You may not be working this Labor Day weekend, but auto thieves are putting special vigor in how they go about plying their trade while the rest of us have our feet up, experts war.
Labor Day is among the top five holidays of the year for stolen vehicles, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau as reported by Inilex, which makes GPS-based stolen-car recovery systems. In 2011, for instance, 1,977 cars were reported stolen on Labor Day. That's one every 43 seconds.
(Read more: Most Stolen LuxuryCars)
Progressive Insurance found, based on analysis of its claims data, that summer was a particularly busy time for auto thieves. Nine of the 10 days in 2012 in which it received the highest reports of car thefts occurred between July and September. One of those dates was the morning after Labor Day.
The good news? Chances are getting better all the time that your car can be recovered. Nationally, the stolen car recovery rate is 46 percent, Progressive says.
—By Chris Woodyard of USA Today