As Vehicle Thefts Decline, Incidence of Stolen Car Parts Rise

While car thefts are declining across the country, the thefts of some parts and accessories are proving to be a lucrative business for professional thieves.

In the Detroit area, it’s become a huge problem that‘s costing consumers, insurance companies, car dealers and car rental companies.

“We hear all this good news about auto theft being down in Michigan, but unfortunately, what’s replaced that is component theft,” said Terri Miller, executive director of Help Eliminate Auto Thefts (HEAT). “Because it’s harder to steal an entire vehicle these days, they’re stealing the parts. The tires and rims are not marked and they are very, very marketable.”

Organized crime rings are targeting newer vehicles parked in neighborhoods, in parking lots, even at dealer lots – anywhere they can quickly jack the car up, remove the wheels, and leave it sitting on blocks.

Rental car companies have been particularly hard hit with hundreds of newer model cars targeted.

In some cases, thieves break the window, pop the hood and disable the gear shift to put the car in neutral. They then use another vehicle to push the car away to a nearby empty garage or lot where they can safely strip it.

According to Michigan State Police Detective Lieutenant Ray Collins of the Southeast Auto Theft Team (SEATT), the person stealing the tires and rims may be paid $150 to $400 for their work but more money is made by the middle man who resells the stolen property to smaller tire dealers or collision repair shops for $700 to $900. The repair shop may then install those tires and rims on a car and bill an insurance company for $1,200 or $1,300. And an insurance company has likely already paid a claim for those same stolen tires and rims.

Unless a thief is literally caught in the act, trying to prove a theft is frustrating for law enforcement. One lengthy investigation led officers to recover some 240 tires and rims from shops that were allegedly reselling them. But tracking them back to the owners will be difficult since tires and rims are not marked with any identification records.

“I encourage people to put some kind of identifying mark on their tires and rims,” said Collins. “If they report them stolen, we may be able to tie them back to the victims if we recover them.”

Some manufacturers are working on technology to help track these parts when they are stolen, but there’s no immediate solution on the horizon.

Source: NICB