By YASEMIN TALAT
WYNDHAM has been ranked in the top 50 hot spots for car theft in the nation.
The Cars Statistical Report 2012/13 revealed that the municipality was ranked 42 out of 50 areas in Australia for short term thefts in the 2012/13 financial year.
During 2012/13 there was an average of 156 motor vehicle thefts per day in Australia.
Wyndham was one of twelve Victorian local government areas to be mentioned in the report, with Brimbank ranked in the top 10 followed by Hume and Greater Geelong.
The municipality experienced a slight drop in thefts, from 284 to 264 from the 2011/12 to 2012/13 periods.
In terms of Wyndham’s population, the area’s short term theft rate was 1.48 per 1,000 population – low enough to keep the municipality out of a second top 50 list.
RACV General Manager Insurance Paul Northey said vehicle theft remained a large problem, despite reduction resulting from better security features in cars.
“Having your car broken into or stolen can cause major disruption to your work and personal life, so the better the security on your cars the harder the job will be for the car thief,” Mr Northey said.
The RACV has assessed 146 current-model cars across eight vehicle categories and scored them for security against theft.
The highest points were awarded to the Jaguar XJ which received 82 out of 100 in the RACV Insurance Car Security Scores, but Mr Northey said the motorists did not have to buy an expensive vehicle to get a superior security system.
According to the Cars Statistical Report the Hyundai Excel X3 was the top short term theft target during the financial year with 782 thefts, followed by the Holden Commodore VT (697 thefts).
For the full list of vehicles tested by the RACV and Car Security Score result visit www.racv.com.au/car-security
