There were a total of 55,427 vehicle thefts across the country during 2021, but when it comes to states that suffered the most from motor vehicle crime, it's Queensland that takes the top spot. With over 15,805 thefts in 2021, the state sees a motor theft crime rate of 3.7 per 1,000 vehicles.
Motor vehicle theft key findings
Preliminary 2022 data shows the states with the most motor vehicle thefts were California (202,685), Texas (105,015) and Washington (46,939). 31 states saw a year-over-year increase in motor vehicle thefts in 2021 — the latest year for which data from every state is available.
In Australia a car is stolen every 11 minutes. Advances in security technology have made it impossible to simply 'hot wire' a modern car. 70 per cent of cars are stolen with their own keys. Half of all cars stolen are taken from the home, including driveways, carports and garages.
As Queensland grapples with a youth crime crisis, the sunshine state has also been crowned the car theft capital of Australia. In fact, 12.4% of Queensland adults surveyed by the comparison site revealed they've been the victim of a car theft, compared to just 5.7% of South Australians and 9.5% of Western Australians.
Queensland had the highest amount of individual car thefts, with over 11,000 cases in 2021.
Brisbane tops the list with more than 3,500 motor vehicle thefts in 2021 - more than 1,000 thefts compared to second placed Gold Coast.
1) Holden Commodore VE 06 - 13 (898 cars stolen in 2021)
The Holden Commodore VE tops the list, 898 of the VEs were stolen in 2021. Topping out our list. Commodores are also one of the most popular cars on the market, including the older variants.
Most are stolen for joyriding and often end up being torched to destroy evidence. Some get broken up for resale of parts. Vehicles are typically worth six to eight times more in parts than a whole vehicle. Some vehicles are stolen for re-birthing, while exotic vehicles may be stolen to order for re-birthing.
The 'biggest car heist' in history involves Volvo and North Korea. The Swedish government had agreed to send over $70 million in heavy machinery to the secretive state, along with that a batch of 1,000 Volvo 144 sedans to be used as taxis.
2 Easily Stolen: Honda Accord
Thieves steal the car in mere seconds, and that's especially true given that about 52,244 units disappeared in a single year quite recently. This makes the Honda Accord the easiest car to break into, according to the numbers.
Only cars with a keyless entry system can be stolen using so called “relay” equipment. Keyless entry cars allow the driver to unlock and start the car with the key fob still in their pocket. Once in the car, the driver can press a button to start the engine.
New Zealand is the top country by private car theft rate in the world. As of 2020, private car theft rate in New Zealand was 954 cases per 100,000 population. The top 5 countries also includes Uruguay, Canada, Sweden, and Australia. The description is composed by our digital data assistant.
BMW 3-Series
BMW's sporty compact luxury sedan is the least stolen ride in America, according to HLDI, with a relative claim frequency of just 4. The average among all vehicles is 100. The all-wheel-drive 3 Series is a bit more popular among car thieves with a relative claim frequency of 21.
The Chevrolet Silverado will be the most stolen car in 2023, with a 48% theft rate. The US car market has constantly changed over the last two decades, but car thieves remain. Silverado is one of the most targeted cars to steal because of its popularity and abundant supply.
The 2019-2021 Ford Expedition is the most stolen large SUV. The expedition has an exposure of 64,829. It also has three claims, a relative claim frequency of 15, and a relative claim severity of 178. The relative overall losses for the 2019 to 2021 Ford Expedition is 27.
Cats - 4.1 pet thefts per 100,000 people
Taking third place are our feline friends with more than 1,300 instances of cat theft over the last five years. Cat thefts are also on the rise, averaging around an 18% increase year on year since 2017.
In 2021, over 20 million motor vehicles were registered across Australia, and over 190,000 of these vehicles fell victim to thieves, according to Budget Direct, one of the leading car insurers in Australia.
Bakersfield is a city with less than half a million people, making it the 9th most populous city in California. It also has the distinction of having the most car thefts of any U.S. city. In 2021, the city experienced 1,023 thefts per 100,000 residents.
It showed that the Holden Commodore VE (model year 2006-2013) had been stolen 898 times (Queensland showing the highest theft rate of this car at 230 thefts), with these thefts worth a total of $6,988,448.