The Unexpectedly High-Risk Vehicle To Own If Car Theft Is Your Biggest Fear
Getting your car stolen is something every driver fears. However, as it turns out, not everyone's chances of having their precious automobile stolen are the same. A recent Highway Loss Data Institute report, which tallies up whole vehicle theft losses to discover the relative risk of a car being stolen, details that one car gets stolen proportionately more than other vehicles — the blazingly fast Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
Drivers of this vehicle report 60 times more thefts than the all-passenger-vehicle average. Another Dodge trails behind the Hellcat, the Charger HEMI, with a theft claim frequency of 20 times higher than average. The report notes that since model year 2011, the Charger and Challenger models have consistently landed in the top five most stolen vehicles.
That being said, it was never this bad. For 2019-2021, Hellcat models had 18 vehicle thefts per 1,000 vehicles, but in 2020-2022 models, this number jumped to 25. To reiterate just how substantial this number is, the report noted that the most stolen 2017-2019 model vehicle, the Infiniti Q60, only had two thefts per 1,000.
HLDI Senior Vice President Matt Moore found these numbers shocking and stated, "if you own a Hellcat, you better check your driveway." What's even crazier is that the HEMI and Hellcat engines come equipped with the Deluxe Security Alarm upgrade as standard.
Hellcat is number one, what about the rest?
The HLDI noted that a sizable number of vehicles on the top 20 list of most stolen 2020-2022 model year vehicles are either pricey, powerful cars, or pickup trucks. That said, it was a mystery as to why the midsize luxury Infinity Q50 — a vehicle placed on this list since model year 2014 — landed at number three.
Coming in at number four and five were the Dodge Challenger and Land Rover Range Rover 4WD, respectively. The rest of the list was dominated by Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to them being easy targets with their lack of electronic immobilizers. This defect notably has affected NYC so badly that the city recently sued the two automobile companies.
If you are afraid of your car getting stolen, according to the HLDI, you should go electric. In what may not come as a surprise to many, six of the 20 least stolen 2020-2022 model vehicles were electric. The report noted that this is not uncommon, speculating that this is because the vehicles are often parked in well-lit and protected charging stations overnight.
It could also be because electric cars like Teslas often have better security features. Although, the hackers are catching up, so who knows what the next report will be like.