Car thieves burgle homes for fancy keys

By NATASHA HARRIS and PETER WILSON of NZPA

Thieves are hitting more homes and businesses looking for the high-tech keys to expensive cars, says the Insurance Council.

It warned yesterday of "very well-organised crime networks" targeting expensive, high-performance cars.

It urged owners to hide the keys.

The warning came as the council issued a list of cars most at risk.

They are expensive cars often stolen to order - such as the late-model Holden Commodore HSV and SS, Holden Monaro, Ford Falcon XR6 and XR8, Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution - or older, high-performance cars stolen for joy riding and street racing, such as the Mazda 323 Familia, RX7 and Ford Laser.

Council chief executive Chris Ryan said insurance companies had noticed an increase in home burglaries by thieves wanting keys for cars that immobilise themselves without the proper key. "We may get to the situation where insurance companies will say, if you have a high-performance car, it may need to be in the garage at all times."

Mr Ryan said the Top 15 list "quite possibly" might increase insurance premiums, but that was up to individual companies.

The Insurance Council was working with the industry on a grading system for security products.

"The key to stopping car burglaries is to get security systems on all cars, so we need to know which ones work and which ones don't."

Car burglaries made up about half of the $240 million worth of property stolen each year, Mr Ryan said. Figures show that a car is stolen every 13 minutes and a theft from a car occurs every 10 minutes.

Mr Ryan said Auckland was one of the worst areas, and he wanted more police to deal with the problem.

"It's very much an Auckland issue as there are more expensive cars here, higher burglary rates in certain parts and the police are under more stress."

National MP Tony Ryall yesterday cited official figures showing 38,824 cases of car conversion last year and 53,662 thefts from cars.

However, Police Minister George Hawkins said car thefts had dropped in the past eight years, comparing 38,724 with 50,672 in 1995. During that period, the number of vehicles rose from 2.4 million to 2.8 million.

Mr Ryall also produced figures showing that only 22 per cent of car thefts were solved. The Insurance Council said offences might be more than police reported, as about a quarter of motorists were uninsured and might not report thefts.

Car facts

38,824 cars stolen in 2002.

One car stolen every 13 minutes.

22 per cent of car thefts solved.

2.8 million cars on NZ roads.

Cars most at risk

Holden Commodore (SS, HSV, Monaro)

Subaru WRX, Legacy, Impreza

Mitsubishi Lancer, Airtrek

Mazda 323 Familia, RX7

Ford Laser, Falcon

Toyota Starlet, Levin/Corolla, Supra

Nissan Skyline, Pulsar

Honda Civic/Integra