BMW X5 U.K. Thieves’ Top Target Fifth Straight Year
Executive Summary
Tracker Police Liaison Officer Adrian Davenport says the most expensive car recovered in 2013 was worth £90,000, but the average recovered car’s value was just £23,600, down from the year before.
The BMW X5 remains at the top of a U.K. popularity list no automaker wants to be on.
Tracker, a stolen-vehicle-recovery company, says the X5 was the model most frequently stolen and recovered in 2013.
It was the fifth year in a row the midsize SUV has topped the list.
The BMW M3 was the second-most stolen and recovered vehicle, moving up from third in 2012 and sixth the year before.
BMWs dominated last year’s list, with the 5-Series and 3-Series both ranked in the top 10.
In 2012, the No.2 spot was shared by the Land Rover Sport and Vogue, but in 2013, they were in seventh and eighth place, respectively. The Mercedes C-Class made its debut on the list, taking third place. The Porsche 911 appeared for the first time since 2001, ranking ninth.
The Audi A4 leaped from ninth in 2011 to fourth in 2013, showing, Tracker says, even thieves have trends. This year, the Audi RS4 doesn’t appear at all, but the Audi S3 does, in eighth place alongside the Range Rover Vogue.
Tracker Police Liaison Officer Adrian Davenport says thieves clearly continue to target prestige models, with the most expensive car recovered being worth £90,000 ($151,270).
But, Davenport adds: “The average value of the cars we recovered in 2013 was just £23,600 ($39,665), down on the average for the year before. This proves that you don’t have to be a luxury-car owner to be at risk from thieves looking to make a quick profit.”
Last year the company recovered almost £8.5 million ($14.3 million) worth of stolen vehicles.
Tracker’s technology works like an electronic homing device, emitting a signal that leads police to the stolen vehicle. A covert transmitter is hidden in one of several dozen places around the vehicle. There is no visible aerial, so the thief won’t know it’s there. The device works even if the vehicle is hidden in a garage or taken abroad.
After 20 years in business, Tracker has more than 1 million systems installed in vehicles and working with police has recovered more than £479 million ($805 million) worth of stolen vehicles.
