Thieves in Germany seem to have a thing for premium SUVs, with high-riding models conquering eight out of the top ten spots of the most stolen vehicles for 2020.
Autobuild reports the results as published by the German Insurance Association (GDV), which put the Range Rover Velar in the first place as the most commonly stolen vehicle in Germany, with a rate of 15.5 stolen cars among 1,000 insured examples and an average claims expenditure of €52,158 ($60,467).
Besides the sleek-looking Velar, thieves also loved the BMW X6 (9.0/1,000) averaging €45,408 ($52,641), and the Kia Stinger (6.7/1,000) at €31,738 ($36,794) which naturally was the only car of its kind in the top ten. In fourth place, the flagship Range Rover (5.9/1,000) was the most expensive of the bunch with an average of €60,067 ($69,646).
The Lexus NX (4.4/1,000) and the Toyota Land Cruiser (4.3/1,000) followed in fifth and sixth place averaging €28,718 ($33,299) and €38,794 ($44,982) respectively. The cheapest vehicle on the top 10 list is the Toyota Prius (3.9/1,000) in seventh place with an average claim of €19,770 ($22,923).
The first sportscar is the Porsche 911 (3.5/1,000) in eighth place averaging €52,794 ($61,216) followed by the Ford Edge (3.4/1,000). In tenth place, we have a tie between the BMW X5 (3.4/1,000) with owners claiming €43,263 ($50,164), and the Hyundai Santa Fe (3.4/1,000) at a lower average of €35,663 ($41,356).
In terms of brands, Land Rover was the first in line with a ratio of 1.9 per 1,000. Second, by a large margin was Porsche (1.0/1,000) followed by Mazda (0.7/1,000), Mitsubishi (0.5/1,000), and Toyota/Lexus (0.5) rounding up the top five.
The lockdowns had their toll on the total number of car thefts which fell to 10,697 fully insured vehicles in 2020 from the 14,229 vehicles in 2019. Most cases were reported in Berlin (2,276 insured vehicles) which is both the largest city and the capital of Germany.
However, thieves aimed at more expensive vehicles with the total damage estimated at around €214 million ($248 million). This was the first time that the average claim expenditure per theft exceeded the €20k mark ($23k).
Read Also: U.S. Car Thefts Spike By 11% In 2020 In Part Due To The Pandemic
