Most stolen vehicles of 2023: A automobile was pinched each 8 minutes final 12 months

A automobile was stolen in Britain each 8 minutes 12 seconds on common final 12 months as motor theft rose by nearly 5 per cent.

The newest reported improve in automobile crime comes amid the current spike in keyless automobile thefts, which is now the most typical tactic utilized by organised criminals to steal the newest motors of all values.

A complete of 64,087 vehicles had been reported stolen to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in 2023, up from 61,106 the 12 months earlier (a rise of 4.9 per cent), unique information shared with MailOnline and This is Money reveals. 

The figures element which 10 fashions had been mostly pinched and reveal an enormous decline in Range Rover thefts – information that has been welcomed by mother or father firm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) after we broke it to them, and can undoubtedly be celebrated by house owners of its autos.

However, keepers of 1 explicit German government saloon would possibly have to regulate their vehicles, with DVLA information revealing a 30 per cent spike in thefts.

The Ford Fiesta – Britain’s most owned automobile – was reported stolen most continuously final 12 months, in keeping with DVLA information obtained by automobile leasing comparability web site LeaseLoco.

Given there may be round an estimated 1.5million on the street right now, it comes as no shock to see the Fiesta seem on the high the listing, with 5,976  reported as having been taken with out the consent of householders final 12 months.

This was three fewer thefts than in 2022, when 5,979 had been unlawfully taken, the figures reveal following a freedom of knowledge request to the federal government company. 

On common, 16 Fiestas had been stolen on daily basis final 12 months – or one each 88 minutes.

And there are main considerations that Fiestas could possibly be more and more focused in 2024 and the years after following Ford’s current determination to stop manufacturing of the extremely common small automobile.

The ultimate Fiesta got here off the Cologne meeting line final summer time, which triggered warnings from automobile crime consultants that it may immediately develop into extra interesting to criminals to steal and break down into spares now that Ford is now not making elements for the nation’s hottest mannequin.

‘Criminals have been fast to leap on this chance, lucratively promoting on stolen Ford Fiesta elements on the black market,’ Clive Wain, a former detective chief superintendent and now head of police liaison at Tracker, advised This is Money beforehand.

John Wilmot, chief government of LeaseLoco, which issued the FOI for automobile theft information to the DVLA, stated: ‘Logically, with fewer new Fiestas on the roads, we’d have anticipated to see thefts fall final 12 months. 

‘However, Ford’s determination to discontinue the favored small hatchback may effectively have sparked a rise in demand for second-hand elements, making them a scorching goal for thieves.’

A examine by Go.Compare final 12 months discovered that nearly half (48 per cent) of all UK police forces listed the Fiesta because the automobile mostly reported stolen of their areas in 2022 – up from lower than a 3rd (30 per cent) in 2019. 

The Ford Focus (2,120 thefts, down 3.0 per cent) and VW Golf (2,038, up 0.1 per cent) – two different examples of widely-owned fashions in Britain – accomplished the rostrum of most-nicked vehicles.

Decline in Range Rover thefts

While the Fiesta, Focus and Golf are all predicable sights on the high of the automobile theft charts – attributing to the excessive variety of examples on the street right now – the identical cannot be stated about Range Rovers.

The premium SUVs are beloved by the rich, footballers and – it appears – automobile thieves.

For the previous few years, they’ve been listed among the many most stolen motors.

This has been linked to a mixture of their desirability with criminals – particularly as many are stolen to order after which loaded into containers to be exported to Africa and different abroad areas the place demand is excessive – and a advised ease of infiltrating safety programs.

However, the variety of all Range Rover variants (together with Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar and Evoque) stolen in 2023 declined by nearly 20 per cent in comparison with 2022, the info reveals.

It suggests current efforts and investments by JLR to bolster the anti-theft programs in its vehicles is having an affect.

The mostly stolen Range Rover final 12 months was the Range Rover Sport, with 1,631 pinched in 2023, down from 2,283 in 2022 – a decline of 28.6 per cent. 

This quantity of thefts locations it fifth within the total rankings. In 2022, it was second solely to the Fiesta.

Behind the Sport was the Evoque, with a 2.8 per cent year-on-year fall in vehicles taken from their rightful house owners, amounting to 1,489 thefts in 2023.

The normal Range Rover and Range Rover Velar did not make it into the the highest 10 listing, with 771 and 560 thefts. However, it’s price noting that these had been yearly declines of 27.2 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

JLR says figures from the Police National Computer Data additionally present an analogous downward development of thefts of Range Rover autos, with a 26 per cent discount between November 2022 and the identical month final 12 months. 

However, the Land Rover Discovery Sport did squeeze into the highest 10 order of stolen motors in 2023 with a 15.2 per cent year-on-year improve in thefts that noticed 954 go lacking.

It comes simply months after JLR confirmed it’s spending £10million retrofitting a few of its older vehicles to improve them to the newest – hi-tech – safety programs to block the current spate of breaches of driverless system.

Since January 2022, solely 0.07 per cent of latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sports on the street with the newest safety setup have been stolen, whereas solely 0.3 per cent of latest Defenders had been affected since 2020, JLR advised us.

Its fashions courting again to 2018 are eligible for the safety improve freed from cost, with some 74,500 clients already making the most of the provide, a spokesperson defined.

The model additionally completely revealed to This is Money it’s offering ‘a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos’ in funding to police forces to assist them to deal with the move of stolen autos swiftly being exported in a foreign country.

The scale of Range Rover thefts has develop into such a difficulty in recent times that some house owners, significantly these in London, have confronted extreme will increase of their motor insurance coverage premiums.

In truth, some insurers have refused to cowl the vehicles within the capital over considerations in regards to the excessive threat of crime.

As such, JLR was compelled in October to launch its personal insurance coverage cowl for patrons, which supplied an ‘common month-to-month premium of lower than £200’. 

Some 8,000 Range Rover house owners are presently utilizing this resolution, although there are circumstances the place drivers have been rejected by the corporate’s personal insurance coverage bundle.

Owners will now be hoping the reported decline in thefts of those motors will have an effect on their insurance coverage premiums. 

Patrick McGillycuddy, JLR UK managing director, advised us: ‘The fast decline in Range Rover thefts within the final 12 months, demonstrates the power of our newest automobile safety measures.

‘These important reductions are a results of engineering our new autos to be sturdy in opposition to all identified theft strategies via the newest anti-theft know-how, endorsed by third celebration consultants like Thatcham.

‘In truth, our newest information reveals that solely ten out of 12,200 of the newest mannequin of Range Rovers have been stolen since January 2022.

‘We have additionally invested £10million to replace greater than 75,000 older shopper autos with the newest security measures and we’ll proceed to roll out the newest updates to tens of hundreds extra nationwide.

‘JLR can be funding a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos on further policing to deal with the foundation causes – by stopping the move of stolen vehicles out and in the nation, to profit all UK drivers.’

Big spike in Mercedes C-Class thefts 

The mannequin within the high 10 that noticed the most important annual bounce in thefts was the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

The 1,786 vehicles reported stolen to the DVLA in 2023 was 29.6 per cent greater than the 12 months earlier (1,378) and is by far probably the most important improve among the many league desk of fashions mostly pinched.

‘C-Class house owners have to proceed to be additional vigilant to keep away from changing into a sufferer of crime,’ LeaseLoco’s Wilmot warned.

This is Money contacted Mercedes-Benz UK concerning the obvious rise in C-Class thefts. A spokesperson for the German automobile large stated: ‘We’re not in a position to remark with out extra info on the age and specification of the vehicles included within the DVLA information.’

The remaining automobile fashions making up the highest 10 most stolen of 2023 embrace the BMW 3 Series (1,466, down 0.8 per cent), Vauxhall Corsa (1,110, down 13.3 per cent) and Vauxhall Astra (1,085, down 12.4 per cent).

The DVLA information additionally revealed that 43 Ferraris had been reported stolen by house owners to the DVLA final 12 months, as had been 51 Porsche 911s.

Some 14 Lamborghinis had been confirmed pinched and 29 Tesla house owners had their electrical vehicles taken by criminals.