The 1994 Honda Accord is still popular among car thieves. It topped the 2013 list of most stolen vehicles.
Not only do people buy a lot Honda Accords and Civics each year, apparently thieves also steal a lot of them too as the pair topped this year’s most stolen vehicle list.
The vehicles are consistently among the top five vehicles stolen each year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and its annual “Hot Wheels” report. Last year, 53,995 Accords and 45,001 Civic sedans were stolen.
If you just bought a new Accord, do not panic: it’s primarily models built before 1997, according to statistics, that are stolen.
Models built before that time are easier to steal due to changes made to ignitions after that year where vehicles used transponder keys, otherwise known as “smart” keys.
The rest of the top 10 is as follows:
- Chevrolet Silverado (27,809)
- Ford F-series (26,594)
- Toyota Camry (14,420)
- Dodge Ram (11,347)
- Dodge Caravan (10,911)
- Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee (9,272)
- Toyota Corolla (9,010)
- Nissan Altima (8,892)
When broken down by state, the top vehicles stolen more often than not fit a sales characteristic for the state. For example, the top three vehicles stolen in Texas were full-size pickup trucks. Texas leads the nation in truck sales. In Michigan, the top five vehicles stolen were all domestic vehicles, which mirrors the top sellers there.
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Overall car theft is down, according to FBI statistics, and has been going down for several years.
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Nationwide, vehicle thefts fell 3.2% last year to less than under 700,000. That is the lowest since 1967 and a 57% drop since 1991. The top year was 1991 when 1,661,738 vehicles were stolen.
“The drop in thefts is good news for all of us,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle. “But it still amounts to a vehicle being stolen every 45 seconds and losses of over $4 billion a year.
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“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.”
To lower the odds of your vehicle being stolen, the NICB recommends the using the following:
- Lock your car and take your keys.
- Using a visible or audible warning device
- Use an immobilizing device, such as a “Kill” switch, fuel cut-offs or smart key
- Install a tracking device that alerts the owner so the vehicle can be tracked
While older cars are stolen in greater numbers, the top five 2013 models stolen last were the Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Ford F-Series pickup, Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Impala.