Vehicle Theft

You are just about to get into the car to get to work and go to the parking lot. But voila! Your car is not there! What are you going to do? Today, I am going to write about vehicle theft.

In Japan, until 10 years ago, people believed that we could get water & security for nothing. However this is a thing in the past. Security is getting poor here because of Japan’s diminishing international competitiveness, ailing economy, expanding income disparities, rise of new gang groups after Anti-Organized Crime Law has failed, etc. Numbers of vehicle theft reported has been increasing at the same time mainly among expensive cars. I heard that sometimes the cars are disassembled and sent overseas as parts.

Here are the top 5 names of vehicles stolen in 2006.

1. Toyota Land Cruiser
2. Toyota Mark Ⅱ
3. Toyota Harrier
4. Toyota RAV4
5. Toyota Hiace

The top winner (?), Land Cruiser has been the most favoured car for thieves for 4 years. According to the police report, 1 in 100 stolen cars are Land Cruisers. Yes, they are popular. As I wrote in a previous issue, Land Cruisers are the king of SUVs and are loved worldwide. So if shipped overseas, they are so popular that they can be sold for high prices. But car manufacturers are not dumb. They started putting more time in inventing strategies of how to resolve the problem. They load a theft proof system called “Immobilizer” to luxury cars. This changed the above ranking like this in 2007.

1. Toyota Hiace
2. Toyota Harrier
3. Suzuki Wagon R
4. Toyota Mark Ⅱ
5. Toyota Land Cruiser

Now, Hiace is the top! Hiaces are just as popular as Land Cruisers overseas. They are widely used not only for private use but as buses and commercial vans, etc. Being hardy, we, at JPC, have been exporting a lot of them overseas. (Of course we have not exported any stolen vehicles at all. Or we are not taking any order to do this even for you. Please do not send us any request for this sort of service…) Hiaces without Immobilisers must be easy targets. With more Hiaces getting stolen, mini-vans without Immobilisers are also becoming a target.

“Immobiliser” is the electric key matching system to prevent vehicle theft which uses the key with a set pin number and you cannot start the engine without the special key. Even if someone makes a spare key and succeeds in breaking inside, they cannot start the engine, which eventually stops the intended theft. Although this is an excellent system, once the cars are exported, you cannot ask to have spare keys made. To have spare keys, you will need to go to a dealer and set a new pin number for the car and the new key using a computer there. In most cases, the new vehicle only comes with 1 key and most drivers chose not to have a spare key as it is a separate cost. For Japanese drivers, because keys with “Immobiliser” are too expensive, they think if they lose it then they can always go to the dealer to get a new key made; so they do not worry about the spare too much. So if you are to import a car with “Immobiliser” and want a spare key, please ask us before shipping. It will be too late once the car is on the ocean.

Oops! Sorry, I wandered in my topic. There seems no exception in vehicle theft. From our view, as people in the car business, we thought small vehicles should be safer from theft but it is not the case lately. Now Suzuki Wagon R is in 3rd place, which might be a reflection of recent high oil prices; thieves are targeting economical cars and the numbers of the thefts reported are rapidly increasing. This is a new trend.

Almost a year ago, on a Sunday night about 8pm, I parked my mini-van on the side of the road not in the company car park, thinking I would not be long; when I went there 1 hour later, I could not see the car! Feeling like swearing, I walked to the place where the car was with my mind completely blank. The car had gone! It was not there! It disappeared! But when I calmed down and had a look, I saw some writing with white chalk on the ground. At first I thought it was a message from the thief but no, it was a message from a tow company…

Understanding what had happened, I walked about 20 minutes to the nearest police station, lost 1 point, paid a JPY30,000 fine & the cost of the towing and got my car back. Maybe I was lucky it was not stolen, but I do not want any more parking fines.
So, people, be careful where you park your car! (Yes, this includes myself…)


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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955