There are so many holidays throughout the year, so it's no surprise when people disagree over the best holiday. Though the reasons may vary, holidays offer a chance to decompress from the minutiae of everyday life, spend time with family or reflect on what's important in life. If you're a car thief, however, you might love the holidays because they present an opportunity to steal a vehicle. New data released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) shows a total of 22,879 vehicles were reported stolen on the 11 holidays in 2018 covered in its ForeCAST report. (The following 2018 holidays were included in this report: New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.) In 2018, there was an average of 2,199 vehicle thefts each day. Only four of the 11 holidays covered in the report had a higher number of thefts reported than the overall daily average for 2018. Notably, Christmas Day (1,447) and Thanksgiving (1,698) were the days with the lowest number of vehicle thefts for the entire year.

Add a layer of protection

While this report just looks at the 11 holidays, vehicle theft is a problem on a daily basis across the nation. As drivers today have more options than ever in terms of adding a layer of protection to guard their vehicles, the NICB recommends that drivers follow these four layers:

  1. Common sense measures, such as locking doors, closing windows and parking in well-lit areas, are the first layer.
  2. Warning devices, such as audible alarms, wheel locks and VIN etching, is the second layer.
  3. Immobilizing devices, which prevent thieves from bypassing the ignition and hot-wiring the vehicle, is the third layer. Some examples include smart keys, kill switches and wireless ignition authentication.
  4. Tracking devices are the final layer of protection.
With this in mind, explore our slideshow above to see which holidays ended with the most vehicles reported stolen in 2018. Related:
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