Wheel and tire thefts rose more than 50% since 2023 and are highest in four Philly neighborhoods

A few days after New Year’s, Izzy Muldowney walked out of her North Philadelphia apartment to a nasty shock. Someone had stolen the wheels off her car.

All four tires and the rims on her 2020 Toyota Corolla were gone, and the car, with its front window smashed, and the glove box hanging open, sat atop a pair of blue and yellow soda crates.

“I just broke down and cried, trying to process everything,” Muldowney said.

The early January theft presaged a busy year for wheel thieves in Philadelphia. It was one of more than 200 such incidents across the city in the first seven months of the year, according to data from the Philadelphia Police Department.

The city has seen a 53% increase in wheel thefts from the same time last year, and more than in all of 2022. Over the last two years, wheel and tire thefts are on pace to more than double.

The thefts are concentrated mostly in four neighborhoods, with more than half of the crimes occurring in Fishtown, Fairmount, Passyunk Square, and Mayfair.

People have been swapping stories online about the thefts, which often follow a pattern: thieves smash a window, take the wheel lock, and then steal the rims and tires before leaving the car balanced on crates. Neighbors shared photos of their cars in Facebook groups, advised each other on how to file insurance claims, and complained of slow police response times.

In Muldowney’s case, the theft cost $5,500. It turned out that towing a car without wheels is difficult, she said, and the tow company ended up dragging the car to a repair shop, damaging the undercarriage. She had to wait several weeks for repairs because the wheels were on back-order — the mechanic told her there was high demand for replacement because of frequent theft. Insurance paid for most of the damage, but still, she said, the experience was a costly hassle that has left her nervously checking her car every time she steps outside.

Matthew Haubenstein, an automobile adjuster at 360 Collision Services in Port Richmond, said the shop has handled five to 10 cases of stolen wheels every week for months.

Many of the cars had been left on plastic crates, he said, pointing to a stack of more than a dozen soda crates lined up in a shed in the shop.

Thieves almost always target newer Hondas or Toyotas, he said, because of the quality of the rims.

“Anything that looks nice, they will take,” he said.

A set of rims and tires can be resold for between $1,000 and $1,500, and there is a market for high-quality rims online, said Michael Torres, another auto adjuster at the shop.

Police recommended installing wheel locks, specialized lug nuts that require a key — rather than an ordinary wrench — to remove, saying they may prevent wheel theft.

To stave off such thefts, Torres and Haubesnstein recommend that car owners take their wheel lock keys out of their vehicles after driving, calling it the “best antitheft measure.” If thieves can’t find a key, they often move on to easier targets, they said.

Cars with stolen wheels almost always end up with damage to the suspension, bumper, and exhaust pipes, Haubenstein said, because tow trucks have to drag the vehicles into a shop for repair. And there are often delays in ordering tires and rims. Insurance will pay for the repairs, but vehicle owners must cover the deductible and spend days or weeks without a car.

“These criminals don’t care about who it is, but these grandmoms who get $600 a month for Social Security, got to pay their $1,000 deductibles, with no car on top of that, because the wheels are on back-order,” Torres said.