Honda Accord Thieves’ Favorite by a Mile

DETROIT — The Honda Accord is hot--with thieves.

It was no contest last year, according to an annual list of the nation’s most-stolen cars and trucks released Sunday. The 1994 Honda Accord EX was No. 1, the ’88 Accord LX was second and the ’92 Accord LX was third. Other Accords ranked seventh, eighth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th . . . you get the picture.

CCC Information Services Inc., which keeps track of such things for the insurance and body repair industries, said Honda’s popular family sedan and coupe took 11 of the top 25 spots on its annual most-stolen list.

Though it’s a reflection of the Accord’s sales success, the ranking is not a distinction Honda savors.

Honda spokesman Art Garner said the list is misleading because it ranks cars based on raw theft totals rather than theft rates, such as the number of thefts per 1,000 cars.

“It’s only natural that there would be more Accords stolen than most,” Garner said. “There’s more of them out there, so there are more stolen.”

Theft rate studies actually have shown the Accord is about average compared with other cars, Garner said, and its insurance rates are average or slightly better than those for other cars in its class.

The Accord has ranked among the best-selling cars in the United States for years. It was No. 2 last year, behind the Ford Taurus, although Honda says that in sales of cars to individuals, as opposed to rental companies and other fleet owners, it was No. 1.

In taking the top spot, the Accord ousted the mid-1980s Oldsmobile Cutlass Supremes, which had held the most-stolen crown for the last four years and the top three spots in 1995.

The 1984-87 Cutlass Supremes are still on the list, but have fallen to the fourth, sixth, 14th and 18th places. “Now you’re looking at a 12- or 13-year-old car,” said Bill Geen, CCC’s senior vice president. “At that point, they start disappearing from use.”

The same features that made the Oldsmobiles popular with thieves “helped” the Accord win its dubious distinction. There are a lot of them on the road, so demand for their parts grows stronger as they start to age. Many parts are interchangeable from year to year and with other models.

“Thieves don’t steal vehicles based upon how simple or hard it is to take them,” Geen said. “Rather, they determine how easy it may be to sell them on the black market.”

But strong sales don’t guarantee a spot on the most-stolen list.

The best-selling sport-utility vehicle, the Ford Explorer, didn’t make the top 100. Neither did the Taurus. And the best-selling vehicle in America--the Ford F-series pickup--ranked only 74th (the 1995 Ford F150 4X2 XL).

The most-stolen light truck of the last few years--the 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4--fell to No. 35 overall last year from No. 17 in 1995.

Although only cars filled out last year’s top 25, CCC found evidence of a growing popularity of pickups among thieves, especially in areas of the country where they’re a preferred form of transportation.

For example, Texas has only pickups on its top 10 theft list. And trucks held more than half the top 10 spots in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Alabama.

Chicago-based CCC ranks the 100 most frequently stolen vehicles based on an analysis of its data from valuing stolen or damaged vehicles for insurance companies.