July Is National Auto-Theft Prevention Month

July, the apex of summer, the festive, much-anticipated Fourth of July holiday, and national Make Sure Your Car Doesn’t Get Stolen Month.

AKA the month that the North Texas Auto Theft Task Force kicks into high gear. The un-acronym-able NTATTF has a two-fold mission: to investigate commercial auto theft and their related offenses, and also to investigate auto theft as a whole in Collin and Dallas Counties.

Officials are especially vigilant during this month as the state of Texas ranked second for auto theft in 2007. Also, a car is stolen somewhere in the United States every 20 seconds. Oddly, more cars are stolen in January than in any other month, so watch your car then too, I guess.

If you’re looking at your ’95 Honda and thinking nobody’s going to bother it, actually most cars stolen are several years old, as their parts are still pretty valuable.

So, which cars should you be more worried about if you own, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute?

1. 2007 Cadillac Escalade ESV
Claim frequency: 15.0/per 1,000
Average loss payment per claim: $13,060

2. 2005-2007 Ford F-250 SuperCrew
Claim frequency: 13.1/per 1,000
Average loss payment per claim: $19,250

3. 2007 Cadillac Escalade
Claim frequency: 11.3/per 1,000
Average loss payment per claim: $14,657

4. 2006-2007 Dodge Charger
Claim frequency: 11/per 1,000
Average loss payment per claim: $7,047

5. 2005-2007 Ford F-350 SuperCrew
Claim frequency: 10.7/per 1,000
Average loss payment per claim: $20,138

You can find more information about how to protect your car, other programs the NTATTF is rolling out, and a cool 1980’s logo at the agency’s Web site.

Holly LaFon has written and worked for various local publications including D Magazine and Examiner.

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