People mover joins most-stolen car list

A people mover is the surprise entrant on this year's list of the most-stolen cars.

The eight-seater Nissan Elgrand has entered AA Insurance'sugg for sale uk ugg for sale uk ugg for sale uk list of most frequently stolen cars in the number two spot.

It comes in behind the Honda Torneo, which was second last year and now knocks the Nissan Silvia out of the top spot it held for three years. The Silvia did not make the top 10 this year.

AA Insurance operations manager Martin Fox was surprised to see the minivan-style Elgrand in such a high spot, given that most of the other cars in the top 10 could be modified easily to be "sportier".

"They're reasonably popular or reasonably common so therefore tracing them or identifying them becomes more difficult, " he said.

But the Elgrand was becoming increasingly popular at car yards so thieves were likely to be following the trends, Mr Fox said.

"As soon as certain types of vehicles become popular at ugg for sale uk ugg for sale uk ugg for sale ukthe sales yard there will always be an element that will take advantage."

The results from insurance claims over the past four years also showed that older cars continued to be more likely to be stolen – 66 per cent of vehicles on this list were made between 1990 and 1999, and 33 per cent were made between 2000 and 2010.

Most cars stolen were between eight and 10 years old and cost about $5000, Mr Fox said.

That was a reflection of the fact that newer cars tended to have better security systems built in.

"New Zealand has a large fleet of ageing, second-hand imported cars so it's no surprise that these older models, which have few or no security features compared to newer vehicles, are easy targets for thieves," Mr Fox said.

Auckland was the most likely place for a car to be stolen, followed by Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato.

Mr Fox said that was because there were likely to be a higher number of sought-after cars in the main centres.

"It's a bit like going fishing isn't it? You go where the fish are."

People with the popular models of older cars should consider increasing security measures, he said.

Parking a car in a garage meant the car was five times less likely to be stolen.

Visible measures like alarms or steering wheel locks also made cars less appealing to thieves, he said.

"Our claims ugg for sale uk ugg for sale uk ugg for sale ukdata shows that a vehicle