The most popular vehicles in New Zealand – at least among thieves – are the Toyota Hilux, Subaru Legacy and Subaru Impreza, a new report from MoneyHub has revealed.
The financial comparison website found Canterbury to be the stolen car hotspot of the country, with over 800 vehicles reported stolen in the last six months. Of those reported stolen vehicles, 68 were Toyota Hilux vehicles.
It suggests Toyota Hilux was also the most frequently stolen in the Bay of Plenty and Northland. In Auckland, thieves lusted after the Mazda Familia; the Ford Falcon in Waikato; and the Honda Civic in Southland and Otago.
“If you own a Toyota Hilux, Subaru Impreza or Subaru Legacy, you could pay a lot more for car insurance than for less ‘in demand’ models by thieves,” MoneyHub senior researcher Christopher Walsh said. “But many models continue to be in demand by thieves, and until now, there wasn’t a definite list of which models were most susceptible to being stolen.”
Car models included in the top 10 most stolen cars across New Zealand, as outlined by MoneyHub, include the Holden Commodore, Toyota HiAce, Ford Courier, Honda Accord, Nissan Primera, Toyota Corolla and Holden Lancer.
When it comes to stolen cars as a ratio of a region’s population, Otago and Southland reported the lowest number, while Canterbury, Northland and Counties/Manakau posed the highest risk to car owners.