If you happen to own a Toyota Prius, you’ll be glad to learn that your car is not very popular with car thieves. On the contrary; compared to other models of the same age, Prius is less likely to be stolen.
At least that’s what the National Insurance Crime Bureau data reveals: as of the end of June, only one in 606 examples of the 2008-2010 MY Prius cars had been stolen compared to one in 78 of all other vehicles of the exact same model years.
California is the “capital” of stolen Prius cars with 1,062 thefts; Florida, New York, Washington and Texas followed with 127, 111, 92 and 89 cars respectively. NCIB data show that, despite the Prius not being completely immune to theft, it has a 96.7 percent recovery rate.
John Abounader, executive director of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators, explains that one of the reasons it gets overlooked is the simple fact that it’s a hybrid.
“It’s a one-model car; the parts on it won’t fit anything else but a Prius”, he told Autonews. “If you use a Camry, for instance, the engine might fit in another car. On a Prius, the engine is so different because it’s a hybrid.”
Despite having sold over 1.2 million vehicles in the U.S., it was introduced in 2000 and that makes it a relatively young model for which there’s not such a big market for parts. In contrast, Honda’s 1994 Accord was the most stolen car last year followed by the 1998 Civic.
“It could be that auto thieves are going to steal something for which there is generally a market or need for parts”, NICB spokesman Frank Scafidi told the news site. He added that parts for Hondas or Nissans are more valuable “because people that own those things (sic) tend to keep them a long time.”
By Andrew Tsaousis
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