Theft drives up your auto insurance rate

If you think your auto insurance rate is too high, part of that may be due to the impact of car thieves, who happen to be running into a creative new law enforcement tool.

According to an Associated Press report, the city of Indianapolis is one of 14 nationwide to receive a bait car, which local law enforcement uses to catch car thieves. The report says that if somebody steals a bait car, the engine will shut off, the doors will lock, and a horn alarm will sound.

One Indianapolis detective was reported to have said that among the city's 6,400 stolen cars in 2008, 35 percent had the keys left in the ignition.

The wire service also cites statistics showing that car thieves can raise the average auto insurance rate by as much as $300 a year.

Overall, the FBI has estimated that auto theft costs a total of about $8 billion a year. The Bureau's preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2008 says, however, that auto theft was down 12.6 percent nationwide in the first eight months of 2008.

For more information about not getting robbed on auto insurance, visit InsureMe.com.