By Charlene Macaulay
Car thieves are burgling homes to steal the car keys of newer-model cars and cars locked up in garages.
That’s the word from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC), which recorded 2421 car thefts across Wyndham between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2017.
The figures show that car thefts are trending up year-on-year, with 380 car thefts recorded in 2013, 484 in 2014, 579 in 2015 and 659 in 2016. This year, 319 cars were reported stolen between January 1 and June 30. About 68 per cent of stolen vehicles were eventually recovered.
Werribee topped the list for the most cars stolen this year, with 90 cars stolen up until October 31, followed by Hoppers Crossing (74), Tarneit (59), Point Cook (56) and Laverton North (54) rounding out the top five. Holden Commodores – ranging from VT 1997 models to VE 2013 models – were the most commonly stolen vehicles.
A NMVTRC spokesperson said the best way to keep a car safe was to protect their keys.
“Thieves often target homes to steal car keys of secure vehicles, so enhancing your home’s security is one way to prevent that occurring as well as safeguarding your vehicle’s keys – they are worth as much as the value of your car,” the spokesperson said.
“Always store car keys out of view and away from external doors and windows and never leave your car unattended with the keys in the ignition.”
Sergeant Adam Radley from Wyndham’s vehicle crime reduction team agreed.
“A lot of thefts are opportunistic, such as the victim leaving the keys in the car thinking they will go do something quickly or to ‘warm the car up’. Also offenders committing burglaries on houses and obtaining the car keys can be an issue.”
Sergeant Radley said car theft had gone down 47 per cent from last year.
