Hot Wheels: America's 10 Most Stolen Vehicle

Ever get a sinking feeling when you’re looking for your car in a parking lot and can’t find it? If you drive a Honda Accord, you are more likely than those who drive other cars to find an empty spot where your car used to be.

As it has been for past six years, the Honda Accord is the most stolen car in 2013, according to the Hot Wheels 2013 report released this week by theNational Insurance Crime Bureau, a nonprofit that serves the insurance industry. Older Accord models from the 1990s without anti-theft technology keep them on the must-have list for car thieves. They are the favorite target in 17 states, followed closely by full-size Chevrolet pickups in 16 states, including Maryland and the District of Columbia. And the Nissan Altima was the most-stolen 2013 model last year, followed by the Ford Fusion.

“Popular targets for car thieves aren’t high-end luxury vehicles, like Mercedes and Porsches,”wrote Schuyler Velasco in the Christian Science Monitor. “Rather, they tend to be models that sell a high-number of units and tend to have less in the way of security features.”Why don’t thieves target nicer cars? Too much trouble, according to experts.

Car thieves also seem to prefer the West Coast. California has nine of the top 1o metropolitan areas with the highest car-theft rate in the country. One hot spot: Bakersfield, Calif., where 725 cars are stolen for every 100,000 people