Cars and Drivers

Are You Buying the Car Thieves Steal the Most?

John Harrington

Published: July 12, 2017 9:40 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 10:14 am

Americans love buying Hondas, and American thieves love stealing them, according to the latest report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

The Honda Accord and Civic were the two most stolen autos in the nation in 2016, based on data from the NICB’s annual Hot Wheels report. The two models made by the Japanese carmaker accounted for 42% of the top 10 top thefts in the crime bureau’s tally.

The Honda Accord was stolen 50,427 times in 2016, and model year 1997 fell victim 7,527 times. The Honda Civic was grabbed 49,547 times, with the 1998 model taken 7,578 times.

Of the 10 most stolen cars, seven are 2008 or earlier models.

The NICB said that while Honda Accords and Civics dominate the annual list, the stolen cars are older, pre–smart key production models. Since the introduction of smart keys and other antitheft technology, Honda thefts have fallen dramatically. NICB says that is one reason there were only 493 thefts of Accords last year.

Hondas were the leading choice of car thieves in 20 states. The Chevrolet pickup was the top vehicle stolen in 14 states, and the Ford pickup was the leading vehicle swiped in 10 states.

Among the top 10 2016 model year vehicles stolen, Toyota Camry was first at 1,113.

The annual Hot Wheels report examines vehicle theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and determines the vehicle make, model and model year most reported stolen in 2016.