A CAR owner got After his truck was taken from right in front of his home, he received a crash course in the black market for stolen cars.
Greg Rosalsky, NPR’s Greg Rosalsky, stated that his 1999 Toyota Tacoma was taken. He spent weeks researching which cars are stolen through the black marketplace.
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Rosalsky stated in a Recent articleHe learned that nicer cars aren’t the most targeted.
He stated that he had bought his “dented and rusted”Truck when he was a teenager. He had owned it for more than 20 years, before it was stolen or broken into the first time.
“In the dead of night, in front of our apartment in San Francisco, poof, it was gone,”Rosalsky stated.
“It wasn’t broken into or stolen in the 19-years before.
“That includes the years I lived and parked my truck in rough parts of Brooklyn.”
According to him, the San Francisco Bay Area not only has a higher theft rate than New York but also has the highest car theft rates of any major metropolitan area in the country.
Although the San Francisco Police Department saw 21,182 instances of larceny theft so far this fiscal year, the agency recorded 3,838 incidents of motor vehicle theft for 2022.
According to NPR’s reporter, New York had one the lowest motor vehicle theft rates for 2020. New York Police Department data show that there was an increase of 93 percent in car thefts in January.
1151 cars and motorized vehicle like scooters, motorcycles, and bikes were stolen in the first month of 2022, as compared with 598 in the same period 2021. The New York Post reported.
Rosalsky stated that his experiences in areas with low car theft could be a contributing factor to why he chose to retire. “didn’t invest in an alarm or other anti-theft devices.”
“It was an old, beat-up truck,”He stated.
“I really believed that with so many nicer vehicles out there, why would thieves even bother?”
After spending a few weeks studying the black markets, his perception of car theft has changed dramatically.
“I’ve come to learn that it’s actually not the nice ones that are the most frequent targets. It’s the clunkers,”He stated.
“It means that the people who can least afford to have their cars stolen are more likely to have their cars stolen.”
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Chevrolet pickup trucks were the most-stolen vehicle type in 2021, with 48,206 incidents.
The 2004 model was the most often stolen, according to NICB.
The Chevy truck was the second most stolen vehicle nationally, followed by the Ford pick-up trucks with 47.999 theft incidents. Last year, the most frequently stolen model was the 2006 model.
The Honda Civic was third. There were 31,673 incidents reported and the most frequently stolen model was 2000.
There are 10 vehicles NICB-named on the 2021 Top 10 Most Stolen Nationally’ list. None of them are luxury vehicles like Tesla or Lexus.
“Part of this is a function of the fact that there are fewer of these vehicles on the road — and parked on the street,”Rosalsky stated.
“But, more importantly, newer and fancier vehicles have much more sophisticated anti-theft technology.”
Many vehicles built before 2000 don’t have an electronic engine immobilizer. This feature was introduced in 1998.
An immobilizer requires a smartkey with a chip that transmits an encrypted signal to the car. It is easier to steal older cars that don’t have this chip.
Rosalsky claims that until recently, most Kia and Hyundai vehicles didn’t have immobilizers as a standard feature.
“It’s a group of adolescents making TikTok videos that show how to steal cars made by Kia and Hyundai, using things like a run-of-the-mill USB cord to turn the ignition and start the engine,”He stated.
“Kias and Hyundais now account for almost half of all cars stolen in some metro areas.”
A Denver insurance agent said Denver7Progressive Insurance placed restrictions against certain Hyundai and Kia models, due to their high theft rate in the city.
National car thefts hit a historic peak in 1991 with more than 1.7million cars stolen, the NICB reported.
NICB reported that vehicle theft has declined since 1991, when it peaked.
According to the FBI in 2019, this number decreased 56 percent to 724.872, a drop of 56 percent. It rose to 810,400 incidents by 2020.