Mac Haik Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep

Car Theft "Hot Spots" Are Bad Business for Everyone

If you live in Albuquerque, Bakersfield, Anchorage or San Francisco, your car is in danger of being stolen. Last year, New Mexico’s Bernalillo County topped the nation last year in terms of car thefts per capita, with 10,011 cars and trucks stolen among approximately 680,000 citizens, according to the annual “Hot Spots” list that is compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

At Mac Haik Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, we can see that car theft is a problem here in Houston, TX and all over the U.S. and these statistics prove it.

Some of the cities on this list make sense, especially in the car-crowded Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim area of California, with a shocking 60,000 vehicles stolen in 2016, although it still places just 35th in the country on a per capita basis. California again leads the country in car thefts, with six out of 10 spots coming from the Golden State.

Cities that moved significantly up the list in per-capita thefts include Anchorage, AK, which went from 47th place in 2015 to the sixth spot last year, and Merced, CA and Billings, MT, which were tied for 21st place last year. The city with the fewest number of cars stolen in 2016 – a total of just one – was the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina corridor in Hawaii.

Here’s the NICB’s list of the country's “Hot Spots” having the most car thefts per capita last year, with the number of reported thefts in parentheses:

1. Albuquerque, New Mexico (10,011)

2. Pueblo, Colorado (1,325)

3. Bakersfield, California  (7,176)

4. Modesto, California (3,820)

5. Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario, California (25,708)

6. Anchorage, Alaska (2,273)

7. Merced, California (1,605)

8. San Francisco/Oakland/Hayward, California (29,414)

9. Fresno, California (5,682)

10. Billings, Montana (877)

And here are the U.S. metro areas that suffered the highest number of auto thefts overall in 2016:

1. Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim, California (60,670)

2. San Francisco/Oakland/Hayward, California (29,414)

3. Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario, California (25,708)

4. Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land, Texas (25,069)

5. Chicago/Naperville/Elgin, Illinois (22,853)

6. New York/Newark/Jersey City, NY/NJ (21,145)

7. Seattle/Tacoma/Belleview, Washington (20,704)

8. Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, Texas (20,229)

9. Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Florida (20,207)

10. Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Roswell, Georgia (19,220)

As always, the NICB strongly suggests that owners should take the usual precautions to make certain that their cars aren’t driven away and/or dismantled and subsequently sold off for parts. These include taking your keys from your ignition when the car is unattended; always keeping the windows and sunroof closed and parking the vehicle it in a well-lit and well-traveled area while using an anti-theft device as well.  

Sources: NICB, AAA and AARP News