It's unthinkable. You wake up one morning and your vehicle is nowhere to be found.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the top 10 most stolen vehicles in California are:
- 1989 Toyota Camry
- 1991 Honda Accord
- 1995 Honda Civic
- 1988 Toyota Pickup
- 1991 Nissan Sentra
- 1990 Acura Integra
- 1993 Saturn SL
- 1987 Toyota Corolla
- 1992 Chevrolet Full Size C/K 1500 Pickup
- 2000 Ford Mustang
This list left me puzzled. If you are going to go through all the trouble of committing a felony and risk spending a significant chunk of your life in a claustrophobic cement cell, why not steal something exotic, expensive and new?
It turns out that thieves often target older vehicles because they are easy prey. Older cars are less likely to have anti-theft deterrents and can often be sold quickly, or stripped and sold for parts that are worth two to three times the value of the intact vehicle.
I wish I would have known this in the '80s when I sold my junker college transportation for a song. It seems like I would have made out better if I had dismembered the darn thing.
As thieves become more sophisticated, however, more and more figure out ways to circumvent the high-tech security measures of newer cars as well. Today's contemporary thief might be found swapping electronic control modules, or ECMs, which work with smart key technology, or using laptop computers to reprogram a vehicle's software.
Where do they learn this stuff? I must have missed the midday commercial for AT Tech (Auto Thief Technical) school.
According to the NICB, a vehicle is stolen in the United States every 25.5 seconds. To aid you in thwarting would-be thieves, the NICB recommends a four-step "layered approach" to protecting your vehicle. The first step involves using common sense, with recommendations like "not leaving your keys in the ignition" of an unlocked car.
If you have to be told not to leave your keys in the ignition of an unlocked car, you are definitely a new arrival to the Southern California area. The second layer of recommended protection is a warning device. While steering-wheel and brake-pedal locks seem prudent, I am not so sure about their suggested use of "audible alarms." There have been many times when I have secretly wished that someone would abscond with a car that has one of those irritating, shrieking, whistling, whooping and beeping car alarms. It seems that audible car alarms always manage to go off when the owner is out of earshot -- or worse yet, out of town.
The recommended third and fourth layers of protection are more high-tech. "Kill" switches, fuel cut-offs, and the aforementioned smart keys are suggested as "immobilizing devices." Tracking devices which alert police or monitoring agencies are considered to be the gold standard in vehicle protection. In the end, if a thief really wants your car, he probably will find a way to take it. However, it might help you to rest easier knowing that organizations like the San Bernardino County Auto Theft Task Force will do everything they can to reunite you with your treasured transportation - and hopefully in one piece.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online at www.trafficinteractive.com, and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
