Auto Theft Rises for First Time in 10 Years- Most Stolen Car Lists
NICB Releases Nation's Most Commonly Stolen VehiclesARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 11 -- After a ten-year decline in auto theft rates, newly released statistics indicate auto theft is on the rise in the United States. The rates are included in an annual study released today by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) of the nation's most commonly stolen vehicles.
Recent statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Report show auto theft rates increased 1.2 percent from 1999 to 2000. There were 1,165,559 auto thefts in 2000, compared to 1,152,057 in 1999. The NICB uses data from the FBI report to compile its annual study of theft rates and most commonly stolen vehicles.
``The troubling 2000 statistics indicate we need to commit more resources to address this problem and help prevent this increase from becoming a trend,'' stated Robert M. Bryant, NICB president and chief executive officer.
Bryant suggested a variety of contributory factors behind the rise, including a sinking U.S. economy that spurs more thieves to steal vehicles for financial gain, the reassignment of many law enforcement officers from auto theft task forces, and open international borders that are difficult to monitor for stolen vehicles.
Toyota Camry Tops List of Most Commonly Stolen Vehicles
Today's NICB report also identifies the ten most commonly stolen vehicles
in the United States in 2000:
1. Toyota Camry 2. Honda Accord 3. Oldsmobile Cutlass 4. Honda Civic 5. Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 6. Chevrolet full size C/K pick-up 7. Toyota Corolla 8. Chevrolet Caprice 9. Ford Taurus 10. Ford F150 pick-up
``The study confirms that thieves target a wide range of popular passenger vehicle models,'' said Bryant. ``Thieves typically choose these vehicles because of their huge profit potential when the cars are stripped down to their components, which then supply a vast black market for stolen parts. Further, these vehicles are popular in other countries and organized theft rings will illegally export them to foreign destinations.''
He also pointed out there are city-by-city differences in consumer vehicle preference that affect which vehicles are targeted by thieves in an individual metropolitan area.
For example, the NICB study shows American cars are more attractive to thieves in cities such as Chicago, while pickups are more frequently stolen in Dallas. In the Los Angeles area, thieves prefer Japanese models.
Bryant also recommended that people residing in or near port and border communities take special care to protect their vehicles because of the relatively easy access border crossings and ports provide to vehicle thieves.
The NICB suggests consumers play a vital role in stopping auto theft. To help protect their vehicles, the NICB recommends that motorists ALWAYS remove keys from the ignition and vehicle, lock the doors, close the windows, hide valuable items, park in well-lit areas and use a combination of anti-theft devices.
``Motorists driving theft-prone vehicles should consider taking additional prevention steps, such as installing a visible deterrent like a steering wheel lock, an alarm, a starter or fuel disabler, and a tracking device,'' Bryant said. ``Added protection layers make a vehicle harder to steal.''
For more information about the nation's most frequently stolen vehicles and vehicle theft prevention, visit http://www.nicb.org.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is the nation's premier not-for-profit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting insurance fraud and theft for the benefit of its customers and the public through information analysis, forecasting, criminal investigation support, training and public awareness. The NICB is supported by approximately 1,000 property/casualty insurance companies.
Hot Wheels Most Commonly Stolen Vehicles in 2000 By Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Albuquerque, NM 1 Ford F150 Series 2 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 3 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 4 Honda Accord 5 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 6 Ford F250 Series 7 GMC Full size C/K pick up 8 Pontiac Grand Am 9 Ford Ranger 10 Ford Heavy Duty Atlanta, GA 1 Chevrolet Caprice 2 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 3 Honda Accord 4 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 5 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 6 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 7 Toyota Camry 8 Cadillac Deville 9 Ford Taurus 10 Ford F150 Series Baltimore, MD 1 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2 Honda Accord 3 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 4 Dodge Neon 5 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 6 Chevrolet Cavalier 7 Ford Taurus 8 Dodge Shadow 9 Toyota Camry 10 Acura Legend Boston, MA-NH 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Acura Integra 7 Ford Taurus 8 Nissan Maxima 9 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 10 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) Chicago, IL 1 Toyota Camry 2 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 3 Chevrolet Caprice 4 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 5 Buick Lesabre 6 Chevrolet Cavalier 7 Chevrolet Van 8 Pontiac Grand Am 9 Ford Taurus 10 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, OH 1 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 2 Buick Century 3 Buick Lesabre 4 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 5 Chevrolet Cavalier 6 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) 7 Pontiac Grand Am 8 Toyota Camry 9 Cadillac Deville 10 Chevrolet Celebrity Columbus, OH 1 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 2 Chevrolet Cavalier 3 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 4 Pontiac Grand Am 5 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) 6 Ford Taurus 7 Ford F150 Series 8 Honda Accord 9 Ford Escort 10 Ford Ranger Dallas, TX 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 2 Honda Accord 3 GMC Full size C/K pick up 4 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 5 Ford F150 Series 6 Chevrolet/GMC Suburban 7 Cadillac Deville 8 Ford Mustang 9 Dodge Neon 10 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee Denver, CO 1 Honda Accord 2 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 3 Honda Civic 4 Dodge Neon 5 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 6 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 7 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) 8 Ford Fl50 Series 9 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 10 Ford Explorer Detroit, MI 1 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 2 Ford Taurus 3 Pontiac Grand Am 4 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 5 Dodge Neon 6 Chevrolet Caprice 7 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 8 Dodge Intrepid 9 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 10 Ford Escort Fresno, CA 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 2 Honda Accord 3 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 4 Toyota Camry 5 Honda Civic 6 Toyota Pickup 7 Chevrolet Truck 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Chevrolet Camaro 10 GMC Full size C/K pick up Houston, TX 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 2 Toyota Camry 3 Honda Accord 4 Chevrolet/GMC Suburban 5 GMC Full size C/K pick up 6 Ford F150 Series 7 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 8 Dodge Neon 9 Honda Civic 10 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale Jersey City, NJ 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 5 Acura Integra 6 Toyota Corolla 7 Acura Legend 8 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 9 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 10 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Toyota Corolla 5 Toyota Pickup 6 Toyota Van 7 Nissan Sentra 8 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 9 Toyota Celica 10 Acura Integra Memphis, TN-AR-MS 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 2 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 3 Toyota Camry 4 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 5 Chevrolet Caprice 6 Buick Lesabre 7 Cadillac Deville 8 Buick Century 9 GMC Full size C/K pick up 10 Pontiac Bonneville Miami, FL 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Toyota Corrolla 4 Honda Civic 5 Chevrolet Caprice 6 Nissan Altima 7 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 8 Nissan Maxima 9 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 10 Nissan Sentra Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI 1 Toyota Camry 2 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 3 Honda Civic 4 Honda Accord 5 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) 6 Buick Lesabre 7 Ford Taurus 8 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 9 Cheverolet Full size C/K pick up 10 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee Nassau-Suffolk, NY 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Nissan Maxima 4 Honda Civic 5 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 6 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 7 Nissan Altima 8 Acura Integra 9 Toyota Corolla 10 Ford Taurus New Orleans, LA 1 Oldsmobile Cutlass/ Supreme/Ciera 2 Toyota Camry 3 Dodge Neon 4 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 5 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 6 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 7 Dodge Intrepid 8 Ford Taurus 9 Dodge Ram Pickup 10 Ford F150 Series New York, NY 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Nissan Maxima 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 7 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 8 Acura Integra 9 Lincoln Town Car 10 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera Oakland, CA 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Civic 3 Honda Accord 4 Ford Mustang 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Toyota Pickup 7 Chevrolet Camaro 8 Toyota Van 9 Saturn S1 10 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera Orange County, CA 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Toyota Pickup 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 7 Nissan Sentra 8 Toyota Cressida 9 Acura Integra 10 Toyota Van Philadelphia, PA-NJ 1 Honda Accord 2 Toyota Camry 3 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 4 Nissan Maxima 5 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 6 Ford Taurus 7 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 8 Dodge Neon 9 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 10 Honda Civic Phoenix-Mesa, AZ 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K Pick up 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 5 Ford F150 Series 6 Dodge Ram Pickup 7 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 8 Saturn S1 9 GMC Full size C/K pick up 10 Dodge Neon Pittsburgh, PA 1 Chevrolet Cavalier 2 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 3 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 4 Chevrolet Compact SUV (Blazer) 5 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 6 Buick Century 7 Pontiac Grand Am 8 Plymouth Acclaim 9 Dodge Spirit 10 Ford Taurus Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Toyota Pickup 5 Nissan Sentra 6 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 7 Nissan Standard Body Pickup 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 10 Ford Ranger Sacramento, CA 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Honda Civic 4 Toyota Pickup 5 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 6 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 7 Acura Integra 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Ford Mustang 10 Chevrolet Camaro St. Louis, MO-IL 1 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 2 Oldsmobile Delta 88/Royale 3 Chevrolet Caprice 4 Buick Lesabre 5 Chevrolet Cavalier 6 Buick Century 7 Pontiac Grand Am 8 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 9 Chevrolet Celebrity 10 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up San Diego, CA 1 Toyota Pickup 2 Toyota Camry 3 Honda Accord 4 Honda Civic 5 Nissan Sentra 6 Nissan Standard Body Pickup 7 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Ford Explorer 10 Ford Ranger San Francisco, CA 1 Honda Civic 2 Toyota Camry 3 Honda Accord 4 Toyota Corolla 5 Ford Mustang 6 Acura Integra 7 Toyota Van 8 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 9 Toyota Celica 10 Chevrolet Camaro Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA 1 Honda Accord 2 Honda Civic 3 Toyota Camry 4 Toyota Pickup 5 Acura Integra 6 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 7 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 10 Ford Heavy Duty Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 4 Dodge Neon 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 7 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 8 Ford Taurus 9 Saturn S1 10 Chevrolet Caprice 11 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager Tucson, AZ 1 Chevrolet Full size C/K pick up 2 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 3 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Supreme/Ciera 4 Dodge Ram Pickup 5 Nissan Sentra 6 Ford F150 Series 7 GMC Full size C/K pick up 8 Chevrolet Camaro 9 Pontiac Grand Am 10 Cadillac Deville Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV 1 Toyota Camry 2 Honda Accord 3 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 4 Chevrolet Caprice 5 Dodge Neon 6 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 7 Honda Civic 8 Toyota Corolla 9 Plymouth Voyager/Grand Voyager 10 Nissan Maxima
Note - This study is based on 1.17 million motor vehicles reported stolen to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in 2000 by law enforcement agencies nationwide. The MSAs are established by the US Bureau of Census.