The time of day, and place, your car is most likely to be stolen
We have heard all the horror stories about auto theft in New Jersey.
It got bolder over the past few years: 12-year-olds are being recruited by gangs into the illegal trade because juvenile punishment in the Garden State offers an in-and-out revolving door. Brazen thieves are doing home invasions just to get key fobs.
The only good news? A study of statistics by FinanceBuzz.com shows an 11% decline in auto theft in Jersey from 2023 to 2024.
READ MORE: Most stolen cars in New Jersey
States with the worst car theft problems
But auto theft has become so rampant across the country that authorities everywhere were forced to do something about the issue, and the result was a decline in all states except Maine. Thirty-seven states showed bigger declines percentage-wise than New Jersey, so we still have more work to do.
The worst state for auto theft was California, with 463.2 thefts per 100,000 people. New Jersey stood at 162.5.
Places where your car is most likely to be stolen
The numbers mean nothing if you’re the unlucky one who gets their car stolen. Where and when is it most likely to happen?
For all the times we see and hear people lock their cars with fobs at convenience stores, restaurants, department stores, and grocery stores, these places rank among the lowest that are for common automobile theft. Too many witnesses and cameras, perhaps?
Among public places to have your car stolen it is most likely to happen simply on a street. Yes, there can be cameras anywhere, but on a street, it’s not a sure thing like at businesses and parking lots. Public parking garages aren’t much safer, coming in at No. 2 on the list.
What time of day or night is your car most likely to be stolen?
When is it most likely to happen? Thieves like darkness for obvious reasons. But maybe thugs who steal cars don’t want to miss too much beauty sleep either, because it’s not happening the most at two or three in the morning.
The most common hour cars are stolen is the midnight hour, from 12:00 a.m. to 12:59 a.m. 70,000+ cars were stolen in that single hour, making it the hour auto thieves work the hardest. More than 8% of all car thefts happen in that one specific hour.
Most stolen cars by make and model
The Hyundai Elantra and Hyundai Sonata were the two cars most often stolen last year, accounting for 58,432 or nearly 7% of all cars stolen last year in the United States.
Read the report here.
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.
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