Some 95% of Vespas stolen from Amsterdam streets within five years

Roughly 95 percent of all Vespa scooters in Amsterdam are stolen within five years of purchase, according to an analysis of insurance data provided to newspaper Parool. It further estimated that only about four percent of Vespas in the rest of the country are stolen in that period of time. The dramatically high theft rate has led many insurers to equally rise the premium Amsterdam customers have to pay to insure their two-wheelers against theft. In some cases, those living in Amsterdam have to pay double the price of other insurance customers. Organizations participating in the investigation include motorist association ANWB, and insurers Centraal Beheer, Meeùs Verzekeringen, Unigarant and Univé. Only one of the insurers quantified the Vespa theft rate in the capital at 95 percent, but the other organizations largely agreed with the assertion, the newspaper stated. Insurance companies also noted that the Piaggio brand of scooters are also a hot target. Nationwide, about 12 percent of Piaggios are swiped from Netherlands owners within five years of purchase. An average of about 11.5 scooters or mopeds was stolen in the Amsterdam-Amstelland region every day during the first six months of the year. Some 2,100 of the vehicles were stolen from the capital region, more than three times as much as in Rotterdam.