Top 10 most-stolen vehicles of 2011 released by NICB [w/video]

Jeffrey N. Ross — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:34:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Safety, Videos, Honda

There are plenty of lists on which consumers love to see their vehicles, but the National Insurance Crime Bureau annual "Hot Wheels" roster is likely not be one of them. The Illinois-based NICB has just released its annual top 10 list of stolen vehicles using 2011 data submitted by law enforcement agencies. The good news that comes out of this report is that the NICB says car theft has dropped by 3.3 percent compared to 2010, and last year was the lowest for vehicles thefts since 1967.

For the most part, this list has been dominated by pre-1997 cars that lack smart key technology, but as crooks get more high tech, thefts of late-model cars have been on the rise. Smart keys have a chip in the key or fob for improved theft protection, and with dealerships having access to the code for vehicle transponder keys, the NICB says that some thieves are getting around that by cajoling a dealership employee into handing over a car's key code. The bogus keymaking scheme is apparently only a fraction of theft scenarios, though: the organization tracked some 531,031 key code transactions (read: key replacement instances) in the first quarter of this year, and apparently, 277 vehicles related to those instances were stolen within a week of the transaction.

In 2011, the top 10 most-stolen vehicles as indicated by the NICB Hot Wheels lists were:

Since 2008, the 1994 Honda Accord has topped the list of most-stolen vehicles, but for the most part, the list always contains many of these same makes and models with slight changes in the model year.

To protect yourself from having your vehicle stolen, the NICB recommends using common sense when parking your car and equipping your vehicle with an alarm and immobilizing device (ironically, this includes smart keys).

Scroll down for the video and press release.

Continue reading Top 10 most-stolen vehicles of 2011 released by NICB [w/video]

Top 10 most-stolen vehicles of 2011 released by NICB [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The greatest truck in America?

Alex Nunez — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:23:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Etc.

America's greatest truck isn't sitting in some showroom. It's not the one that wins the latest Big Time Magazine comparo, either. Nor is it the one that ranks highest in some tailor-made-for-PR survey results. The best truck in America is the one you see above. Okay, not this one specifically. Think of this 108,000-mile 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 as an archetype: the friend's truck, or more plainly, the truck you can always borrow.

I borrowed this one earlier today for a messy trip to the dump. Sure, all the filth-ridden junk would have fit in the family SUV, but cleanup would have been a nightmare, and my truck-owning buddy lives just around the corner. "Sure thing. Come on by," he says every time I ask to borrow it. And every time I use that truck, I desperately want one of my own. But the truth is, another ride's just not in the cards right now, so The Borrowed Truck is king. It is beloved. Long may it run.

And now, it's reader participation time. Do you have a strong relationship with a borrowed truck yourself? Let's hear about it.

The greatest truck in America? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 29 May 2010 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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