Love that old Honda of yours? Well, be warned: Car thieves may be coveting your sweet ride even more than you are.
Thefts of cars in general are way down over the years, thanks largely to technology that makes it practically impossible to start the engine without the key. The reduction in New York City has been especially sharp -- the theft rate there plummeting 96% since 1990, The New York Times says.
That tech has been around for awhile, too -- longer than many cars have been on the road.
But among those old car models that predate the immobilizer tech, Honda's typically long-lasting Accord and Civic stand out. They are, indeed, as the National Insurance Crime Bureau reports, the respective first- and second- most stolen cars in America.
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Some 54,000 Accords were stolen in 2013, 84% being model years 1997 and earlier, The Times reports, citing data by the bureau. The immobilizer technology came to Accords the following year. A similar pattern shows in thefts of Civics, which got the ignition security system in 2001.
Of course, those older Accords and Civics -- are you sitting down, Honda fans? -- have declined in value. Yet strong demand remains for their parts.
"Breaking up and selling parts is quite lucrative," says Carol Kaplan, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
"People buy these cars like Hondas that are built to run 100,000 miles, and they keep running, but occasionally they need a new alternator or muffler, something like that."
And a lot of times, precisely because of the age of the cars, only used parts are available.
So, should owners of Accords and Civics that predate the ignition-immobilizer tech be especially worried?
"Absolutely," Kaplan says.
She advises installing an anti-theft device if you don't already have one, never leaving anything in your car that will attract attention and parking in secure, well-lit areas.
