Auto Theft In Illinois: Here Are The Cars Thieves Love To Steal

It's 2024, which is 128 years after the very first reported vehicle theft. You'd think that over the years we would have come up with some method, gadget, or technology that would somehow make that impossible, but that's just not happening.

The very first vehicle theft took place in Paris, France during June of 1896 when a mechanic swiped a Peugeot from from some guy with the absolutely fabulous name of Baron Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevelt.

According to BlackKnightTracking.com,

While the vehicle was eventually recovered and the thief caught, it set forth a series of innovations that would see our cars become more theft-proof.

Okay, so they caught the thieving mechanic, but how hard could that have been? In Paris in 1896, there were a grand total of about 100 cars in the entire city. By 1900, the number was closer to 700, then by 1905 it was over 5,000. I've got to believe that looking for 1 vehicle out of 100 was a fairly easy job.

At The Last Count, Illinois Currently Has Over 4.1 Million Registered Vehicles In The State, Which Is Slightly More Than The Paris Cops Had To Deal With In The 19th Century

Just in case you might have been thinking that car thieves are a dying breed, and that you have a greater chance of having your catalytic converter stolen than your vehicle, this is a quick reminder that car theft is still very much a thing here in Illinois and across the nation.

As someone who once had their car stolen (it was swiped here in Rockford and then taken to Texas on a failed drug run where it was eventually found on the bottom of a lake), I can tell you that it wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to me, but the whole experience sucked.

Might have been my fault for driving a 1986 fire-engine red Pontiac Trans Am that basically begged you to break speed limits and apparently worked just fine for hauling cocaine across the country. It looked a lot like this (pre-lake, not post-lake):

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) Says That In 2022, Reports Of Vehicle Thefts Were Up 7% Over The Previous Year

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) also points out that a car or truck is stolen in this country every 32 seconds, which in doing some math, equals out to over 1 million vehicles getting boosted every year.

The FBI's data from 2019 (the latest year available for statistics) says that vehicle theft losses added up to over $6.4 billion. When you compare vehicle theft stats with catalytic converter thefts, it's not even close. Estimates of 153,000 catalytic converter thefts in 2022 still only gets you about $214 million in total.

Here Are The Most Stolen Vehicles In Illinois And Across The United States, According To The NICB

You may notice that several of the most-stolen vehicles recently had troubles with theft deterence, in particular a security flaw that was trumpeted loudly on social media. Those problems are still going on.

1. Hyundai Elantra
2. Hyundai Sonata
3. Kia Optima
4. Kia Sportage
5. Jeep Grand Cherokee
6. Kia Forte
7. Dodge Charger
8. Toyota Camry
9. Chevrolet Malibu