Auto Theft Recovery Rate Decreases - (NASDAQ: LOJN)

While the National Insurance Crime Bureau's (NICB's) Hot Spots release issued today indicates that the national vehicle theft rate declined for the sixth consecutive year, LoJack Corporation (NASDAQ: LOJN) cautions consumers that the national recovery rate is at its lowest point in over 20 years. In fact, 43% of vehicles stolen in 2008 were never recovered, amounting to 411,444 stolen vehicles not returned to their rightful owners. LoJack, developer of the industry's most effective stolen vehicle recovery system with a better than 90 percent success rate, indicated that the sophisticated tactics of organized crime rings and their ability to outsmart so many of today's anti-theft devices such as smart keys and car alarms is the real story behind these numbers.

These numbers show something about the people currently committing car thefts, they’re no amateurs. It seems the days of novice gang-banger wanna-bees stealing cars may be over and now it’s more of organized crime rings who are committing these car thefts. Auto theft is a multi-billion dollar business opportunity for professional thieves and an increasing number of organized crime rings see it as easy money. Further, auto theft is often just one crime that is committed in a series of other, more serious crimes such as burglary, kidnapping, identity theft and even acts of terrorism.

So where do stolen cars end up?

1. Many end up in chop shops, where the vehicle is stripped down to its components, which are then sold separately on the black market. By selling individual parts, thieves can make two to four times thevehicle’s actual worth.
2. Thousands of stolen vehicles are transported across U.S. borders each year.
3. Some are used to commit other more serious crimes.
4. The rest are simply resold as used vehicles, most often to unsuspecting customers.

These numbers are deceptively positive and are really just reiterating the need for a good auto theft recovery system, something LoJack does it better than anyone.