Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Older cars easier targets

By Cassandra Mason
Hawkes Bay Today·
31 May, 2014 11:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

SAFE: Keep all valuables and car keys out of sight. PHOTO/FILE

SAFE: Keep all valuables and car keys out of sight. PHOTO/FILE

New Zealand's most frequently stolen car is the Honda Torneo, followed by Subaru Imprezas and the Mazda Premacy, according to AA Insurance data released this week.

However, a local scrap dealer says there are often "dead giveaways" that a vehicle brought in for scrap has been stolen.

The findings were based on AA Insurance claims between May 1, 2010 and April 30 this year.

The average claim for the top-10 most stolen cars was $4977.

Cars manufactured before 2000 were more than four times as likely to be stolen than those manufactured from 2005.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Police crime statistics show the annual number of car thefts in the Eastern police district dropped slightly over the last five years, from 734 in 2009 - a rate of 36.8 per 10,000 people - to 627 last year, a rate of 31.1 per 10,000 people.

Manager of Hawkes Bay Scrap Metal Peter Henderson said all registration numbers were entered into the police system to make sure the car hadn't been reported stolen.

"... a dead giveaway is it's got a broken ignition and [broken] quarter light [windows]."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The person trying to offload the vehicle was often a giveaway too, he said.

All sellers were rigorously checked for identification as part of a process to make sure the car was legitimately owned.

"You couldn't even give me a sheet of corrugated iron without photo ID and me recording all the details."

Those details could then be passed on to police should the car turn out to be stolen, he said.

Discover more

Tables turned on robber

30 Jul 10:00 PM

In that case, the buyer was usually left out of pocket when the thief took off with the money, nearly always failing to pay it back once the police became involved.

AA Insurance head of customer relations Suzanne Wolton said older cars were easier to steal.

"New Zealand has a large number of ageing, imported cars, and our claims show that older models, which have less-advanced or no security features than newer vehicles, are easy targets for thieves."

Installing an alarm and using a steering lock in full view were effective ways to deter thieves.

"Thieves will always go for the easiest, fastest option, so if you make it just a little bit harder for them then chances are they'll lose interest in your car and move on to an easier target."

One AA Insurance customer had their older model Subaru taken from their driveway, and used in a robbery. Damage to the ignition, as well as mechanical, paint and panel damage cost more than $3300 to repair.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Nationally, vehicle thefts have dropped from 21,629 in 2009 - or 50.1 per 10,000 people - to 19,221 last year, or 43 for every 10,000 people.

Cars were most likely to be stolen in Auckland, followed by Northland, Wellington, Waikato and Christchurch.APNZ

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP