Car theft hotspots in Britain where motor crime is rife has been revealed in exclusive data for This is Money.
Vehicle valuation specialists HPI found 109 cars are flagged as stolen every day, with Britain’s car theft capital recording almost 20,000 cases last year, which worked out at 760 motors per 100,000 vehicles registered there.
Find out where your region ranks.
Greater London experienced the most theft in total, with 18,624 recorded thefts from 2,451,620 cars on the road – 0.76 per cent are stolen
Outside of London, the UK’s top area for car theft is the West Midlands, with 11,865 cars stolen across the whole of 2023.
A total of 2,955,660 cars are on the road in the area, according to 2023 statistics.
This means 401 per 100,000 cars in the area were reported stolen that year.
Greater London experienced the most thefts in total, with 18,624 vehicles recorded as stolen from 2,451,620 registered in total in the region, which works out at 760 per 100,000 motors.
And it’s particularly bad news for owners of Toyota RAV4 SUVs on London, as 7,009 residents do.
Unfortunately for them, 826 were pinched last year, meaning 11,785 per 100,000 in London were nicked in 2023 – the highest proportion for mainstream models.
Another car that has a high theft rate per the volume on the road is the Hyundai Ioniq, with 10,972 per 100,00 being stolen last year, based on 325 thefts and just 2,962 registered in the capital.
The Lexus RX also has a high London theft rate of 6,904 per 100,000 examples, as does its smaller sister car the NX (4,685 per 100,000 motors).
Land Rover models also have relatively high theft rates: Range Rover Evoque diesels have a 3,856 per 100,000 chance of being taken; the Discovery Sport diesel is even higher at 4,305; and the Range Rover Sport diesel is also high at 3,761.
However, the model stolen most in outright numbers in London is the Ford Fiesta.
Some 924 were taken from their rightful owners in 2023. With 75,096 registered in the capital, this is 1,254 stolen per 100,000 examples.
This is Money in January exclusively revealed the most stolen cars of 2023, with two Fords in the top five, and three Jaguar Land Rover vehicles in the top 10.
The North West of England is the third highest for recorded thefts with 6,742 cars stolen from a total of 3,347,918 on its roads.
Jon Clay, identification director at HPI, said: ‘Police data shows that a car was stolen in Britain every eight minutes on average last year with car thefts up by almost 5 per cent on the previous year.’
Yorkshire and the Humber (251 per thefts 100,000 cars), North West England (201 per 100,000 cars) and the East of England (173 per 100,000 cars) were next on the theft hotspot list.
The smallest proportion of motor crime is in Northern Ireland, where 21 for every 100,000 vehicles were reported stolen in 2023.
The South West of England (60), Scotland (75) and Wales (89) also had low car theft rates per 100,000 motors.
EXCLUSIVEREAD MORE: Most stolen cars of 2023 revealed
1. Ford Fiesta – 5,976 stolen (DOWN 0.1% compared to 2022)
2. Ford Focus – 2,120 stolen (DOWN 3.0% compared to 2022)
3. VW Golf – 2,038 stolen (UP 0.1% compared to 2022)
4. Mercedes-Benz C-Class – 1,786 stolen (UP 29.6% compared to 2022)
5. Range Rover Sport – 1,631 stolen (DOWN 28.6% compared to 2022)
6. Range Rover Evoque – 1,489 stolen (DOWN 2.8% compared to 2022)
7. BMW 3 Series – 1,466 stolen (DOWN 0.8% compared to 2022)
8. Vauxhall Corsa – 1,110 stolen (DOWN 13.3% compared to 2022)
9. Vauxhall Astra – 1,086 stolen (DOWN 12.4% compared to 2022)
10. Land Rover Discovery Sport – 954 stolen (UP 15.2% compared to 2022)
Source: DVLA reported motor vehicle thefts in 2023 (1 Jan 2023-31 Dec 2023) data supplied to LeasoLoco via FOI request
How many car thieves are caught – and what’s the wider impact on car insurance premiums?
Unfortunately, car thieves are rarely punished.
In fact, the charge rate for vehicle thefts in England and Wales declined between July 2022 and June 2023.
In July 2022, the charge rate was 2.8 per cent, while it was just 1.43 per cent in June last year.
Advancing tech is making it easier for thieves to get round so called ‘secure devices’ used by car manufacturers.
According to HPI, keyless car theft is now the most common tactic used by organised criminals to steal high value wheels, with turbo decoders also becoming increasingly common (when manual door locks are targeted using a device that works like a skeleton key).
Both Jaguar and Land Rover cars as old as 2016 are now eligible for the theft prevention upgrades to bring them in line with the latest models in showrooms today
Keyless car theft has been a huge issue for luxury car makers like JLR, which is on course to spend £15million upgrading 2016 to 2022 models with its latest security technology.
The luxury car firm has been targeted by organised crime groups taking advantage of high global demand for the vehicles. Many of these Land Rover and Range Rover 4x4s pinched are loaded into containers and shipped overseas.
The Association of British Insurers revealed insurance premiums spiralled last year as a result of the increase in theft-related vehicle claims.
It said the average car insurance premium rose 25 per cent in 2023, rising to £543 up from £434 in 2022.
The average driver paid £627 to insure their car in the final quarter of 2023, a rise of 12 per cent on the previous three months.
ABI figures show how much the average motor insurance policy has increased in the last two years. It said this was a result of a rise in claims, many of them around thefts
Earlier in May, JLR announced it is offering £150 a month towards the cost of its in-house insurance for buyers of new Range Rovers to encourage sales in light of theft concerns and sky-high premiums.
Unfortunately, cars with hidden secrets are often offered for sale by dodgy sellers who won’t always declare to unsuspecting buyers that the car is stolen or even an insurance write-off.
Clay recommends a standard HPI Check to ‘help motorists quickly establish if a car has been reported stolen or if there are discrepancies, such as accident data or mileage tampering’.
He said: ‘By building up a comprehensive vehicle history, any discrepancies are highlighted, arming car buyers with the information and confidence they need prior to purchase.’
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