Honda owners don’t need me to tell them that their vehicles are in high demand… among car thieves. In previous blogs I shared the sad tales of my Honda owner brother’s repeat rip offs. He’s learned his lesson the hard way and is now looking to get rid of his Honda and invest in a new Nissan Titan truck. And not a moment too soon. If you own a Honda or know someone who does then you might be interested in this next true story.
Police in Yakima, Washington are currently investigating a case where 11 Hondas were stolen in a two-week period—nine of them in a 24-hour period. Police say most were early to mid-1990s models. And while Hondas are the No. 1 target for car thieves law enforcement officers say it is still very unusual to have so many vehicles of one type stolen in such a short period of time.
Investigators believe at least some of the thefts may be related to the recent arrest of a 25-year-old man. Police say numerous Honda parts were found at his home following the arrest, but some of the thefts occurred while the man was in jail.
Nine stolen cars in less than 24 hours is a high number regardless of where you live (save for perhaps Honolulu or New York), but it is especially high for a place like Yakima (population 83,000) where according to police, there were an average of 2.3 car thefts a day last year.
Now, if you are looking for a sure fire way NOT to get your car stolen you might follow the lead of Nevada resident Jessie Vigil. The car enthusiast gave his black-and-white sports car a new look when he added a red-and-blue emergency bar across the top and painted the word “police” on the doors.
Only one thing: Vigil isn’t a cop. However, he was smart enough to call the district attorney’s office before transforming his car. The district attorney reportedly tried to discourage Vigil from decorating his car like a police cruiser but couldn’t find anything in the law that would make doing so illegal– provided Vigil doesn’t impersonate an officer.
Now Vigil is the proud, lawful owner of a 2007 Ford Mustang that looks like the police cruiser in the “Transformers” movie–his 7-year-old son’s favorite flick.
“My intent was to re-create the movie car,” Vigil, a 35-year-old disabled veteran from the war in Iraq told news reporters. “When I came back from Iraq, I tried to spoil him. I wasn’t the best dad before.”
So not only did Vigil make his son the envy of his classmates he also has a car that is hard to miss and therefore not a likely target of thieves.
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