Car Theft Survey & Statistics 2022

Car theft might not be the most common threat we think of to our cars – not compared to everyday collisions and storm damage. But the rates and risks of car theft are higher than you might think.

To find out just how Australians are impacted by car theft, we’ve sourced recent information on theft rates across Australia, and conducted our own research to bring you:

Data from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) [1] shows the amount of passenger/light commercial vehicle thefts in the 2021 calendar year, as well as the rate of thefts per 1,000 registrations.

Queensland had the highest amount of individual car thefts, with over 11,000 cases in 2021. Owing largely to their smaller populations, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory had the lowest totals of car theft.

However, the Northern Territory had the highest rate of car thefts, averaging 4.15 thefts per 1,000 registrations. New South Wales and South Australia were among the safest states across Australia, each with close to 1.6 thefts per 1,000 registrations.

The NMVTRC [1] also shows that the theft of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles decreased significantly in 2021. This was likely due to the introduction of lockdowns by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 5 years prior, there was no obvious trend of thefts either increasing in regularity or reducing in frequency. As such, predicting 2023 rates of theft from existing data is near impossible.

For the third consecutive year, data from the NMVTRC [1] show that the Holden Commodore VE MY06_13 was the most stolen single model of car in Australia. As a collective model of car, the Toyota Hilux and Holden Commodore were two of the most targeted cars in 2021. 

One of the most common causes of car theft is the owner not adequately protecting their keys. Typically, the thief will sneak into a person’s home via an unlocked door or open window, take the keys, and simply drive away. The NMVTRC [2] reports that 70% of cars are stolen with their own keys and half are stolen from their home.

A ‘sneak theft’ is when a criminal will steal a car while the owner is home. They will typically use the same method of stealing keys – accessing them through an open window or unguarded door. According to the NMVTRC[2], in 95% of ‘sneak theft’ attempts, there is no confrontation between the car’s owner and the thief.

A good idea to reduce risk is to avoid putting your name and address on your car keys. If you’re ever out and lose your keys, you risk providing a thief with not only an address but a way into the property. Once they’re in, they can load your belongings into your own car, and simply drive away with it.

Just how well are Australians protecting themselves against car theft? And do we know the real risks and methods used by thieves? We surveyed 878 people to properly gauge how car theft is affecting everyday Australians.

Nearly 70% of Australians have never had their car or any belongings from their car stolen. However, 18.2% of Australians had their belongings stolen from their car compared to 7.4% of Australians who just had their car stolen. 

With less experience driving and exposure to car theft, 80% of respondents aged 18-24 years have never had their car or any belongings in their car stolen. 

Men were more likely than women to have their belongings stolen from their car, which may be attributed to women typically storing their car keys out of sight, in handbags. [3]

40.7% of Australians believe that ‘hotwiring’ is the most common method thieves will use to steal a car. However, according to the NMVTRC advances in security technology have made it impossible to ‘hotwire’ a modern car [2].  

While 40.4% of Australians believe that stealing spare keys from the owner’s home was the most common method of car theft. NMVTRC has confirmed that half of all stolen keys are taken from the home including from driveways, carports and garages [2]. 

More than half of the respondents from Queensland believe that stealing spare keys from the owner’s home was the most common method of car theft. 

Despite advances in security technology, respondents who had their car stolen were most likely to believe that ‘hotwiring’ was the most common method of car theft. However, 42.7% of respondents (who hadn’t experienced car theft) correctly identified the most common way cars were stolen.

In Australia, a car is stolen every 11 minutes [2]. Despite this, the majority of Australians did not know someone (other than themselves) who’d had their car stolen in the last two years. 

In 2020-21 nearly a third of all car thefts occurred in Queensland - the most of any state or territory in Australia [2]. And from this survey, we found that a quarter of respondents from Queensland knew someone who’d also had their car stolen. 

Younger Australians (aged 18-24 years) were the most likely to know someone whose car had been stolen in the last two years. 

Respondents who had both their car and the belongings in their car stolen were most likely to know someone else who’d had their car stolen in the last two years.

According to NMVTRC, 70% of cars are stolen with the driver’s own keys by thieves who will sneak into homes by taking advantage of unlocked doors or windows[4]. Despite this, 42.1% of Australians' cars were stolen using a broken window or door to gain entry to their car, and only 5.9% of Australians had their car keys stolen. 

Unfortunately, 12.5% of Australians left their cars unlocked and thieves gained access to their vehicles by opening the unlocked door. It’s important to note that while having a car stolen is often stressful and inconvenient it is also preventable. 

You can prevent car theft by putting your keys in an enclosed pocket or a bag with a zipper so that they are out of sight and ensuring that all windows and doors are locked before you get out of the car. 

51.9% of the respondents had their belongings stolen, and their car window or door was broken to gain entry. While 42.6% of respondents had the lock picked on their car before it was stolen.  

If respondents owned a car manufactured in the 1990s then it was more likely that the lock on the car was picked, but if they owned a car manufactured in the 2000’s it was more likely that someone broke a window or door to gain entry to the car. 

Nearly a quarter of Australians had a car that was stolen and manufactured in the 1990s. But according to the NMVTRC, more than 40% of the passenger/light commercial vehicles stolen were manufactured in the 2010s. [1] It’s also important to note that the number of theft-affected cars from the 2020s will be significantly lower given that we are only 2 years into the decade. 

We found that cars manufactured in the 1980s were more likely to be stolen but belongings were more likely to be stolen from a car manufactured in the 2000s. However, as time progresses so do the advancements in car security and this is reflected in the decreasing number of theft- affected cars throughout the decades.

Contrary to popular belief insurance companies don’t always cover the cost of theft and on average car theft, victims are left $5000 out of pocket [2]. We found that 40% of Australians either did not make a claim after their car was stolen or if they did make a claim then it wasn’t accepted. 

Of all participants surveyed, Western Australians were most likely to have a theft event covered by their insurance. Whereas South Australians were most likely to not make a claim, not have their claim accepted and not have insurance. 

Half of 18-24-year-old respondents didn’t have insurance. Younger drivers on average pay more in comprehensive premiums than older drivers, with drivers under 25 paying the highest amount in premiums [5]. 

Respondents who had their car stolen were more likely to be covered by their insurance than respondents who had their belongings stolen from their car. As part of our Comprehensive Car Insurance Policy Budget Direct covers up to $500 for damage or theft of personal belongings in your car.

Over 70% of Australians never received anything back after their vehicle or belongings were stolen. 

More than 40% of respondents who had their car stolen also had it returned. According to the NMVTRC, the majority of thefts are stolen for short-term purposes and are opportunistic in nature. These types of activities may include joyriding, temporary transportation or the car may be used to commit another crime. This has led to 80% of stolen cars being recovered by the police and the other 20% disappearing [1].

Ongoing advancements in car security have meant that thieves can no longer hotwire cars made after the 1990s. Modern cars have ignition immobilisers that prevent the engine from starting unless it’s started using the correct key. 

In 2021 nearly 90% of passenger and light commercial vehicles were stolen also had an Australian Standard immobiliser [1] leading us to believe that these cars were stolen using spare keys from the car owner’s homes, through carjacking or using keys that were lost or dropped in public.    

We found that over 40% of cars were stolen by thieves who gained entry by breaking a car window or door. Thieves are known to sneak into homes by taking advantage of unlocked doors and windows and stealing cars from driveways, carports and garages. [2]