The National Insurance Crime Bureau announced today that California, Florida and Texas are the states with the highest number of motorcycles stolen in the past year.
NICB reported California had 9,110 motorcycle thefts; Florida, 6,324; and Texas, 5,755.
Nationally, 70,613 motorcycles were stolen in 2005, which is a slight decrease from the 71,108 stolen in 2004. This represents a loss of over $434 million to motorcycle owners and the insurance industry, NICB said.
"There has always been a healthy appetite for motorcycles, which has subsequently led to their theft," explained Frank Scafidi, NICB director of public affairs.
Mr. Scafidi credited the good weather and larger than average motorcycle owning populations to the high statistics in California, Florida and Texas.
Noting that there is already a "huge auto theft problem" in California, Mr. Scafidi added that motorcycle thefts only made up about 9,000 of the 250,000 stolen vehicles.
The next ranking states were: North Carolina with 3,053 motorcycles stolen; Ohio, 2,573; New York, 2,195; Indiana, 2,186; Georgia, 2,159; Arizona, 2,082; and Pennsylvania, 2,021.
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