GLS-Class SUV

Segment
SUV

Despite all the anti-theft technology that exists today, cars will always be the target of thieves. Obviously certain cars are more attractive to steal than others, but SUVs in particular have always been a hot commodity. And now the National Insurance Crime Bureau has released its latest findings which indicate that the Mercedes-Benz GL has the least likely recovery rate after being stolen. 37 percent of stolen GLs are unrecovered. For comparison, 30 percent of Cadillac Escalades are found.

But once you leave the luxury SUV segment, the number continues to go down. For the Nissan Rogue and Ford Explorer, less than 15 percent of those stolen go unrecovered. This data was gathered based on thefts of 2011-2013 model years. The bounty for a stolen luxury SUV is very high. Car thieves can earn as much as $8,000 for a stolen vehicle in New York and New Jersey. Those thieves then work with middlemen who load the stolen vehicles into containers and ship them overseas to West Africa. Not surprisingly, New Jersey has the highest rate of unrecovered stolen SUVs, followed by New York. So why are those states so heavily targeted? There's quite a concentration of wealth there.