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Halloween often brings out the most mischievous of car pranks, and that could mean a higher chance of costly damage to your car. In light of that ghastly risk, prevent trouble by securing your car ahead of time.
Mischief Night is similar to Halloween where people play minor pranks on neighbors, friends or strangers. It happens on October 30th — the night before Halloween — and is sometimes called devil’s night, gate night, goosey night or even cabbage night.
Cars are easy targets for pranksters because most people aren’t watching their cars the night before Halloween. And while Mischief Night pranks are supposed to be harmless, some tricks go a little too far.
Common car pranks include:
Car owners report 81% more vandalism claims on Halloween than the annual daily average, according to the 2013 Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) bulletin on vandalism.
The month of October also sits as the fourth-highest month for car vandalisms, seeing 6% more claims than average. As a reference point, the annual daily average is nearly 700 vandalism claims.
With the average daily claims represented by the number 1.0, compare the percentage above or below the average for holidays with the most vandalism claims.
Holiday | Relative average daily claims |
---|---|
Halloween | 1.80 |
Fourth of July | 1.45 |
New Year’s | 1.38 |
St. Patrick’s Day | 1.00 |
Thanksgiving | 0.75 |
Christmas | 0.55 |
The worst day of the week for vandalism is Saturday, with Sunday following close on its heels. Both Monday and Friday tie for the third-worst vandalism days.
Mischief night 2020 stakes its claim for Friday night, warranting an extra eye. And Halloween 2020 falls on the peak day for vandalism — Saturday night — so it’s worth taking extra precautions to safeguard your car this Halloween weekend.
With the average daily claims represented as 1.0, compare the percentage of claims above or below the average that takes place on each day of the week.
Day of the week | Relative average daily claims |
---|---|
Monday | 1.00 |
Tuesday | 0.90 |
Wednesday | 0.90 |
Thursday | 0.85 |
Friday | 1.00 |
Saturday | 1.15 |
Sunday | 1.10 |
Los Angeles county topped the list with an average of 27 claims on Halloween, according to the HLDI vandalism report. That number is nearly double its annual daily average. That makes sense, considering LA’s large population of drivers.
Four of the top 10 counties with the most Halloween vandalisms are in California, and three in Texas. Urban areas tend to have higher annual daily averages compared to other cities, likely because a higher population means more chances for car vandalism.
County | City | State | Total annual claims | Annual daily average claims | Halloween daily average claims |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 11,671 | 6 | 13 |
San Diego | San Diego | California | 12,048 | 7 | 13 |
Los Angeles | Los Angeles | California | 25,977 | 14 | 27 |
Cook | Chicago | Illinois | 21,382 | 12 | 22 |
Maricopa | Phoenix | Arizona | 11,216 | 6 | 11 |
Santa Clara | San Jose | California | 14,019 | 8 | 13 |
Dallas | Dallas | Texas | 13,737 | 8 | 11 |
Alameda | San Francisco | California | 13,322 | 7 | 11 |
Bexar | San Antonio | Texas | 12,214 | 7 | 9 |
Harris | Houston | Texas | 21,165 | 12 | 15 |
Car mischief around this holiday costs $2.8 million per day for the insurance industry, says the HLDI. That cost is double the average annual daily cost. For individuals, the average car insurance claim was $1,660 for vandalism claims on Halloween.
Keep in mind that this cost is only related to insurance claims, so the total cost of damage is likely be higher. Minor vandalism that’s easy to fix — like egging — might go unreported or unclaimed.
Whether you’re out trick-or-treating or watching a scary movie at home, there are ways to avoid trouble. You might also consider making sure your car insurance policy has comprehensive coverage just in case you need to make a claim.
Keep your car safe with a few simple tips:
To bring you this report, we dove into the Highway Loss Data Institute’s Vandalism bulletin from September 2013. The study used information from January 2008 to December 2012 on cars up to nine years old. These numbers are likely underreported since they only involve insurance claims, not reports of car vandalism, and claims were only counted for areas with more than 500 vandalism reports.
In the HLDI report, we compared information about the annual daily average number of vandalism claims and cost. Then, we looked at which days of the week and which holidays had the most vandalism claims relative to the annual daily average. Last, we compared the risk of Halloween vandalism for the top 10 counties that have the highest annual daily averages for vandalism claims.
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