Best and Worst in a Bad Category : Crime: Chevy Cavalier wagon least likely to be stolen. Mustang and VW convertibles top list.
Here is some driveway advice:
America’s car thieves are less likely to target you if your ride of choice is a Chevy Cavalier station wagon. If you’re more automotively adventurous--a Mustang or Volkswagen convertible, perhaps--it’s a different story.
Cavalier wagons topped the “best” list in a Highway Loss Data Institute analysis of car theft rates, based on 1993 insurance claims filed with 15 major companies.
VW Cabriolet and Ford Mustang convertible models were most likely to be stolen, when the number of thefts was compared to the number of insured cars.
The institute, a nonprofit Virginia research agency backed by car insurance companies, analyzed the theft claims from a population of 17 million 1991-93 passenger vehicles. Among its findings:
* The average insurance payout on a stolen car was $3,999. Mercedes SL convertibles topped the average payout list at more than $35,000. At the other end was the two-door Buick Skylark, average payout $720.
* Car theft claims were made almost twice as often in large metropolitan areas as in the rest of the country.
* Among the nation’s 30 largest metropolitan areas, Detroit had the highest frequency of claims, with 21.5 per 1,000 insured vehicles. San Diego was second at 11.5 and Portland, Ore., third at 11.2. Outside metro areas, the average was 4.5 claims per 1,000 insured vehicles.
* Theft losses go down about 9% when a car is redesigned, “presumably because demand drops for stolen parts used illegally for vehicle repairs.”
* Buick LeSabres had the lowest average theft loss cost per insured car--that’s when the losses are spread over the entire population of the model. The Mercedes SL convertible had the highest. This measure is the one that most affects the cost of insurance for specific models, said Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute.
The institute’s analysis showed tht anti-theft devices reduce the likelihood of a car being stolen.
“But only if they are some of the more sophisticated devices that do more than sound the horn and flash the lights,” Hazelbaker said. “They’ve got to incapacitate the vehicle.”
The largest theft decline associated with factory-installed anti-theft devices was found in General Motors Corp. cars equipped with GM’s PASS-Key system, which uses a computer chip in the key to activate the car’s ignition.
More car manufacturers are offering anti-theft features each year. In addition, dealers installed alarms and other devices on more than 16% of the cars sold in the first three months of this year, said Art Spinella of CNW Marketing-Research in Bandon, Ore.
“It is a growing trend for both the aftermarket and the initial market,” said consultant Chris Cedergren of AutoPacific Group in Thousand Oaks. “Typically it was seen to be a luxury option, but it’s beginning to filter down to lower-priced cars.”
Car Theft Claims
Best and worst models to own, from the Highway Loss Data Institute’s annual analysis of car theft insurance claims for 1991-93 passenger vehicles. The rankings for frequency take into account the number of vehicles insured; a ranking of 100 is average.
Best (least likely to be stolen) Chevrolet Cavalier station wagon: 29 Ford Taurus station wagon: 32 Pontiac Grand Prix 4-door: 32 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-door: 34 Oldsmobile Cutlass 2-door: 34
Worst (most likely to be stolen) Volkswagen Cabriolet: 460 Ford Mustang convertible: 394 Cadillac DeVille 2-door: 340 Ford Mustang: 333 Honda Civic 2-door: 250
