Car Theft Business Booming
Newcastle Herald
Thursday August 16, 2001
NEWCASTLE and the Lower Hunter have become the car theft capital of Australia, according to disturbing figures issued by insurance company AAMI yesterday.
The AAMI statistics show that more than a quarter of the vehicles stolen in the area last year were never recovered, and of those which were found almost one-third were written-off, classed as beyond repair.
Most recovered cars, says AAMI, are found damaged and only 11.5% were returned intact to their owners. Nationally, 20.6% of stolen vehicles are recovered undamaged.
The AAMI figures also show the region is losing the battle against car theft, with a 27.4% non-recovery rate compared with 19.5% nationally.
And although the figures are applicable only to AAMI, company corporate affairs director Mr Richard Jeffrey said they would be indicative of statistics from other insurers.
Mr Jeffrey said yesterday the increase in vehicle theft numbers pointed to a significant rise in the level of professional criminal activities.
`These figures indicate what we've long believed: that car theft is a business and a big business at that and it is costing the community about $1billion a year,' he said.
`Many, many hundreds of cars are not being recovered (in the district) and we've seen that number increase over the last three years. It has increased by 150 cars annually in the last two years,' Mr Jeffrey said.
NSW Police Local Area Commander for Newcastle Superintendent Ron Bender rejects the AAMI assertions, saying the stolen vehicle monthly average of 101 recorded last year had been slashed by 25% in the first seven months of this year.
Supt Bender said that of the State's 80 local area commands Newcastle ranked 27th for vehicle theft `and that's pretty far away from first place!'.
`We set a target to reduce stolen motor vehicles to 77 a month and currently we're beating that by two,' he said.
If there is a bright side for Newcastle car owners it is that they are less likely to have their vehicles stolen than their capital city counterparts.
The district's 12.9 claims per 1000 policies is below Adelaide (17.5), Hobart (14.9), Sydney (14.6) and Melbourne (13).
WHERE IS YOUR CAR NOW?
Hunter area statistics from AAMI
n 27.4% of stolen vehicles are never found - the national average is 19.5%
n 30.1% of recovered vehicles are write-offs
n 11.5% of recovered vehicles will be
undamaged - the national average is 20.6%
n One in five cars are stolen between 8pm and midnight
n Friday is the peak day for vehicle theft, with 16.8% of cars stolen
n Car theft claims rose from 12.5 per 1000
policies in 1999 to 12.9 per 1000 last year
© 2001 Newcastle Herald
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