There are crimes of opportunity, but some opportunities are downright criminal. Or at least that’s one way insurance experts and police are explaining the national spike of auto thefts in recent years.
According to QuoteWizard, an insurance comparison platform, more than 2.3 million vehicles were stolen nationwide over the past three years. The FBI said nearly 220,000 cars were stolen nationally during the first nine months of 2022 — a 40,000 vehicle increase from the same period in 2021.
Reasons for the uptick vary, as the increase actually began more than a decade ago. But it has accelerated since 2020.
The amount of cars produced, and car parts, dwindled during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the value of both. The law of supply and demand applied, prompting criminals to increasingly target vehicles in order to see a bigger return for their efforts.
“The pandemic played a huge role in the rising number of car thefts,” said Nick Vinzant, a senior research analyst for QuickWizard. “The problem has gotten so bad that we’re even seeing some insurance companies say they’ll no longer cover certain cars in certain cities.”
Vinzant is alluding to the staggering proliferation of Hyundais and Kias stolen across America thanks in part to social media.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Total | |
| Vehicles stolen | 470 | 504 | 79 | 1,053 |
| Stolen vehicles recovered | 299 | 380 | 57 | 736 |
| % Vehicles recovered within two weeks | 48.5% | 54.4% | 65.8% | 52.6% |
Last summer, videos demonstrating how to start some Kias and Hyundais using a USB charger went viral on TikTok, leading to a rash of thefts in some cities. In Chicago alone, the number of Kias and Hyundais stolen rose from 551 during the first half of 2022 to 6,250 during the remainder of the year.
Twenty-three state attorneys general wrote a letter to the carmakers on March 20 demanding the companies take action to stop “a crisis of thefts.” The crux of the letter was a failure for the vehicles to have factory-equipped anti-theft immobilizers.
A spokesperson for Hyundai Motor Co. — the parent entity for the HYundai and Kia brands — said the company is “committed to the quality and integrity of our products” and “plans to continue supporting the communities affected by this theft issue.” He also said all vehicles meet federal anti-theft requirements.
Kia and Hyundai had already announced changes such as warning stickers, longer alarms and a software upgrade designed to prevent vehicles from starting during methods popularized in the videos.
Unlocked doors, keys left in plain sight, vehicles parked in either casually supervised or completely unwatched areas — there is a litany of habits they say can easily be corrected with just a moment’s pause and a little effort.
“In almost 50 percent of cases, people just forgot to lock their doors or left a window open,” said VinZant said. “We found that car thefts have risen the most in areas where there’s more opportunity. Big cities with lots of vehicles and rural areas where people might not be in the habit of locking everything up.”
Regardless of the circumstances — whether thefts were easy pickings or the culprits had to labor for their bounty — more and more vehicles have been stolen in recent years.
It’s part of a decadelong trend that has seen auto thefts increase in 30 states even before how-to videos hit the web. That includes the national-high 144-percent spike Colorado has experienced since 2011 and a 125-percent increase in South Dakota.
South Carolina hasn’t been hit quite as hard, although it could be bracing for a surge.
The Palmetto State saw a 3 percent dip in auto thefts since 2011, with 282 cars stolen for every 100,000 people in 2020 — one fewer than its 10-year average. Yet it’s a ratio that ranked South Carolina 13th nationally, ahead of more highly populated states such as North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio. Even Florida averaged only 176 auto thefts per 100,000 people in 2020 despite having a population more than four times the size of South Carolina’s.
The rub for the Palmetto State: Experts say those larger states aren’t really doing anything extraordinary to stymie thieves beyond stressing the normal precautions.
And that’s been the approach at the municipal level.
A report from the Charleston Police Department indicated that from Jan. 1 to March 20 this year, car thefts inside the city are down 26 percent when compared with the same periods over the previous two years. And the 12-month total between 2021 to 2022 only rose slightly, going from 468 in 2021 to 496 in 2022 — an increase of less than 6 percent.
The biggest reason to at least tread water even as more people continue to flock to the Holy City? Emphasizing a message that says don’t make it easy for would-be thieves.
“One trend we constantly see from reported stolen vehicles on a routine basis are keys or key fobs being left in unlocked vehicles while unattended, said Sgt. Will Dillahey of the Charleston Police Department. “From January 2021 until March 2023, 65 percent of all vehicles that were stolen were due to vehicles being unlocked and keys or key fobs being left inside the vehicle. This statistic is extremely unfortunate since the majority of motor vehicle thefts in the city of Charleston are preventable.”
