24.2 percent of all thefts of luxury vehicles while the top ten states for thefts represent nearly 81 percent of all thefts of luxury vehicles.
Another interesting caveat is that while California represented the highest statewide occurrences of luxury auto theft, among CBSAs (Core-based statistical areas). The state of California, as a whole, fairs slightly better with the New York – New Jersey – Pennsylvania CBSA taking top spot with 809 luxury auto thefts followed by the Los Angeles- Long Beach – Santa Ana stretch of California weighing in with only 491 thefts of luxury autos.
The message here, though, is not to avoid buying luxury vehicles. The real message is to find new ways to protect your investment, such as GPS tracking devices, which not only act as deterrents to thieves, but also aid in the faster recovery of cars that have been stolen.
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