According to the NYPD, crime is up in New York City this year. This includes auto thefts, and it is not just car owners who are the victims. Some thieves are choosing to steal cars directly from car dealerships. Even with security systems and cameras, car dealerships are still big targets for theft.
Fox 5 News New York is reporting that just this week, a group of thieves stole over a dozen luxury vehicles from a dealership in Queens. They took a total of 26 vehicles estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is the second time in a month that a dealership selling used cars in New York City has been the target of organized car thieves.
Thieves Take Precautions To Go Undetected
Thieves broke into the Car Siri car dealership on Queens Boulevard on Sunday night. They cut the power to the business so the surveillance cameras could not record them. The car thieves then broke the lock on the security gate and entered the office where they found the keys to the cars.
The criminals drove off with some cars, making multiple trips to the dealership in an effort to take more inventory. In the end, they made off with a total of 26 cars with an estimated combined value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Car Thefts Are Growing In New York City
This was the second heist of a car dealership in New York City in the past month. A car dealership in Jamaica, Queens was the target of a similar robbery on October 13. Police think it may have been the same group of criminals because they used similar tactics to evade the security cameras and gain access to the lot.
They stole 19 luxury cars valued at over $800,000. NYPD has recovered two of the stolen cars, a BMW and a Mercedes, but the suspects remain at large. Experts believe thieves will sell many of these stolen cars overseas in places like Africa and the Middle East where luxury cars often command high prices.
The NYPD says car thefts are up 34% in New York City so far this year. This is part of an overall increase in crime in both New York City and the entire nation as a whole.