| 777 | Date: Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, 19.12 | Message # 1 |
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| It seems car thieves haven’t caught up with the times yet. While law-abiding Americans are beginning to transition away from mammoth, gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient coupes, sedans, crossovers and hybrids, scofflaws are still drawn to the bling of luxury SUVs, according to a newly released study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
For the sixth time in seven years, the Cadillac Escalade, a luxury sport-utility vehicle priced between $60,000 and $190,000, tops the institute's list as the vehicle most likely to be stolen here in the U.S. The report says that for every 1,000 insured Cadillac Escalades, during the 2007 through 2009 model years, an average of 10.8 were reported stolen. And the average claim for an Escalade is seven times the average for all passenger vehicles -- $11,934, which is a fraction of its sticker price.
Law enforcement officials say thieves are attracted to the big Caddy mainly for its posh parts – the leather interior, stereo system, hubcaps, etc. – because those bits and pieces can be easily transferred into less luxurious SUVs like the Chevrolet Suburban or Tahoe. All three vehicles are made by General Motors and share the same platform, so the parts are somewhat interchangeable.
The next most stolen vehicle is the Ford F-250, a large pickup, followed by the Infiniti G37 2-door, a midsize luxury car, and the Dodge Charger with a Hemi engine, a large family car.
“Sedate family cars and fuel sippers aren’t on the hot list,” says Kim Hazelbaker, the institute's senior vice president. “Thieves are after chrome, horsepower and Hemis.”
Unlike other theft studies, this one is based on the number of insured vehicles on the road. Information on theft losses published by the National Insurance Crime Bureau doesn't take into account the number of each vehicle insured, so the most popular vehicles on the road tend to top its “most-wanted” list. The institute says this doesn’t tell an individual owner how likely a particular car is to have a theft claim. To answer that question, the institute identifies vehicles with the worst theft losses by counting the number of insurance claims by make and model relative to the number of each make and model insured. This indicates the vehicles that are most likely to be theft targets, taking into account their exposure on the road.
New to this year’s hit list is the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. This sports car has the highest average claim cost among the most stolen, at $41,229. By comparison, the average claim for the Hemi-equipped Charger is $10,118.
Pickup trucks are also a growing target of those with sticky fingers. "In many cases it’s tough to pinpoint exactly why a vehicle becomes a theft target," Hazelbaker says. “Investigators tell us big work trucks like the Ford F-250/350, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Dodge Ram 2500 are attractive not only because of the vehicles themselves but also because of the tools and cargo they carry."
Among the vehicles least likely to be stolen are two media darlings: the Toyota Prius and the MINI Cooper. Other notables that seem to repel thieves are the Nissan Murano and family cars like the Toyota Sienna 4WD and the Volvo S80.
Here is the complete list of the vehicles with the highest and lowest average losses.
INSURANCE THEFT LOSSES, 2007-09 PASSENGER VEHICLES
HIGHEST LOSSES
Vehicle size/type
Claim
freq.
Avg. loss
payment
per claim
Overall
theft
losses
Cadillac Escalade
large/very large luxury SUV
10.8
$11,934
$128
Ford F-250 crew 4WD (2008-09)
very large pickup
9.7
$9,636
$91
Infiniti G37 2-door (2008-09)
midsize luxury car
7.1
$10,324
$71
Dodge Charger Hemi
large family car
7.1
$10,118
$69
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
midsize sports car
1.7
$41,229
$68
Hummer H2 4WD
very large SUV
6.2
$10,324
$62
Nissan Pathfinder Armada
large SUV
4.5
$12,458
$54
Chevrolet Avalanche 1500
very large SUV
7.4
$7,571
$54
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew
large pickup
8.0
$6,814
$53
GMC Yukon
large SUV
5.7
$9,499
$52
LOWEST LOSSES
Volvo S80
large luxury car
0.8
$619
$1
Saturn Vue 4WD (2008-09)
midsize SUV
0.7
$1,445
$1
Nissan Murano (2009)
midsize SUV
0.7
$1,790
$1
Saturn Vue (2008-09)
midsize SUV
0.6
$2,340
$1
Honda Pilot 4WD (2009)
midsize SUV
0.8
$1,927
$2
Subaru Impreza (2008-09)
small station wagon
0.9
$1,858
$2
Toyota Prius
small car
0.8
$2,203
$2
MINI Cooper
minicar
0.8
$2,134
$2
Toyota Tacoma double 4WD
small pickup
2.8
$619
$2
Toyota Sienna 4WD
very large minivan
0.8
$2,203
$2
AVERAGE ALL PASSENGER VEHICLES
2.1
$6,883
$14
Note: Claim frequencies are per 1,000 insured vehicle years; overall theft losses are average loss payments per insured vehicle year; results are for 2007-09 models unless otherwise noted.
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