Why are so many cars stolen in Vegas?
The National Insurance Crime Bureau has listed Las Vegas first among car thefts per capita. In 2006 the insurance company trade group estimated 1,310 car thefts per 100,000 people in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Clark County reported more than 19,000 car thefts in 2006.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police estimates that over 25 percent of reported car thefts are not stolen at all, but rather set on fire and abandoned, then reported stolen by owners to insurance companies. In a February 7, 2007 Sun article, William Donaldson, an investigator for the NICB says, "It's the high payments that make them spontaneously combust."
The city's notoriously high insurance premiums (seventh highest in the nation) and entrenched retail car market often leads buyers to take on more debt than they can manage. Also the lack of an effective mass-transit system rules out alternate modes of transportation for most valley commuters.
According to police another quarter of the cars stolen are taken by professional car thieves and dissected for parts at valley "chop shops." Metro says the high number of parking lots and garages coupled with a growing population in Las Vegas creates a better opportunity for car thieves to strike.
Sun stories that help answer this question:
Las Vegas has third-highest auto theft rate in U.S.
— Web content editor Andy Samuelson, multimedia technician Billy Steffens, and intern Rob Ponte compiled this report.
