Gets kids to soccer practice safely, gets stolen often.

If you drive a luxury car, you shouldn’t have much to worry about from local car thieves. If you’re trucking your family around town in a 13-year-old Dodge Caravan, well, that’s a whole other story.

WTOP reports that in 2011 the 1998 Dodge Caravan topped the list of the most-stolen cars in D.C., and in Maryland it was the 2000 Dodge Caravan that was most sought out by the thieves. Only Virginia broke the trend, with the 1994 Honda Accord topping its list.

After the Caravan, in D.C. the following cars were hot sells for thieves on the prowl: ’96 Honda Accord, ’01 Jeep Cherokee, ’00 Honda Civic, and ’07 Toyota Camry. (My ’97 Toyota Corolla breaths a sigh of relief.) In Maryland, it was the ’96 Honda Accord, ’00 Honda Civic, ’06 Ford Pickup Truck, and ’11 Toyota Camry. In Virginia it was the ’05 Ford Pickup Truck, ’00 Honda Civic, ’11 Toyota Camry, and a tie between the ’00 Dodge Caravan and ’10 Toyota Corolla.

Car thefts are down nationally, and the trend is reflected in D.C. Last year, according to MPD, 4,339 cars were stolen in the city, down from the ten-year high of 9,549 in 2003.

UPDATE, 9:55 a.m.: The Post’s Mike DeBonis sends over a 2004 City Paper article he wrote explaining why Chryslers are so popular among the thieving set:

Juvenile joy-riders, police say, are responsible for a great deal of the increase, and few models make the joy-riding experience go as smoothly as Chrysler brands. The top four types of cars stolen in the 6th District last year were Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, and Jeep, respectively. Through March 25, more than 57 percent of cars stolen in 2004 were Chrysler makes, up from 28 percent in 2000, according to unofficial police statistics.

Though McAllister declines to go into specifics, other officers say that, after thieves jimmy a lock or break a side window, they use a flat-head screwdriver to break the “glow ring,” a plastic piece around the ignition in many Chrysler vehicles that illuminates in the dark. Once the glow ring is shattered, thieves have plenty of leverage to pop out the tumbler assembly, pull out and detach the ignition wires, and hot-wire the car. Even in Chrysler products without glow rings, officers say, the ignition assemblies are particularly easy to pry out.