According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau's (NICB) annual“Hot Wheels” report, 1.2 million motor vehicles were stolen in2006, meaning one vehicle was stolen every 26.4 seconds.

While those figures indicate a 3.5 percent drop from last year'snumbers — and the third annual decrease in a row — it still adds upto some big losses for insurance companies. The NICB's reportstated that if each vehicle loss is estimated at $6,649,vehicle-value amounts could be as high as $8 billion alone.

As it did in 2005, California's vehicle theft rate rankedhighest in the nation. In fact, it downright dominated the other 49states. For instance, California reported more than 242,000 stolencars last year. The next three top-ranking states — Texas, Florida,and Arizona — combined for a total of 226,000 stolen cars betweenthem. But times could be changing for the Golden State; its carthefts dropped by almost six percent when compared to 2005'sfigures.

“The decrease in vehicle thefts is certainly welcome news to lawenforcement, the insurance industry, and vehicle ownersnationwide,” said Robert M. Bryant, NICB's president and CEO, in arelease. “At NICB, we have been providing the latest technology inauto-theft detection and recovery equipment to law-enforcementagencies from California to Florida.”

The NICB also examined several fraud schemes it says contributesto the high rates of theft, especially in those states on theborder of Canada and Mexico. It identified exporting cars to othercountries, owner give-ups in which a false theft report is made tocollect insurance proceeds, and chop shops as major trendscontributing to the problem.