We have all heard or played the Grand Theft Auto video games. They became ridiculously famous (and infamous as well, as they were linked to more than one shooting spree, but that’s material for a different article).
In any case, part of the attractive of the game was the ability to steal any car, regardless of type. So, you got to have the experience of driving everything, from a bike, to a big school bus. In addition, the games really had a Californian feeling to it, complete with gangs of different types and appropriate landscapes, even though the games took place in fictional cities.
That is all very well when we are dealing with a video game. However, the problem is that in California, car theft is a sad reality. In fact, it´s the state that has the highest number of stolen cars in the whole country.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau keeps statistics of the places in the country that have the highest number of stolen cars. The number one place isn’t in California. That dishonor goes to Laredo, Texas. However, California still has 6 of the 10 places where car theft is the highest in the country, including places 2, 3, 4 and 5. If you live on any of these places, then getting car insurance that covers car theft is pretty much mandatory:
- Modesto, California.
- Bakersfield, California.
- Stockton, California.
- Fresno, California.
- San Francisco, California.
- Visalia, California.
If you continue down the list, you’ll see that out of the 20 places with the highest number of stolen cars in the country, 11 are located in California, effectively making it the state where car theft is the highest in the United States. Mmmm, maybe those guys at RockStar Games knew something about car theft statistics when they decided to give their Grand Theft Auto games a Californian feeling.
Of course, California law requires you to have insurance in case of an accident, but if you value your car, then it is worth getting more than the basic insurance that the Californian law requires. That way, you’ll not only be covered for damage and medical expenses (which is the whole point of the Californian car insurance law), but you’ll also feel protected in case you go inside a store and find that your car is missing when you go out.