A demonstration showed just how quickly a thief can take a vehicle apart. It took less than six minutes for a team of three from Allstate Insurance to dismantle a car live on Channel 6 News Tuesday night.

Some vehicles are worth more to thieves in pieces. It took the Allstate crew just 5:56 to take apart the 2004 Dodge Stratus. Intact, it's worth $9,000. Dismantled, the parts are worth a total of $13,000, $4,000 more to car thieves after dismantled for parts.

“These items can be taken and sold individually to chop shops in Omaha or go out of the area and get a lot more in pieces than if you take this car to a dealership," says Allstate’s Christina Loznicka.

This past winter, we learned of a major undercover police investigation that exposed a chop shop in Council Bluffs. Police processed property worth more than $1.4 million.

Joe Kozol bought a 1997 Dodge Ram brand new, but he couldn't recognize his lawn service truck when police recovered it. "It's amazing how they just took it apart piece by piece, it's like they knew exactly what they were doing."

The thieves hot-wired the pickup and sped away, but a tip led Omaha Police to suspects who had stripped it down.

Invoices tell just how much used car parts are worth. A bumper is $350, doors $400 apiece, parts that have serial numbers to alert legitimate body shop owners.

“Any type of crash part is going to have that VIN number on there as well to make sure they can trace that part back to a stolen car,” says Jim Champion of Charlie Graham Body.

But not all stripped vehicles are stolen away. Rosie had her new tires with wheels removed like a pit stop in her own driveway. She was left with just one lug nut. “It must have happened very rapidly. Where my car had been parked there's a motion activated light and it's very bright so that had to be on when they were there."

Auto theft experts say they're not teaching thieves anything new by showing how quickly a vehicle can go from fully-loaded to completely stripped, but it may make you think fast about ways to prevent your car from getting stolen.

“We just have to be more careful with the vehicles and have some better security to keep the bad guys out," says Kozol.

How do you deter the bad guys? "The first thing you should do is use basic common sense,” says Loznicka. “Lock your car. Don't leave your purse sitting on the front seat of your car. Take your keys with you. A lot of people leave keys in their car. Common sense things like that are going to deter a thief."

The next level of security is a warning like a car alarm or a steering wheel lock. The seconds it would take to hack through the metal may be enough for the thief to look for an easier target.

"You could be a mile away from your car and it's gonna tell you on your remote control that someone tried to break into your vehicle or is trying to take your vehicle from you,” says Brian Hampson with Stereo West Auto Toys.

The next tier of protection keeps the car from getting started in the first place, like a $400 product at Stereo West Auto Toys. “It separates the starter from the vehicle,” says Hampson. “It's called a Starter Kill. That way, nobody can stick a screwdriver in your ignition and take it away from you."

The final layer involves satellites. "At 5:10 p.m., they just went to 18th and M streets and turned off the ignition there." GPS units will track your vehicle if someone steals it. Anything to keep your ride from joining the list of vehicles stolen every 26 seconds in the United States.

The top five vehicles stolen in Nebraska are the 1988 Chevy 1500 pickup, 1994 Ford F-150, 1992 Honda Accord, 2001 Dodge Ram pickup and 1994 Chevy Blazer.