Where does your city rank?
In a 2004 crime study, Modesto, Calif., keeps its crown as the US auto-theft capital.
In fact, California cities claimed seven of the top 10 spots in the ranking of 336 metro areas by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Of the worst 20 cities for theft, 11 are in California. Las Vegas, Phoenix and Seattle were the other 3 cities in the top 10.
The nonprofit insurance association took data supplied by the National Crime Information Center and Census figures to calculate a theft rate per 100,000 population. By that measure, for example, Myrtle Beach, S.C., cracked the worst 20 even with just 1,500 thefts. With a metro area population of 196,000, its theft rate of 769 per 100,000 population is worse than Los Angeles.
Seeing the most improvement were Lawrence, Mass., rated No. 66 for 2002 and No. 183 for 2004, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and Sioux City, Iowa.
In 2004, you were least likely to have a brush with car thieves in State College, Pa., population 135,000, which reported just 60 thefts.
In 2004 there was a slight drop in auto theft nationally. Preliminary FBI data shows a 2.6% decrease in motor vehicle thefts from 2003?s activity and that is good news for consumers, law enforcement and the auto insurance industry. This decrease comes after four years of steadily rising auto theft figures.
A city's propensity for auto theft factors into your auto insurance rate. Start your personalized auto insurance quote by selecting your state in the drop-down box in the upper right portion of this page. It's easy.
Where does your city rank: Abilene-Fresno, Gadsden-Owensboro, Panama City-Yuma City