Car theft is at a 15-year high in the UK, with nearly 130,000 vehicles stolen annually, and three-quarters of these cases go unsolved.
According to data from the Office of National Statistics, despite increased attention to the problem, the number of stolen cars barely decreased from 130,119 in the year ending March 2022 to 129,159 in the year ending March 2023.
The persistently high theft rates are partly due to thieves getting better at bypassing car security, like using keyless entry hacks. There's also a lack of specialised police units focusing on vehicle theft.
On a positive note, with improved in-car security, theft of items from cars dropped by 12% last year, from 218,431 to 193,023. However, tampering with cars, such as removing catalytic converters, saw a slight increase from 52,268 to 53,369 cases.
RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis called the situation “a pretty bleak picture,” noting that a recent analysis found 77% of car thefts go unsolved, with only 4% resulting in a suspect being charged.
Dennis added, “It’s a real cat-and-mouse situation between vehicle manufacturers and criminals, with carmakers ever-tightening security, only for thieves to use increasingly sophisticated tactics to find a way round their systems.”
Gus Park from the AA pointed out that “every day more than 500 vehicles are broken into, while 350 are stolen. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that every stolen car increases the cost of claims and pushes premiums up for everyone.”
Both the AA and RAC have urged the government to hire more police officers and revive specialised vehicle theft units to better tackle the problem.
