Over 730,000 vehicles were stolen annually across the U.S. between 2014 and 2018.
For anyone who has had a car stolen, it can be a stressful experience and feel like an invasion of personal space. Not to mention expensive.
In addition, living in an area with a high number of thefts can cause your insurance rates to rise even if you've never had your car stolen.
A new study by Car Insurance Comparison that spanned five years uncovered the 15 states with the highest rates of vehicle theft and California is one of them.
According to the study the worst states of car theft are:
- Washington D.C.
- California
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- Washington
- Hawaii
- Alaska
- Utah
- Colorado
- Oregon
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Arizona
- Georgia
California averaged 548 cars stolen per 100,000 registered vehicles from 2014 to 2018.
The California Highway Patrol reported that 165,000 cars were stolen in the state in 2018, with 49 percent being automobiles and 39 percent being trucks or sport-utility vehicles. That means one vehicle was stolen every three minutes.
However, it's not all bad news. The study also found that the number of car thefts from 2014 to 2018 only increased 2 percent, 7 percent lower than the national average.
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