Is your car a target for thieves?

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has released its annual list of the most stolen vehicles in Canada and there are many familiar faces back for 2012. Three Honda-based products, four Fords and three nameplates from General Motors make up the top 10 cars most likely to be pinched.

The IBC has mixed news on vehicle theft in Canada: while the overall numbers are down by 12 per cent nationally to 82,411, the recovery of those vehicles hasn't improved. Apparently, besides the expected reasons why vehicles are being stolen - being stripped down for parts or shipped wholesale to places like West Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East — there's a new and surprising angle being uncovered. Many of the stolen vehicles that are being recovered are in Alberta where demand for rough-and-tumble pickups and SUVs is nearly unchecked, especially around the oil patch.

How does that happen? The target vehicles are stolen in Quebec and Atlantic Canada and get "re-VINed" — meaning new vehicle identification numbers are forged and applied — before heading to Alberta. The IBC figures organized crime rings are behind the latest efforts.

So how can Canadians protect themselves? Keep your car windows up and lock the doors, park in well-lit areas and put valuables and packages in the trunk. And never leave your car running unattended: the IBC figures 20 per cent of all stolen vehicles had the keys in them ...

Click through to see which vehicles were Canada's most stolen in 2012.