auto: Mercedes the top luxury car stolen by professional thieves, 2009-12

So how do they do it, given the various anti-theft deterrent technologies featured in Mercedes cars?

Daimler AG�s Mercedes-Benz vehicles were the most sought-after luxury brand among U.S. car thieves from 2009 through 2012 as the New York City region had the greatest number of thefts, an insurance-industry group said.

More Mercedes C-Class cars, a total of 485, were stolen during the period than any other luxury model, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Two other Mercedes models, the E-Class and S-Class, ranked in the top 10.

�Mercedes has been around forever,� Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the Des Plaines, Illinois-based NICB, said in a phone interview. �It�s really the car. They sell a lot of them.�

The New York City area, including Long Island and northern New Jersey, reported 806 thefts in the period out of a nationwide total of 4,384, the NICB said, citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Los Angeles region was No. 2, followed by Miami.

The C-Class, including 2-door coupes and 4-door sedans, is the best-selling Mercedes-Benz in the U.S. and worldwide. The starting price of a C-Class sedan is about $35,350, compared with about $92,350 for an S-Class, according to the company�s website.

�The more desirable the vehicle, the more attractive the vehicle is to thieves,� Donna Boland, a Mercedes spokeswoman, said in an email. �A significant number of Mercedes-Benz models that are reported stolen are recovered, some very swiftly, thanks to our mbrace system, which includes a stolen vehicle tracking feature.� Mbrace is an in-car communications system that connects to the Internet.

The second-most-stolen luxury car was Bayerische Motoren Werke AG�s BMW 3 Series, followed by Nissan Motor Co.�s Infiniti G Series, the NICB said.

California had the highest number of luxury thefts of any state at 1,063, followed by Florida with 674. The Los Angeles area had 491 thefts.

�We have such a car culture here in LA,� Commander Andrew Smith, spokesman at the Los Angeles Police Department, said in a telephone interview before the release. �There�s a lot of high-end motor vehicles. You would expect there to be more stolen vehicles in a place where the population is bigger.�

The number of luxury-car thefts has decreased in Los Angeles by almost 50 percent since 2005 as security technology improved, Smith said.

�You used to be able to steal a car with a screwdriver,� Smith said. �Now with chips, computers and alarm systems, it�s much more difficult to steal a car. The technology has been really helpful for us.�

The recovery rate of all luxury cars reported stolen in the period was about 84 percent, the study found. The vehicle with the highest recovery rate was General Motors Co.�s Cadillac CTS at about 91 percent. The Mercedes S-Class model had the worst recovery rate at about 59 percent, the NICB said.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130730/AUTO01/307300049#ixzz2aebMeJZm