[Nick]

Motor theft in the UK was down 6% in 2024 but it was still the third highest annual total in the last 10 years - and twice as high as the number in 2015!

The Top 5 hotspots according to the analysis done by ThisIsMoney and MailOnline are:

1: London
2: Birmingham
3: Manchester
4: Leeds
5: Sheffield

You can see the rest of the list in this article, along with details about the areas with the most thefts per 100K registered cars and what are the common ways we are seeing cars being stolen these days.

Have you been affected by car theft in any way?

[Rolebama]

The only car I ever had stolen was back in the 70s. My Humber Sceptre. The only time I did not park it outside my house. One of the neighbours had a kid's birthday party during the day, so when I got home I parked at the lockups at the top of the road. After the party and all the visitor cars were gone, I went to bring it down and found fresh air where it had been. It was never found.

[Drivingforfun]

I don't know if I'm in the minority, but always wondered if anyone else was similar...

If my car was ever stolen, unless it was sentimentally valuable I'm not sure I'd actually want it back. I like to look after my cars and knowing someone'd probably mechanically abused it or done drugs or whatever in it, I think it'd feel "soiled"

Maybe I have OCD or maybe that's rational, I've heard of people moving house after being burgled so maybe it's not weird!

[Nick]

I don't think you're in the minority with that @Drivingforfun - when I worked in insurance the team I ran dealt with a lot of theft claims and very often the owner told us they didn't really want it back if it turned up. A lot of cars would turn up after the claim had been dealt with, in which case it theoretically belonged to the insurer at that point, so they felt ok, but if was before settlement then they're still the rightful owner.

I guess it depends on circumstance - how sentimental you are about the car, what happened with the car when it was stolen, where and how it was found, condition etc...

[Ishi]

My car never get stolen tbh, even i leave it unlocked sometimes. Last time i parked in asda unlocked, the car wasn't stolen but someone stolen my bag from the car, so now i always lock the car,

[Nick]

Definitely not recommended to leave your car unlocked! It's so much easier for opportunist thieves to steal the car itself or something that's in it. but also, if it does get stolen then your insurance wouldn't cover you - you have a duty to safeguard and protect your car, which will be outlined in your terms and conditions somewhere.

When I worked in insurance I ran a team for a while that dealt purely with vehicle thefts and this was a big part of the focus.

[Nick]

Stumbled across this recent article on This Is Money about what happens with the stolen vehicle if it's recovered and how people often wrongly assume they'll be notified if it does turn up - as I mentioned above, if the claim has been paid out by the insurer then are the legal owner of the vehicle, having switched that ownership with DVLA on payment of the claim.

Interesting read:
This is why you haven't been told you're stolen motor has actually been found (Source: thisismoney.co.uk)