Old and low insured value cars are more prone to theft than others

According to the data for claims released by RACV Insurance, most of car thieves in Victoria are targeting cars which are insured for small amounts and those which are almost a decade old. Cars that were more than nine years old were the favourites of thieves, as they accounted for about 73 percent of car theft claims. Cars having less than $6000 insurance value accounted for more than half the claims filed with RACV. Vehicles that were less than three years old accounted for only 4.5 percent of the theft claims with the company.

Car owners are quite careful if they are driving a new car, but they become less careful when they have an older model and they think that probably the new model of the car parked next to theirs will be the easier target for theft than their car, apparently because of the high value of the new ones. But they forget that those new models would be having all kinds of anti-theft devices installed in their cars and thieves would not like taking a risk with those models.

So if you are driving an older model, you have all the more reason to be more vigilant than others when you are parking your car at train stations, shopping malls or even outside your home. Some of the older models, such as Toyota Camry, Ford Falcon and Holden Commodores were most likely target for these thieves, though a part of the reason for high theft rate of these cars is also because there are more cars of these models on the road than other models.

One of the reasons why older cars are more prone to theft is that newer cars these days are equipped with various kinds of anti-theft devices, which are most likely not installed in older cars. They were either not installed in the first place or they went out of order and then were not replaced by the owner because of high cost involved. It is also mandatory since 2001 that all the new cars have an engine immobilizers installed in them.

However, this is not the only reason why older cars are the prime target for theft. Many cars that were hot sellers when they were launched a few years ago are also soft targets for thieves because many of these old model cars in the market needed replacement parts. Parts such as catalytic converters and various engine parts of these older models are in high demand in the market and this demand drives theft of these cars so that reselling these components in the market can fetch them good price.

Insurance is legally required – Pass the message loud and clear to young motorists

Many drivers, especially those between the age group of 17 to 20 are unaware of the fact that car insurance is a legal requirement and people may be convicted if they take an uninsured car on the road. In Australia, about 230,000 people are convicted every year for taking out an uninsured car on the road, and a majority among them is the youth.

It has been found from various researches that about 10% of youth mostly drive uninsured cars. This is basically because of two reasons - the higher premium rates of car insurance for young drivers as well as ignorance of the legal requirement of cars to be insured. High rates of premiums that are charged by car insurance companies dissuade young drivers to go for it. Young drivers are mostly students and have a tight monthly budget and are not very keen on cutting their expenses for paying high car insurance premiums. Most young drivers are also unaware of the legal requirement in this regard and also about possible consequences if they get involved in an accident while driving a car that is not insured. 

The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) believes that the main reason behind youth driving uninsured cars is that law is quite soft in dealing with the offenders. Although, the cops have been given the power to not only seize, but also destroy an uninsured car, but with so many vehicles being quite low in value, it does not act as a strong enough deterrent for drivers committing the offence.

It has also bee found that most of the accidents involving young drivers occur in uninsured vehicles. Because most people in this age group are students, it is necessary that they be properly educated about this legal requirement. It will be better if this could be somehow integrated into the process of issuing the driving license. Such a move will make sure that whosoever has a driving license, knows the legal provision regarding car insurance.

At times, these young drivers are taking an uninsured vehicle out on the road because they are too confident about themselves and their driving skills. Probably due to their age, they are not afraid of taking risk without thinking about the consequences that might follow. To deal with such kind of drivers, some major changes in the legal provisions are required so that some really harsh punishment could be imposed on drivers, if they are caught driving an uninsured vehicle on the road, and an even harsher punishment if they get involved in an accident while driving such a vehicle.