10 Most-Stolen Vehicles

The most frequently stolen vehicle in the nation last year was the Honda Accord, which was stolen more than twice as often as every other model with the exception of the Honda Civic, which was the second most-stolen vehicle.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released its annual “Hot Wheels” report, which examines vehicle theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and determines the vehicle make, model and model year most reported stolen in 2012.

A Honda Accord was reported stolen 58,596 times in 2012, according to NCIC data. Coming in second was the Honda Civic, which was reported stolen 47,037 times. After that there is a bit of a drop-off; in third, Ford full-size pickups were reported stolen 26,770 times.

This year’s “Hot Wheels” report presents the rankings by make and model, but without denoting the model year. Vehicles will no longer be listed by year, NICB said, to offer a more varied list with more significant theft numbers rather than focusing on just one or two makes year after year.

Older Honda Accords and Civics were by far the most stolen models in 2012. The 1996 Accord led the list with 8,637 thefts. In fact, Accords and Civics account for the first 16 spots on the most stolen list and all are 1990-2000 models. By comparison, newer Hondas are rarely stolen, thanks to improved anti-theft technology.

In the 2011 report, the 1994 Honda Accord took the top spot, followed by the 1998 Honda Civic and the 2006 full-size Ford Pickup.

For 2012, the most-stolen vehicles in the nation were (total thefts in parentheses):

1. Honda Accord (58,596)

2. Honda Civic (47,037)

3. Ford Pickup (Full Size) (26,770)

4. Chevrolet Pickup (Full Size) (23,745)

5. Toyota Camry (16,251)

6. Dodge Caravan (11,799)

7. Dodge Pickup (Full Size) (11,755)

8. Acura Integra (9,555)

9. Nissan Altima (9,169)

10. Nissan Maxima (6,947)

A new feature in this year’s “Hot Wheels” report is the addition of a list of the most stolen 2012 models.

The top 10 stolen 2012 models include:

1. Nissan Altima (921)

2. Chevrolet Impala (778)

3. Chevrolet Malibu (727)

4. Toyota Camry (665)

5. Ford Fusion (655)

6. Ford Pickup (Full Size) (595)

7. Ford Focus (523)

8. Chrysler 200 (449)

9. Dodge Charger (416)

10. Dodge Avenger (412)

Although the FBI is predicting a 1.3 percent increase in 2012 vehicle thefts over 2011’s number — reversing an eight-year trend — the overall vehicle theft picture is still positive. The peak year for vehicle thefts was 1991 with 1,661,738. If the FBI’s preliminary 2012 vehicle theft estimate holds, there will have been roughly 724,672 thefts. That’s a national decrease of over 50 percent since 1991 with many states seeing even better numbers.

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