Sport Utility Vehicles Top Theft List

Better keep a good eye on that fancy Montero or Land Cruiser you just bought. Chances are better than average that it’ll take a trip without you one day.

An insurance group says the Montero from Mitsubishi and Land Cruiser made by Toyota rank first and second on its newest list of vehicles with the highest theft losses.

The main reason, says Kim Hazelbaker, who headed the study for the Highway Loss Data Institute: Stolen luxury sport utility vehicles are often exported to Central and South America, where they are seen as status symbols and reliable means of transportation in the sometimes rugged conditions of the Third World.

The Top 10 include two other utility vehicles, the Nissan Pathfinder and GMC Jimmy, four luxury cars and two pricey sports cars.

The results are based on nationwide claims filed with 15 of the largest insurers for theft of entire 1992-94 cars or their parts, such as radios.

Hazelbaker says cars with the lowest theft rates and theft-loss payouts tend to be less expensive and to spend quiet days in suburban and rural settings and quiet nights secure in garages, rather than on urban streets. “These are almost overwhelmingly family kinds of vehicles,” he says.

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