If you think your car isn’t a target for theft because it’s just too old, statistics tell another story.
Most cars stolen in Australia are over 10 years old, according to the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC).
Older cars with a value of $4,000 or less are popular and easy targets for car thieves.
Low-value cars aged between 12 and 21 years are frequently involved in short-term car theft incidents.
They are stolen for short periods of time, often for joy rides or to carry out crimes, and then dumped and later recovered.
The top five vehicles targeted for short-term theft include Holden Commodore VN, Hyundai Excel and Ford Laser KE.
Over half of all short-term car thefts resulted in the vehicle being recovered within 24-hours.
Just over 90 per cent were recovered within a fortnight.
The overall recovery rate was 85 per cent and the average value of the vehicles was less than $4,000.
The NMVTRC report also revealed that the majority of short-term thefts were of a localised nature, meaning the cars were recovered not far from where they were stolen.
Of all vehicles recovered, 55 per cent were found less than five kilometres from where they were stolen and nearly 70 per cent were found less than 10 kilometres away.
RAC urges the owners of older, lower-value vehicles not to become complacent about car theft.
Quality immobilisers are available for as little as $220. You should also use off-street parking at all times where available.
Top 5 short-term theft targets, 2008/9
| Model/series/year range |
Number of thefts |
% Recovered |
| Commodore VN (1988-1991) |
1,718 |
86.5 |
| Excel X3 (1994-2000) |
1,097 |
86.7 |
| Commodore VP (1991-1993) |
719 |
87.1 |
| Tarago YR22 (1985-1990) |
513 |
85.4 |
| Laser KE (1987-1994) |
477 |
88.5 |