From what I understand most of the cars that are being stolen are exported to other countries. How is it so easy to export a stolen vehicle, and why isn’t a title required?
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There is a good Hulu-series called Trafficked, and they do an episode on the stolen car market. Very interesting.
You export the car with a fake title for a car with a different VIN. There’s probably a 1% chance that the VIN numbers will get physically checked to make sure it’s the same car. Or you get them on a boat quickly so that the customs database won’t even have been updated to show the car is stolen. But in the US at least, that’s not the most way cars are stolen. You strip them for parts. Steal the car, take it apart in a shop, and then abandon it somewhere. Sell the parts on eBay. There’s no way to tell which car they came from.
I think saying that “most” is likely not true. The vast majority are just joy rides and then they’re crashed and dumped. The Honda Civic was the most stolen car in America until people figured out how easy low-mid end Kias are to steal.
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