Motorcycle Monday: Motorcycle Thefts In 2020

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Is your bike safe?

We’ve been shocked as 2020 has progressed and along with it car theft rates have exploded. Mostly driven by the effects of the COVID-19 shutdowns, we were curious if motorcycles were also being targeted by criminals.

According to a report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau issued back on July 31 of this year, motorcycle thefts were down overall across the United States in 2019, with California leading the nation at 6,913 claims for the year. Hondas were targeted the most. The good news from last year was 46 percent of stolen motorcycles were recovered.

All that sounds great and the press release from NICB triggered a wave of headlines declaring motorcycle theft was dropping rapidly across the country. However, a search for motorcycle theft rates for 2020 turned up zero results. In other words, we probably won’t know until sometime next year just how much of a rise in motorcycle thefts there has been in 2020.

Yes, we said an increase because it’s difficult to believe only cars are being targeted by thieves. If car theft rates, which also were low in 2019, are now skyrocketing, it seems likely something similar is happening with motorcycle theft rates this year.

Helping to confirm our suspicions is info coming out of New York City, where motorcycle thefts have been surging recently. According to a recent New York Post report, through September 20 of this year, motorcycle and moped theft is up a shocking 63%. In other words, if you own a bike in the Big Apple, you need to take extreme measures to secure it. Police are blaming the bail reform laws, which they say keep criminals on the street where they can commit more crimes.