New Year’s Day Top Working Holiday for Car Thieves

While Americans are enjoying the holidays and most have time off from work, holidays are just another day at the shop for vehicle thieves.

New Year’s Day was once again the leading holiday for reported vehicle thefts in 2009, while Christmas Day repeated as the holiday with the fewest reported vehicle thefts.

For the 11 holidays reviewed in 2009, a total of 22,991 vehicles were reported stolen compared to a total of 24,676 reported for those same days in 2008, according to an analysis by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

The holidays ranked by number of thefts reported to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in 2009 were:

• New Year’s Day 2,760

• Halloween 2,325

• Independence Day 2,207

• Memorial Day 2,207

• President’s Day 2,204

• Labor Day 2,202

• New Year’s Eve 2,189

• Valentine’s Day 2,090

• Christmas Eve 1,851

• Thanksgiving 1,620

• Christmas Day 1,336

The National Insurance Crime Bureau, headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., is supported by nearly 1,100 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations.

Holiday Car Theft Analysis NICB