{"id":392954,"date":"2026-04-23T00:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392954\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:41:17","slug":"most-stolen-toyota-aqua-christchurch-driver-left-carless-after-fourth-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/392954\/","title":{"rendered":"Most-stolen Toyota Aqua: Christchurch driver left carless after fourth theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the third occasion, police stopped the vehicle in the township of Lincoln and arrested the youths inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those times it was just the ignition, they took it for a run and most of the time they left it when the petrol ran out,\u201d Tandon said.<\/p>\n

\"DamageDamage to the car after it was taken for a fourth time has left it a write-off. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

But the fourth theft proved more destructive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tyres and the rims are all flattened, and the right side of the car is all damaged and dented. It\u2019s a write-off this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tandon said each theft had taken a financial toll, with repeated insurance excess payments and rising premiums adding to the frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all instances, we had to pay excess and obviously, the premium went up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"ArchnaArchna Tandon says each theft has taken a financial toll because of repeated insurance excess payments. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The Toyota Aqua has topped Aotearoa\u2019s most-stolen car list for the fourth consecutive year<\/a>, making it a frequent target for offenders.<\/p>\n

Figures released by AMI show the hybrid hatchback accounted for 8% of all stolen vehicle insurance claims in 2025. <\/p>\n

The model is stolen at a disproportionately high rate, with 54 claims per 1000 insured vehicles, nearly four times higher than the Toyota Corolla, which recorded 15 per 1000.<\/p>\n

After four thefts, Tandon said her next vehicle will need better security and a safer place to park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made space in the garage now \u2013 it\u2019s going to go in the garage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said they had located the offenders in two out of the four incidents. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, in this latest one, it appears there is currently no evidence to enable us to identify the offenders,\u201d a police spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone did have information which might help, we would ask they contact police via 105 and quote file number 260405\/6051.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said to prevent thefts, people should ensure their vehicle is locked and parked off the road, out of sight, or in secure car parking where possible.<\/p>\n

Vehicle alarms, immobilisers and steering wheel locks were also recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, please ensure valuables and credit cards are removed from vehicles, particularly if cars are parked in the open.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the third occasion, police stopped the vehicle in the township of Lincoln and arrested the youths inside.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80515,74,121856,1558,14645,27245,177331,4487,19552,3011,3232,42,671,700,101,203029,43,112744,42917,1458,14168,66960,1529,14005,40,38,41,39,1733,102,1339,1354,1530],"class_list":["post-392954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-80515","tag-after","tag-aqua","tag-been","tag-beloved","tag-beyond","tag-carless","tag-christchurch","tag-driver","tag-four","tag-fourth","tag-headlines","tag-incident","tag-latest","tag-left","tag-moststolen","tag-news","tag-rendering","tag-repair","tag-targeted","tag-theft","tag-thieves","tag-three","tag-times","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-toyota","tag-with","tag-without","tag-woman","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}