While it occurs mostly in urban areas, car theft is not absent from rural areas. Nowadays, no place, and no car is immune to it. With the raise in car theft everywhere, it is becoming a basic need for every car owner to be covered by an appropriate car insurance.

One of the main reasons car theft is becoming so common, is the fact that both law enforcement and public in general see this problem as a low-priority item.  Car thieves rarely get arrested, normally they are let go with only a small fine or a probation period. There is also the fact that people are becoming so used to the presence of violence in the streets, that they are starting to see car theft as a crime which doesn’t really hurt anyone, as it is only against property, and as typically car insurance will cover most of it, it doesn’t even hurt the owner. What very few realize is that stolen cars are a threat to people’s safety, as they are involved in numerous crashes which take lives and cause injuries every year.

The top stolen cars in the world in the last years have been, not the newest and more expensive cars, as commonly believed, but Hondas and Toyotas from the 90s. This is because they can sell these vehicles by pieces, which at the end are worth more than the car. The ’94 Honda Accord and ’98 Honda Civic top the list of the most stolen car, followed by the ’06 Ford Pickup and the ’91 Toyota Camry. Chevrolet and Dodge pick-ups are also favourites among the thieves, as they are quite useful in committing other crimes. Other cars present in the top stolen list are the ’94 Acura Integra, the ’02 Ford Explorer SUV and the ’94 Nissan Sentra.  However, the theft of newer cars is also rising. Even if security technology is getting better with the years, car thieves are also getting more creative.

Normally, cars are stolen for one of these reasons: to sell them abroad, where they can be sold by many times their original value; to chop them up and sell them in parts, which can normally get more revenue than the whole car; or to commit another crime. This cars are normally recovered after 48 hours, but badly damaged and with a criminal record.

There is not much you can do to protect your car from being stolen, especially if the robber has a replacement key, but you can make it harder for them to steal it. The first thing, which might seem quite obvious, is to lock the car. We tend to forget to do so quite often, especially when we are in ‘safe’ neighbourhoods. However, amateur car thieves are normally looking for easy targets around this kind of neighbourhoods. Alarms might not stop your car from being stolen, but at least they will call attention to your car and to the face of the burglar, which might prove easy when trying to identify him.  Other helpful accessory in your car would be a tracker, which will help you locate your car before it gets resold or chopped off.

So you can see, that even if you thought you were safe from car theft driving around in your ‘90s car, things are quite the opposite. The best thing you can do to feel safe and stop worrying about your car every time you leave it alone is to get a good car insurance. This will not only protect you from accidents, but will cover any part or whole loss and will provide you friendly help through the process of recovering your valued means of transport.

About the author

Robert owns an agency specialized in car buying service for new and used cars. He also owns a blog where he gives advice on car maintenance, repairs and car insurance. He is passionate about cars and has won several local go-kart championships. When he is not speeding through the race tracks he is working on his cars with his two sons.