A recent study from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) indicates that winter holidays – especially New Year’s Day – are often peak times for vehicle thefts. That factoid should be on the radar of fleet managers because NICB’s research also discerned that light trucks are some of the most highly targeted types of vehicles by thieves as well.

For the 11 major holidays in 2010 the group reviewed, a total of 20,995 vehicles were reported stolen, compared with a total of 22,991 reported for those same holidays in 2009. The holidays with the most thefts, in order, are:

New Year’s Day: 2,347
Memorial Day: 2,122
Halloween: 2,064
Labor Day: 2,020
New Year’s Eve: 1,986
Christmas Eve: 1,928
Independence Day: 1,914
President’s Day: 1,903
Valentine’s Day: 1,745
Thanksgiving: 1,605
Christmas Day: 1,361

“Although national vehicle thefts have been declining for seven consecutive years … there is always a black market for items obtained by theft, and vehicles remain popular theft targets,” the NICB said in its report.