Motorcycle Theft on the Rise

07/23/96

As the motorcycle's popularity grows world-wide, motorcycle theft rises. The National Insurance Crime Bureau has reported that motorcycle theft has increased 46 percent since 1992, hitting 9,224 stolen motorcycles in 1995.

Suzuki tops the list as the most frequently stolen motorcycle brand, followed by Kawasaki, Harley, Honda, and Yamaha. The black market for stolen bikes is thriving, especially for Harley Davidson's, which are hard to get, because production hasn't kept up with demand.

Stolen Harleys end up all over the world, says Ken Schmidt, spokesman for Harley-Davidson Inc. "We've found bikes stolen from the streets of Milwaukee all over the world -- in Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, the Asia-Pacific region," Schmidt said. "`It's just that demand exceeds supply for our motorcycles."

Insurance fraud is another problem, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau estimated that 10 percent of reported thefts are actually attempts to defraud the insurance industry. Some California motorcycle gangs have been caught reporting their bikes as stolen, changing the vehicle identification numbers, and selling the bikes for three times retail value, said Jon Hoch, spokesman for the bureau, an industry anti-fraud group. One fraud ring involving the Hell's Angels and other gangs netted $4 million by selling 80 bikes this way, he said.

During the same period that saw motorcycle thefts rise 46%, between 19992 and 1995, car theft declined 7%, with only 434,033 thefts in 1995. The Insurance Industry explains the disparity by pointing out that car security devices have gotten better, while but motorcycle theft remains difficult to prevent. "Two guys with a pick-up truck can be gone with a motorcycle in no time," said Harley's Schmidt. "The main thing is to attach it to an unmovable object. And a bike has got to be parked in a well-lit area."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel