Car Stereo Theft Doesn't Pay What It Used To
from the driven-out-of-business dept
It seems like a decade or so ago, it was pretty easy to find a friend who had a story about their car window being smashed and their stereo stolen. But the FBI says that car-stereo thefts have dropped by about 60 percent since 1994, thanks mainly to technology and economics (via Engadget). Fewer people are replacing their car stereos these days, as the quality of factory units has improved, but also as features like CD players have diffused throughout the auto population. Most thieves won't bother stealing factory stereos because their resale value is so low: they have to find a buyer who needs to replace the same model, and that's much harder than reselling a radar detector or GPS unit that will work in any car. What's more, the cost of aftermarket equipment has dropped significantly, squeezing stereo-stealers' margins even more. Usually when we talk about unintended consequences, it's in reference to something with decent intentions that delivers some negative unexpected outcome, but it's nice to see sometimes things work the other way, too.Filed Under: car stereo, theft
