OREANDA-NEWS. February 22, 2011. According to the preliminary data for the year 2010, the insurance company ROSNO paid about 400 million roubles throughout Russia to the insurants whose stolen cars had been covered under MOD insurance contracts. According to ROSNO’s statistics, the most criminogenic regions, in terms of car theft, are Moscow and St. Petersburg, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

Last year, the TOP-5 list of the cars most frequently stolen in Moscow underwent a significant change as compared to 2009. LEXUS GS and HONDA CIVIC remained on the list, albeit with a lower theft frequency. In 2010, the position of the most frequently stolen car was taken by the luxury sedan LEXUS LS. In the Northern capital, four of the five rating positions are firmly held by BMW vehicles, with the X6 crossover retaining its first place from 2009. Both in Moscow and in the regions, the frequency of car theft generally increased as compared to the year 2009. In addition, this year the Russian regions faced a notable growth in theft of the domestically produced cars LADA PRIORA and VAZ of 2110 to 2115 series (approximately by 20%).

"The frequency of car theft depends on the whole range of factors. New models become „popular“ among car stealers when a long waiting list for them is formed in the showrooms. If the model is popular enough, it is stolen to be disassembled and sold as spare parts. Also, there are „customized“ cases of theft, although they not widespread. „Old“ vehicles (mainly older than 5 years) are stolen for spare parts as well. When we insure expensive cars popular among car stealers, we offer clients to equip such cars with special antitheft systems in exchange for significant discounts under the risk „Theft“. Given that ROSNO partners with almost all installers of serious antitheft systems, the clients have a wide choice. Indeed, no one-hundred percent theft protection can be guaranteed. In this respect, most effective are new innovative systems, albeit only until they become familiar to car thieves", says Mr. Dmitry Kuznetsov, head of the division in ROSNO’s Motor Insurance Department.

Insurance companies perform search for stolen cars together with law enforcement authorities. For example, in 2010, ROSNO Security Department performed search for 41 cars stolen from our insurants.

Most frequently stolen cars, (Moscow and Moscow Region)
1 LEXUS LS  5.0%  
2 BMW X6  4.0%  
3 LEXUS GS  3.5%  
4 LADA PRIORA  3.2%  
5 HONDA CIVIC  2.0%  

Most frequently stolen cars, (St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg Region)

1 BMW X6  10.1%  
2 BMW X5  5.3%  
3 BMW 3  4.2%  
4 CHEVROLET
5 BMW 5  2.8%