“Bleak picture” as 130,000 cars were stolen in the UK last year with 77% of cases never solved

Car theft has remained at a 15-year high, with almost 130,000 vehicles stolen in the UK every year and three-quarters of cases never solved.

Data from the Office of National Statistics shows that despite car theft being at its highest point since the 2000s and attention being focused on the issue, the number of vehicles stolen only fell by a negligible 960 units in the last reporting period - from 130,119 in the 12 months from March 2022 to 129,159 in the 12 months from March 2023.

Such a consistently high level of theft has been attributed to thieves becoming increasingly wise to ever-tightening car security, using methods such as keyless car theft. The lack of dedicated vehicle theft taskforces in police departments has also been highlighted.

One benefit of the heightened level of in-car security is that last year saw a 12 per cent fall in the number of items stolen from cars, dropping from 218,431 to 193,023 cases. That said, the number of reported cases of tampering with a vehicle, such as removing a catalytic converter or other parts, did see a slight bump from 52,268 to 53,369.

Regardless, RAC spokesperson, Rod Dennis, still described the situation as “a pretty bleak picture”. An analysis of Home Office statistics in late 2023 by the Liberal Democrats found that 77 per cent of car thefts go unsolved, with only four per cent resulting in a suspect being charged or summoned to court.

Dennis continued, saying: “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, the AA’s director of Insurance Services, also illustrated how “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 called on the government to recruit additional police offers to establish a more visible car crime deterrent on the streets, with the RAC specifically calling for the re-establishment of vehicle-theft taskforces.

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