Pink cars are never stolen

CARS - Nobody ever steals a pink car. According to a Dutch study which compared the colour of cars being stolen, pink is the safest colour available when it comes to car theft. The statistic is equally true for trucks and motorcycles.

Silver, black, white, grey and blue represent 86% of cars that are sold, and thus likewise make up the majority of cars which are stolen. Thieves prefer to steal colours which are more sober in appearance. Aside from pink, the least stolen colours are red, yellow, purple and orange.

The most popular colour to steal is black. (Technically its a shade, but whatever.)

According to the statistical findings it doesn't matter where you live either, whether you're in the Netherlands or North America. Car theft these days is increasingly the work of professionals and they want to be able to sell the car later, so the colour of the car is extremely important.

The Dutch study by Ben Vollaard (a crime economist at the University of Tilburg)goes back 15 years of car theft statistics and has determined that car thieves are increasingly more likely to steal cars with conservative colours that won't attract attention. Stealing a red car for example will attract more police attention.

Anti-theft devices that immobilze the steering wheel and other devices have long since decreased the number of car thieves who hotwire a car just for a joy ride. These days thieves are concerned only with the resale value.

Thieves these days are more likely to use burglary to find car keys and then drive away with the car. Hotwiring has been made more difficult in recent years due to changes in the way cars are manufactured and designed.

Most cars that are stolen are sent overseas to the Middle East, Africa or Asia. Nobody there wants to buy a pink car apparently.

So what does Ben Vollaard drive himself? A yellow Peugeot. Yellow cars are 40% less likely to be stolen.

Small surprise. You would have to be some kind of weirdo to want to be seen in a pink car anyway.