Report: Tesla Cars Among Least Stolen

A new report from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), a nonprofit organization that researches and publishes statistics on vehicle losses in the United States, says Teslas are among the least stolen cars for the model years of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The report looked at claims per insured vehicle year. HLDI’s whole-vehicle theft report differs from its standard theft report, which looks at all theft claims, including those for stolen vehicle parts or for items taken from a vehicle.

To isolate whole-vehicle claims, HLDI looked at the amounts paid for total losses under collision coverage, which is generally the residual value of the vehicle. If the payment associated with a theft claim is around the same as would be expected for a total loss under collision coverage for the same vehicle of the same age, it is considered to be a whole-vehicle theft claim.

The results in the whole-vehicle theft report are adjusted to account for the effect of demographic and geographic factors, the report said.

“Two of the vehicles on the least-stolen list are the Tesla Model S and Model X,” the report said. “Their low theft rate may be related to the fact that, as electric vehicles, they are usually parked in garages or close to a house to be near a power supply. In a separate report last year, HLDI showed that electric vehicles from a variety of manufacturers have lower theft claim rates than comparable vehicles.”

The Model S four was the second-least stolen new car, while the Model X was the third-least stolen for the past three model years. Teslas were about 10 times less likely to be stolen than an average new car.

The only car to have a better rating was the BMW 3-Series four-door sedan, which the HLDI said was 25 times less likely to be stolen than a typical new car.

The Dodge Charger Hemi is the most stolen new car of the past three years, and gets stolen 5.4 times more than the average vehicle, according to the report.

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