Car thieves going for what's under the hood

Police have been warning motorists for years to lock their doors, avoid leaving keys in the ignition and remove valuables from their vehicles when they're not driving.

But what about thieves who ignore what's inside the doors and go for what's under the hood?

A Salt Lake City man awoke earlier this week to find someone had broken into his Honda to steal its distributor and spark plugs.

For several years, the Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Acura Integra and Toyota Camry have been the top stolen cars in Salt Lake County, particularly 1994 to 2000 models. The cars are generally driven a few blocks after they're stolen, stripped of their parts and then abandoned.

"Its unreal what we see in here," said Jenni Wells who works for CarTow. "We're lucky if we show up on scene and they still have the wheels."

Wells said her company, which works only in Salt Lake City's limits, is called out to tow away a stripped Honda an average of six times every 24 hours. Most of the cars are stolen on the weekends. Come Monday and Tuesday, Wells said CarTow is typically slammed with calls to recover abandoned vehicles.

Last month, one Salt Lake City detective alone investigated seven stolen Civics, two stolen Integras and one stolen Accord, said Salt Lake City police detective Joe Cyr.

Typically, the cars are dumped in the Jordan River, City Creek Canyon or just set on fire.

"It just depends where they can go and have enough seclusion to strip them," Wells said.

Car-parts companies and police investigators put a lot of the blame on illegal street racers.

Cyr said high-performance V-TEC engines are a hot target. There is a big black market for high-performance engine parts, he said. People who own Hondas that are souped up for racing typically target other high-performance vehicles.

Everything from stereo systems to car seats to engine parts and tires are typically stripped from the vehicle, said Kent Jorgensen, an investigator with the state Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division.

Sometimes people not involved with street racing steal cars for parts to make their cars look better, he said. And sometimes street racers target non-street racers or people who hardly know how to change the oil in their car, let alone how to add high-performance parts to it.

"They steal Joe Schmoe's Honda just to get certain parts," he said.