Vehicle theft is never a pleasant topic, but it is – sadly – an unpleasant reality. And holidays from Halloween to New Year’s Day and others are time periods that provide opportunity for those planning to pinch highly desirable makes and models for chop shops across the country (and the pickups favored by many light-duty fleets are part of that mix, I’m afraid to say).
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Halloween proved to be the busiest “unofficial holiday” for vehicles thefts last year, while New Year’s Day remains the busiest “official holiday” for stealing cars and light trucks.
Christmas Day holds the dual distinction for having the lowest theft figure for a holiday and the lowest reported vehicle thefts of any day in 2011 – some 1,347 thefts in total, the NICB said.
Excluding Christmas Day, February 2—Groundhog Day—posted the fewest vehicle thefts (1,491) of any other date in the year, while August 1 snagged to top slot as the most active day for stealing vehicles in 2011, with 2,687 reported thefts.
For the 11 holidays reviewed in 2011, a total of 20,800 vehicles were reported stolen compared with a total of 22,991 reported for those same days in 2010, the group noted.
Here’s the “holiday ranking” for vehicle thefts reported to the NCIB in 2011:
1. Halloween (2,328)
2. New Year’s Day (2,286)
3. Memorial Day (2,005)
4. Labor Day (1,977)
5. New Year’s Eve (1,947)
6. Valentine’s Day (1,895)
7. Independence Day (1,862)
8. President’s Day (1,830)
9. Christmas Eve (1,797)
10. Thanksgiving (1,526)
11. Christmas Day (1,347)
Although the nation has enjoyed declining vehicle thefts for eight consecutive years, the risk from vehicle theft is still very real, NICB warned, as there’s always a black market for items obtained by theft, and vehicles remain popular theft targets.
OUCH!