Geelong ‘worst’ for car vandals

Andrew Mathieson
Geelong is number-one in Victoria for car vandalism, according to RACV statistics.
An RACV investigation found that the city led the state with 101 malicious damage claims last year.
Melbourne’s CBD was second with 90.
Most Geelong claims to RACV Insurance were for smashed windows, stolen badges, broken mirrors and key scratches.
The average cost of damage was more than $1700 a claim.
Geelong motorists also lodged a state-high 95 claims in 2006.
RACV insurance manager Susan Allen said Geelong’s top place for car vandalism was a “complete puzzle”.
The city’s motorists had endured a “bit of a jump” in car vandalism since 2005, Ms Allen said.
“Most of the problems we’ve found are in the Geelong city area and in Corio.”
Central Geelong had 31 claims in both the past two years. Corio recorded 14 in 2007, one less than the previous year.
Belmont was the next worst Geelong suburb, up 60 per cent last year with eight claims.
Mrs Allen said claims from the Bellarine Peninsula were “minuscule”.
Seven peninsula towns reported just one incident each, she said.
However, Ocean Grove bucked the trend with seven claims.
Mrs Allen believed vandals were usually attacking Geelong car at night.
“Generally, if you park a car under a street light you’ve got less chance of it getting damaged because of its visibility,” she said.
Ms Allen urged motorists to avoid off-street parking and leaving cash inside cars.
Holden Commodores were Geelong’s most-vandalised cars, she said.
“There is nearly double the number of Commodores than Falcons.”
Geelong police chief inspector Wayne Carsons called the RACV figures “surprising”.
“It certainly doesn’t stick out with us that there is a spike in damage to cars,” he said.
“Having said that, we do acknowledge there was a bit of a run on that type of thing in Corio more so than anywhere else in our area.”