Civic-Minded Thieves Put Upscale Integra at Top of Dubious Heap

Successful retailers know their markets: So, it seems, do car thieves.

With used Honda Civics a perennial favorite among young motorists seeking something inexpensive to fix up and to drive, the upscale Acura Integra--with a long list of parts that bolt onto the Civic with ease--has become a favorite of those who steal cars for their components.

A new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute of theft rates among 1999-2001 model cars and trucks found that the Honda Motor Co.-built Integra led the pack with a theft claim frequency more than eight times the average.

Owners of Integras from those three years, the study found, filed 21.7 claims for every 1,000 insured vehicles. The average theft claim frequency for all vehicles was 2.6 per 1,000.

“Theft investigators believe that Integras are targeted by professional thieves for their parts and that many of those parts, like the more powerful engine, end up on modified Honda Civics,” said Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the insurer-funded Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Indeed, the Civic and the Integra share the same platform, and until this model year about 40% of an Integra’s parts, including the seats and much of the powertrain, would bolt onto a Civic of the same model year with little or no modification, said American Honda Motor Co. spokesman Art Garner.

The Integra has been in the top 10 of the insurance group’s “hot car” list for five straight years, even after Honda started adding a passive anti-theft device as standard equipment in the 2000 model year.

Car thieves learn to break systems almost as quickly as manufacturers can churn them out.

After the theft claim rate for Integras fell to 16.8 per 1,000 insured vehicles for the 2000 model year, down from 25 per 1,000 for 1999 models, the rate rose to 21.6 per 1,000 for 2001 models, the study found.

The anti-theft device is called an immobilizer and works by disabling the ignition unless the key that came with the car is used.

On Acuras, as on vehicles of other brands, immobilizers are “thought to be more effective in deterring amateur thieves than [deterring] the professionals,” Hazelbaker said.

Acura spokesman Mike Spencer said the company believes its immobilizer remains effective. The insurance group is counting cases of cars that are broken into and stripped of parts without being moved, he said.

Nationally, the study found, the overall frequency of auto theft claims has been on the decline since 1980, when it was logged at 15 per 1,000 insured vehicles.

The average insurance payment in stolen-car cases has soared, from about $900 per claim in the 1980 model year to just under $6,400 for the 2001 model year.