What are you saying?
It sounds as if he is saying people can't really get around without their cars, which cost half-a-year's wages for most people--as a horse did, in the old days. So, stealing a car is a serious threat to the owner's livelihood--and perhaps his life, in a neighborhood like that, where you wouldn't want to walk unprotected.
Did you find his analogy unclear?
Bingo.
Do you believe car thieves should be shot or hanged without a trial?