There is a common misconception that vehicle theft as a whole has remained unchanged in recent times, but nothing could be further from the truth. Vehicle theft has changed dramatically over the past decade; the who, the what, the where, the when, the how, and especially the why of vehicle theft are all complex questions. Gone are the days of encountering simple cases involving teenage joyriders who take a vehicle for an hour or two and then abandon it in a dimly lit parking lot. Today, vehicle theft is high technology and involves sophisticated transnational vehicle theft rings that target particular makes and models of vehicles for various reasons.