New Jersey’s most commonly stolen car

It has to be like an out-of-body experience to have your car stolen. Walking out to your driveway or out of a store to a parking lot and seeing it isn’t there. I’ve always assumed the first thought that goes through one’s mind is a denial thought of ‘oh, I must have just parked it somewhere else.’

Once you accept it’s been stolen and report it, then the insurance waiting game begins. Typically, insurance makes you wait 30 days in New Jersey in case the police recover your stolen vehicle. After that, they will declare it a total loss.

I’ve heard of people regretting that the police found their stolen vehicle on the 28th day, and they wished they hadn’t. Even if windows were broken out and damage was done, if it isn’t totaled, the owner legally gets the car back and insurance repairs it, but it often never feels the same. Never feels like theirs again.

Most-stolen vehicles

It’s a worry that hopefully you’ve never gone through. But which car owner is most likely to experience a stolen vehicle?

A study was done by Finance Buzz to determine the make and model of car most commonly stolen in each of the 50 states.

For example in the nation overall, the car stolen the most last year was the Hyundai Elantra. 31,712 of them to be exact. That was followed by the Hyundai Sonata with 26,720 taken. Third was the Chevy Silverado 1500 at 21,666 reported thefts.

But it’s a different story depending on which individual state you’re looking at. Here in New Jersey, there were was a car stolen more often than in any other state last year: 755 thefts of this particular make and model put it at No. 1.

It’s a Honda Accord.

That car continues to be coveted by thieves not only here in the Garden State but also in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

If it happens to you, may they not find it until Day 31.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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