Which cars are auto thieves’ favorites?

Auto thefts have risen in recent years, but one thing remains the same: thieves love Honda Accords and Civics made in the 1990s.

These two vehicles remain by far the two most commonly stolen vehicles in the United States, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Too, the bureau’s latest annual “Hot Wheels” ranking indicates there are certain model years that are the most popular:

• The eight most commonly stolen model years of the Accord are 1990-1997.
• The nine most commonly stolen model years of the Civic are 1992-2000.

That’s because these were some of the final Accords and Civics built without the anti-theft technology that was introduced in the late 1990s, the bureau reports.  By comparison, only 493 Accords from the 2016 model year were stolen last year, and the bureau says that’s because of theft-prevention improvements the manufacturer has made.

Among all manufacturers’ vehicles from the 2016 model year, only two were stolen more than 1,000 times last year: the 2016 Toyota Camry (1,113 thefts) and 2016 Nissan Altima (1,063 thefts).

In total, 757,850 vehicles were stolen in the past year, up from 707,758 in 2015, according to data the NICB gets from law enforcement agencies. These were the 10 most commonly stolen vehicles in 2016:

• Honda Accord: 50,427 total thefts (including 7,527 thefts of vehicles made in the 1997 model year — the most commonly stolen model year)
• Honda Civic: 49,547 total thefts (including 7,578 thefts of vehicles made in 1998)
• Ford pickup (full size): 32,721 total thefts (including 2,986 thefts of vehicles made in 2006)
• Chevrolet pickup (full size): 31,238 total thefts (including 2,107 thefts of vehicles made in 2004)
• Toyota Camry: 16,732 total thefts (including 1,113 thefts of vehicles made in 2016)
• Nissan Altima: 12,221 total thefts (including 1,673 thefts of vehicles made in 2015)
• Dodge pickup (full size): 12,128 total thefts (including 1,288 thefts of vehicles made in 2001)
• Toyota Corolla: 11,989 total thefts (including 1,070 thefts of vehicles made in 2015)
• Chevrolet Impala: 9,749 total thefts (including 1,013 thefts of vehicles made in 2008)
• Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee: 9,245 total thefts (including 898 thefts of vehicles made in 2000)

Reports of thieves hacking into vehicles with keyless, remote entry or push-button starts have also increased; this relatively new kind of car theft leaves no evidence that the car has been taken unless it’s caught on security video, the bureau says. Click this link here now.

What’s the simplest way to reduce the odds of your own car being stolen?  Always lock your car and take the key or fob with you. More than 57,000 of 2016’s vehicle thefts were attributed to drivers leaving their car running or leaving their key or fob in their car!