The National Insurance Crime Bureau said among its top 10 listof most stolen vehicles last year, the 1995 Honda Civic was infirst place.

NICB, based in Des Plaines, Ill., provided the theft informationin “Hot Wheels,” a companion study to its annual “Hot Spots” autotheft report.

Others on the favorite theft list were:

2. 1991 Honda Accord

3. 1989 Toyota Camry

4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup

5. 2005 Dodge Ram Pickup

6. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup

7. 1994 Nissan Sentra

8. 1994 Dodge Caravan

9. 1994 Saturn SL

10. 1990 Acura Integra

NICB said 1,192,809 motor vehicles were reported stolen in 2006,which is 42,417 fewer than in 2005. Using the FBI's averagevaluation of $6,649 per stolen vehicle, NICB calculated that thisamounts to over $7.9 billion in losses in 2006–just in vehiclevalue alone.

“The decrease in vehicle thefts is certainly welcome news to lawenforcement, the insurance industry and vehicle owners nationwide,”said Robert M. Bryant, NICB's president and chief executiveofficer.

“At NICB, we have been providing the latest technology in autotheft detection and recovery equipment to law enforcement agenciesfrom California to Florida. Through the support of our memberinsurance companies, NICB acquires and deploys License PlateRecognition systems and bait vehicles in an effort to reducevehicle theft,” he said.

Although overall thefts are down for the third consecutive year,only 59 percent of stolen vehicles were recovered last year–thelowest recovery rate in over a decade, NICB found.

The organization said that “the question becomes, what happensto the over 700,000 vehicles still outstanding? The short answer isthey fuel a number of related insurance fraud and vehicle theftactivities.”

NICB noted that its agents have recovered a significant numberof stolen vehicles from foreign countries and it is not unusual forstolen vehicles to be shipped intact to other countries whereprospective buyers can have them for a fraction of what they wouldlegitimately cost with no questions asked.

Stolen exports, NICB said, may leave the country enclosed inshipping containers at coastal ports or simply driven across theborder into Canada, Mexico, or Central and South America.

NICB said its Foreign Operations group actively pursues therepatriation of stolen vehicles in foreign countries and worksclosely with U.S. embassy personnel and foreign governmentofficials to return those vehicles.

NICB reported that in 2006 over 4,000 vehicles with a value ofnearly $42 million were returned to the U.S. from Belize, CostaRica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras,Jamaica, Lithuania, M?xico, Nicaragua and Italy.

The organization noted that some thefts are “Owner Give-Ups”where the owner makes a false theft report after vehicles aredriven into ponds, lakes or quarries, set on fire in sparselypopulated areas, or driven into Mexico and abandoned.

NICB urged auto owners to follow a “layered approach” to autotheft prevention, never leaving keys in a car and equipping thevehicle with items such as a visible or audible warning device, akill switch, fuel cut-offs, and smart keys and a trackingdevice.