According to the online magazine Insurance Journal, Texas insurance regulators say that New Year’s Day is the number one holiday for vehicle theft. The Texas Department of Insurance urges you to lock your car doors and turn on your alarm while you celebrate the new year, in order to prevent auto theft.

Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) said in a release that a report issued in October by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) shows that more cars and trucks are stolen on New Year’s Day than any other holiday. The NICB report looks at year 2018 vehicle thefts.

“The report doesn’t speculate on what makes New Year’s Day attractive to car thieves,” TDI fraud analyst Krystal Kulle said in the release.

So, what can you do to protect yourself? For one thing, make sure you have sufficient auto insurance coverages.

Also, here’s a list of some smart things to do:

• Never leave your keys in the car.
• Lock doors and close windows.
• Park in a well-lit area.
• Don’t leave valuables in plain sight.
• If you have an alarm, use it.

Metropolitan Statistical Area Hot Spots

NICB “hot spots” compiles vehicle theft data from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) for each of the nation’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). MSAs are designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and tend to include areas much larger than the cities that they are named for. The NCIC is an electronic collection of crime data that can be used by virtually every criminal justice agency nationwide. Among other things, it helps to recover stolen property, and identify terrorists.

Guess which city (actually, MSA) is listed at the top of the Texas list for the vehicle theft hot spot for 2018? Wait for it, it’s not one of the metro areas that you might expect. Lubbock, Texas, lands in the top spot for the hot spot for 2018. Nationwide, Lubbock was the 25th top ranked metropolitan area for auto theft. Are you thinking twice about just how important it is to have auto insurance in Lubbock, Texas?

For Property Crime, Lubbock (‘Hub City’) was ranked first for Texas cities (as a percentage of population) with 2.16% of the population experiencing property crime in 2018. Just behind Lubbock, on the auto theft list, was Odessa, Texas. Lubbock had more than twice the number of vehicle thefts. You might expect that Houston or Dallas would top the Texas hot spot list. Nope, those metro areas were number 4 and number 7, respectively, in Texas.

How Do Other Holidays Rank?

California was the state with the most holiday vehicle thefts in 2018 with 4,797, according to the NICB. It was followed by, in descending order, Texas (2,144), Florida (1,322), Washington (819) and Georgia (778).

The 2018 holidays ranked by NICB according to the number of vehicle thefts are:
1. New Year’s Day (2,571)
2. Presidents’ Day (2,380)
3. Halloween (2,275)
4. Labor Day (2,235)
5. Memorial Day (2,167)
6. New Year’s Eve (2,122)
7. Independence Day (2,071)
8. Valentine’s Day (2,001)
9. Christmas Eve (1,912)
10. Thanksgiving (1,698)
11. Christmas Day (1,447)