Let’s talk: Have you ever had your car stolen or forgotten to lock it?

Having your car stolen can be a truly horrible experience. I will never forget how my husband’s beaten-up old Range Rover was stolen from a railway station many years ago. Our weekend away was ruined by a call that his car had been spotted dumped on a BMX track.

To add insult to injury, the thieves did only half a job so the insurance assessor could see it hadn’t been in great condition to start with and we had to fight for a reasonable payout.

It seems you are even more at risk of you drive that Australian icon, the Holden Commodore. In a list of the 10 most commonly stolen cars in the past 12 months released by the RACQ yesterday, the Holden Commodore topped the list and just to cement its “preferred” status also ranked second and third and eighth. Other makes and models made by other companies included the Toyota Hilux (twice), Nissan Patrol, Hyundai Excel and Ford Falcon. However, no one came close to the Commodore, with almost 500 being stolen in the past 12 months.

The RACQ said thieves generally targeted older, less secure makes and models and those vehicles not properly secured. However, while several of the Commodore models on the list were old,  one was a fairly new model, which meant either that that particular model was easier to break into or owners were forgetting to lock their cars.

It seems we drivers are indeed doing our boost to boost the statistics by not utilising basic safety matures such as locking our cars after leaving them or while fuelling and not bothering to investigate the sound of a car alarm. The 2015 Car Security Index said 28.5 per cent of motorists admitted they didn’t always lock their cars, 58.1 per cent don’t lock their vehicles while fuelling, and 28.1 wouldn’t investigate a car alarm.

I know I’m been guilty of the first two offences. Car alarm? No, you cannot pin that one on me, at least when it comes to my own car – but only because my car doesn’t have one. 

Do you lock your car all the time? Have you ever had a car stolen after forgetting to lock it, or know someone who has? Tell us what happened and if you managed to get the car back in one piece.