Interview with a Car Thief

In this month’s GEICO insurance newsletter, there’s a rather interesting article about an interview with a convicted car thief who stole more than 100 vehicles.

I’ll summarize the high points here:

• Don’t leave anything in your car a thief might consider a bonus when stealing your car—if he can’t take the car, he can still take your belongings (and you’d be surprised how many women leave purses in the car). Even a trunk is no longer “safe territory” once a thief gets access to the cabin, because of the trunk button inside.

• Don’t park far away from stores, in dark places, or in deserted places—the absence of light makes for easy pickings (literally).

• Don’t own or drive one of the “popular” cars for thieves—Honda, Acura, and Toyota pickups. The reason why these parts are so popular: interchangeable parts for Hondas, and ease of access for Acuras and Toyotas—just about any key works on them. The older the vehicle, the less discriminating it is for keys.

• A car thief’s favorite tool is a “jiggler” or reconfigured key. This is why having an older Acura in a dark parking spot is a double-play for them—with a reconfigured key, it just looks like some guy trying to get into his own car instead of stealing one.

• Car thief recommendations for making your car less likely of a target: lock your doors, roll up your windows, park close to buildings and/or under lights, and keep your belongings with you or at home. The object is to make the car next to you look more enticing to a car thief than your own.

A list of the current Top 10 cat theft targets: 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, 1997 Ford P-150 series, 1995 Honda Civic, 1994 Dodge Caravan, 1994 Nissan Sentra, 1993 Saturn SL, 1991 Honda Accord, 1990 Acura Integra, 1989 Toyota Camry, and 1986 Toyota pickup.

Some of these cars are either stolen for their parts, or because they have high demand outside the country. The rest are just easy-open cars. GEICO always recommends Buicks for their low-to-no theft targeting, and that's what we drive--so far, our only problem is getting the neighborhood kids to quit leaning all over them (along with everyone else's cars).

I wish I could provide a link to the original article, but neither GEICO nor Google prove to be fruitful on this one.