Boston car thieves’ favorite
2023 Honda Accord LX
Boston Guardian article by Mariah Alanskas
(Full disclosure: Robert Whitcomb, New England Diary’s publisher and editor, is chairman of The Boston Guardian.)
BOSTON
Honda Accords continue to be Boston car thieves’ favorite vehicle, while many of the rest of the nation’s auto criminals target the Hyundai Elantra.
In Massachusetts, the two vehicles tied for the most stolen vehicles across the state, with 241 each being stolen in 2024, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).
The remaining top five spots consisted of other Honda models and Toyotas, following national trends.
In previous years, full size pickup trucks topped the list of most stolen vehicles, but it seems that car thieves in Boston and across America now favor sedan models that have inadequate anti-theft and security features. In any event, Boston’s auto thefts have been decreasing compared to last year.
According to data from the Boston Police Department’s (BPD) daily journals, there have been roughly 420 reported auto thefts since the start of the year. In comparison, around 600 thefts were reported as of September 2024.
The data suggest a continued decline in auto thefts across the city since 2023. Over 2024, a reported 1,141 vehicles were stolen, 17% down from 1,381 in 2023.
It’s the first time that the city has seen a decline since 2019.
These trends are seen in national data.
The NICB shows that 850,708 vehicles were stolen nationwide last year, down from 1,020,729 in 2023, marking the largest decrease in auto thefts in 40 years. They suggest the reason for the sudden decline could be attributed to automakers implementing new anti-theft softwares and strategies such as “turn-to-key-to-start” ignitions.
While it remains unclear whether Boston car thieves are going to continue to shrug off national car thieving preferences by preferring Hondas to Hyundais and Kias, it is clear that Boston continues to hold its place as one of the big U.S. cities safest from auto theft. The most unsafe cities so far this year include Washington, D.C., where 3,056 vehicles have been stolen so far this year. In 2024, D.C. had the highest vehicle theft rate per capita.
Massachusetts also continues to hold its ranking as the fourth-safest state from auto thefts with Maine securing the top spot, and New Hampshire and Vermont following in second and third place.
In any event, BPD suggests preventive measures should still be taken to ensure belongings and vehicles are safe. Owners should keep their vehicles locked, remove valuables and install such anti-theft devices as steering-wheel locks and car alarms to deter thieves.
Boston car thieves favor Hondas
Excerpted from The Boston Guardian
(New England Diary’s editor, Robert Whitcomb, is chairman of The Boston Guardian.)
Boston’s car thieves are setting themselves apart from the rest of the country with their preferred targets, going after Hondas and the traditionally targeted pickups while their peers shift to Hyundais and Kias.
Data from the Boston Police Department shows Honda as Boston’s highest-risk car brand, with 113 Hondas stolen since the beginning of 2024.
Almost half of those have been Honda Accords, far and away the most popular target for car thieves at 47 thefts. The second highest make at 26 thefts was still a Honda, the Honda CR-V.
That’s a marked departure from national trends, where data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) suggests full size pickups have been almost kicked off the 2023 leaderboards in the scramble for cars from Hyundai and Kia.
Viral social media posts showing security flaws in those brands saw crimes involving them skyrocket 10,000 percent since 2020. Hyundai Elantras and Sonatas took first and second place respectively, followed by the Kia Optima.