Car thieves go for fast and furious

By MSN Money staff and wire reports

Small cars that can be chopped into parts and sold for use by street racers dominated the list of the most-stolen autos in the United States last year, but high-priced cars and expensive sport utility vehicles also ranked high, according to a report from CCC Information Services of Chicago, an industry group that tracks theft and vehicle damage.

Leading the way was the 2001 BMW M-Series Roadster, which was stolen at a rate of one for every 200 on the road, according to CCC.

Six of the top 10 most-stolen cars were models of the Acura Integra, which has a powerful engine that easily can be swapped into a lighter Honda Civic, making it a quick street racer, said Jeanene O'Brien, who analyzes the data for CCC.

O'Brien said the 2004 and 2005 Suzuki Aerio, another small car with a powerful engine, appeared in the No. 11 and 12 slots almost from nowhere.

"That's where you see the whole illegal street racing thing coming out," she said.

CCC identifies the most-stolen vehicles by analyzing total loss claims it receives from more than 350 property and casualty insurers. CCC then compares the number declared a total loss against vehicle registration volume information provided by R. L. Polk & Co. to determine the rate of theft as a percentage of registered vehicles. The vehicle with the highest theft percentage is deemed the year's most stolen vehicle.

Built for speed -- and thieves

"We can't say exactly why they were stolen, but some details point to interesting trends contained within the list of the top 25 most stolen cars of 2005," said Mary Jo Prigge, CCC's president of operations. "For instance, our data suggest some cars are stolen for the value of their parts, which may explain why we often see a 'clustering' effect with same make and model vehicles from sequential model years. The data also point to a high proportion of stolen cars that are built for speed, such as the BMW M Roadster, the Audi S4, the supercharged Jaguar XJR and the Mercury Marauder, all of which appear on the top 25 most stolen vehicles list in 2005."

While small and speedy characterized the most stolen models, it's still the flashy SUVs that are most stolen as a group. In fact, Hummer ranked as the most-stolen brand, followed by Acura, Land Rover, Honda and Suzuki.

  Most stolen models

Rank, year, model	Rank, year, model
1. 2001 BMW M-Series Roadster	14. 1998 Land Rover Range Rover
2. 1998 Acura Integra	15. 1998 Jaguar XJR
3. 2004 Mercury Marauder	16. 2003 Mercury Marauder
4. 1999 Acura Integra	17. 2000 Acura Integra
5. 1995 Acura Integra	18. 2002 Cadillac Escalade
6. 2002 Audi S4	19. 2000 Audi A8
7. 1996 Acura Integra	20. 2000 Audi S4
8. 1997 Acura Integra	21. 1993 Mercedes-Benz 600
9. 2001 Acura Integra	22. 1995 Land Rover Range Rover
10. 2000 Jaguar XJR	23. 2005 Cadillac Escalade
11. 1994 Acura Integra	24. 2000 Honda Civic
12. 2005 Suzuki Aerio	25. 2001 Audi S4
13. 2004 Suzuki Aerio

Source: CCC Information Services Inc.