Thread: Mexico quickly becoming favorite place for car thieves

December 3, 2008

Mexico quickly becoming favorite place for car thieves

Story Highlights
About 60,000 vehicles were stolen in just over a year, Mexican insurers report

The problem is particularly acute in the capital of Mexico City

Observers predict car thefts will rise further as world economic crisis worsens

One Mexican man says he's had two new cars stolen in three months

By Rey Rodriguez

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Auto insurers report that about 60,000 vehicles were stolen in just over a year in Mexico, the highest figure in the past decade.

Mexico City, Mexico, has a well-deserved reputation for heavy traffic. Now car thefts may be added to the list.

That's no surprise to Guillermo Cruz, who has bought two new cars this year: the first after his original car was stolen, and the second three months later after two armed men pointed guns at him, got in and drove off with Cruz inside.

"They dropped me off in the street and I thought they had already left, and I went back" to where they had taken it, he said.

"And still they hadn't left; they were inside the car. And one man said to the other, 'Let's shoot him because he's becoming annoying.' "

According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions, the capital of Mexico City is a favorite site for car thieves to work.

"If we talk about data from the federal district, we can say that we have 16,000 automobiles stolen, an increase of 10 percent from October 2007 to September 2008," said Recaredo Arias, a spokesman for the association.

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updated 5:40 a.m. EST, Wed December 3, 2008

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/ ... index.html

Hey, finally Americans can make a little money: take clunker to Mexico, leave keys in ignitiion and hope it gets stolen. Then collect insurance!