Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-31
In the Motor World
BY G. ADAMS HOWARD.

to endeavor to secure Its uniform
adoption throughout the country.
Stolen car losses for the calendar
year of 1929 exceeded 1000, 900
on insured, cars alone. The total
losses may be estimated when 1t
is reflected that insured cars con-
Stitute about one-third OF the
total number of cars registered
in the United States. These flg-
ures are based on the actual ex-
perience of automobile theft
insurers and represent the losses
of the motor vehicle public be-
cause of the theft hazard. These
theft losses are the net losses and
do not account for the insurers
expense Of doing business, which
must be paid by those who insure
against theft. The loss of $24, 000,-
600 on thefts alone, however, does
represent a hazard of the most
serious proportions.
The seriousness Of the automo-
bile theft hazard Is also indicated
by the records of the United States
Attorney General. Since 1919,
when the Federal Dyer act max
ing it a felony to transport stolen
car across the State line was
enacted, the value of stolen. cars
recovered has amounted to $13,-
711,432.02. For the year ending
June 80, 1850, the value Of stolen
cars recovered amounted to 81 $780,
$3.50. The convictions in one year
1880 numbered 2,452. When the
convictions for auto thefts in each
of the 48 States are added to these
FeGeral convictions, together with
the thefts never prosecuted. there
is presented for considers ton a
crime Of major Importance.
Frauds Increasing.
Closely allied to the crime OF
motor vehicle thefts is the fraud
practiced upon innocent pur-
chaSerS of stolen cars. No figures
on the losses suffered by these
purchasers of stolen cars, later
recovered by owners, are available,
but in view of the statement by
the chief of an auto theft squad
in one of our largest cities that
two out of every three recovered
cars are taken from the possession
of persons claiming to be innocent
purchasers, the amount of losses
annually must be very great.
Another form of fraud rapidly
increasing is the wrongful con-
version or embezzlement of cars
sold on the deferred payment plan.
InaSmuch as more than one-half
Of the new cars now being sold
are purchased on the deferred
payment plan. the number of cars
exposed to this loss annually is
large, and the National Association
of Finance Companies reports that
the practice Of gaining possession
of car by making the smallest
initial payment possible thereon
and then disappearing, with ap-
parently the intention originally
to convert the car, Is growing very
rapidly. Neither the national
motor vehicle theft act nor the
laws of some six or more Of the
States make the wrongful CONVEX
sion of a motor vehicle a crime.
The amount in losses suffered be-
cause OF wrongfully converted cars
has not been compiled, but this
fraud, together with the fraud
practiced upon innocent pur-
chaserS of stolen cars, presents
problem similar to and second
only to that of the theft of motor
vehicles.
The report brings out many
truths. It is to be hoped that
some good may be accomplished
by this study.
The Washington Automotive
Trade Association will meet to-
morrow night at $3.50 o'clock, at
the Racquet Club. A motion pic
ture, The Magic Circle" a film
dealing with automobiles, will be
shown.
During the first four months of
1881 there were zoos, 901 motor
vehicles sold, according to figures
just released by the Bureau of
Census. This number falls con-
Siderably short of the 1,444,047
cars sold during the first four
months of the preceding year.
However, steady picking up
month-by month of this year is
shown. April factory sales of auto
mobiles in the United States, con-
sisted of 1851 vehicles, of which
285, 028 were passenger cars, 50,015
trucks, and 665 taxicabS, as COM
pared with 276,405 vehicles in
March, 1881; 444,024 vehicles in
April, 1880, and 621, $40 in April,
1929.