Section 1: Executive Summary

Transcription

1 Date: July 26, 2013 Regarding: Luxury Vehicle Thefts in the United States Prepared By: Jessica Rust, Senior Strategic Analyst Section 1: Executive Summary This ForeCAST SM Report analyzes the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) vehicle theft data to identify trends and patterns regarding luxury vehicle thefts in the United States. Luxury makes and models were defined using the 2012 market classifications by Automotive News 1 which breaks down luxury vehicle models into the following classes: Compact Luxury, Mid-Sized Luxury, and Premium Luxury. Vehicles analyzed for this report include only model years. This report includes a look at luxury vehicle thefts by class as well as the top 10 theft makes and models. In addition, the report details the top 10 theft states and theft core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) and takes a detailed look at unrecovered thefts, including unrecovered thefts by class, the top 10 unrecovered theft CBSAs, and the top 10 unrecovered makes and models. There were 4,384 luxury vehicles (for model years ) reported stolen in the United States between 01/01/2009 and 12/31/ The analysis in this report shows that California had the highest number of luxury vehicle thefts by state while the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA had the highest by CBSA. Furthermore, Compact Luxury vehicles had the highest number of thefts by class, and the high dollar value Premium Luxury vehicles were the most unrecovered by percentage. The New York- Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA also had the highest number of unrecovered luxury vehicle thefts. Section 2: Thefts by Class and Top Theft Makes and Models Compact Luxury vehicles had the highest number of thefts by class with 2,150 thefts, making up 49% of the overall luxury vehicle thefts. Mid-sized Luxury vehicles came in second with 1,734 thefts, or 39.6%, followed by Premium Luxury vehicles with 500 thefts, or 11.4%. The table below details the number of thefts for each class. Luxury Vehicle Thefts by Class Class Thefts Compact Luxury 2,150 Mid-Sized Luxury 1,734 Premium Luxury A full listing of the makes and models for each class is available at Automotive News Data Center. 2 Only NCIC entries with valid vehicle identification numbers (VINs) which could be decoded for make and model were included in this report.

2 Page 2 of 5 The table below details the top 10 theft makes and models for luxury vehicle thefts. The Mercedes-Benz C Class had the highest number of thefts with 485, followed by the BMW 3 Series with 471, and the Infiniti G Series with 405. Luxury Vehicle Thefts by Make & Model Make Model Thefts Mercedes-Benz C Class 485 BMW 3 Series 471 Infiniti G Series 405 Mercedes-Benz E Class 381 Cadillac CTS 326 BMW 5 Series 256 Lincoln MKZ 226 Acura TSX 190 Lexus IS 177 Mercedes-Benz S Class 163 Color Coding: Compact Mid-Sized Premium Compact Luxury vehicles make up the majority of the list with 5 of the top 10 theft makes and models followed closely by Mid-sized Luxury vehicles with 4 of the top 10. The Mercedes-Benz S Class is the only Premium Luxury model to make the list. Mercedes-Benz also had the most models in the list with 3: the C Class, the E Class, and the S Class. BMW is the only other manufacturer to have more than one model in the top 10 list with both the 3 Series and 5 Series in the top 10. Section 3: Top Thefts States and CBSAs California had the most luxury vehicle thefts with 1,063 thefts, followed by Florida with 674 thefts, and New Jersey with 453 thefts. California thefts accounted for 24.2% of all luxury vehicle thefts. The chart below details the top 10 thefts states for luxury vehicle thefts. As a whole, the top 10 thefts states represent 80.9% of the luxury vehicle thefts. A map of all luxury vehicle thefts by state is included on Page 6. Top 10 Luxury Vehicle Theft States ,200 1,063 1, CA FL NJ NY MI TX GA IL PA MD

3 Page 3 of 5 While California had the most overall luxury vehicle thefts by state, the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA had the highest number of thefts of any CBSA with 806 thefts, almost twice the amount of the second highest CBSA, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA, which had 491 thefts. Miami- Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL follows closely with 452 thefts. The graph below depicts the top 10 theft CBSAs for luxury vehicles. Section 4: Unrecovered Thefts Of the 4,384 luxury vehicle thefts in this analysis, 713 (or 16.3%) remain unrecovered as of 03/31/2013. These are vehicles that are more likely to have been targeted by sophisticated organized theft rings which dismantle stolen vehicles for parts, VIN switch them to resell to unsuspecting buyers, or export them to other countries. The table below details the unrecovered luxury vehicle thefts by class. By volume, Compact Luxury vehicles had the highest number of unrecovered vehicles with 307. Both Compact Luxury and Mid-Sized Luxury vehicles had relatively low unrecovered rates with 14.3% and 13.5%, respectively. In contrast, Premium Luxury vehicles had a much higher unrecovered rate with 34.4% of thefts being unrecovered. The higher value of these vehicles is a likely factor in why so many go unrecovered. Unrecovered Luxury Vehicle Thefts by Class Class Total Thefts Recovered Percentage Unrecovered Premium Luxury % Compact Luxury 2,150 1, % Mid-Sized Luxury 1,734 1, % By state, New Jersey had the highest number of unrecovered thefts with 158, followed closely by Florida with 155, and New York with 113. A map of all unrecovered luxury vehicle thefts by state is included on Page 7.

4 Page 4 of 5 In addition to having the most thefts by CBSA, the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA also had the most unrecovered thefts with 257. In total, 31.9% of luxury vehicle thefts from the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA were unrecovered. The next highest CBSAs were Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL with 115 unrecovered thefts, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA with 70 unrecovered thefts. The table below shows the top 10 Unrecovered Theft CBSAs. Unrecovered Luxury Vehicle Thefts by CBSA New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ The Top 10 unrecovered luxury vehicle makes and models are shown in the table below. The Infiniti G Series had the highest number of unrecovered thefts by volume with 83, followed by the Mercedes-Benz E Class with 80, and the Mercedes-Benz C Class with 78. The majority of the list consists of Compact and Mid-Sized Luxury models. However, the 2 Premium Luxury models that made the list, the Mercedes-Benz S Class and the BMW 7 Series, have the highest unrecovered percentages with 41.1% and 36.5%, respectively. Mercedes-Benz and BMW were also the only manufacturers to have 3 different models each in the top 10. Unrecovered Luxury Vehicle Thefts by Make & Model Make Model Total Thefts Unrecovered Thefts Percentage Unrecovered Infiniti G Series % Mercedes-Benz E Class % Mercedes-Benz C Class % Mercedes-Benz S Class % BMW 3 Series % BMW 7 Series % BMW 5 Series % Cadillac CTS % Infiniti M Series % Acura TL %

5 Page 5 of 5 Section 6: Conclusion Luxury vehicles have always been a prime target for thieves due to their high dollar value and status. Between 01/01/2009 and 12/31/2012, 4,384 luxury vehicles were reported stolen ( model years). By class, Compact Luxury vehicles had the highest number of thefts at 2,150, followed by Mid-Sized Luxury at 1,734, and Premium Luxury at 500. The Mercedes-Benz C Class was the top luxury vehicle theft model with 485 thefts. California had the most luxury vehicle thefts of any state with 1,063 thefts reported, followed by Florida with 674 thefts and New Jersey with 453 thefts. By CBSA, however, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA had both the highest number of luxury vehicle thefts (806) and the highest number of unrecovered luxury thefts (257). Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL have the second and third most thefts by CBSA with 491 and 452, respectively. Of the 4,384 luxury vehicle thefts, 16.3% remain unrecovered as of 03/31/2013. Compact Luxury vehicles had the most unrecovered thefts by volume with 307 while Premium Luxury vehicles, which represent the highest dollar value vehicles, had the highest percentage of unrecovered thefts with 34.4%. The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA CBSA had the most unrecovered thefts at 257, more than twice the second highest CBSA, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL which had 115. By make and model, the Infiniti G Series had the most unrecovered thefts by volume. The Mercedes-Benz S Class and the BMW 7 Series, the only Premium Luxury vehicles in the top 10 unrecovered makes and models list, had the highest unrecovered rates with 41.1% and 36.5%