Both ‘short-term’ and ‘profit-motivated’ thefts of motor vehicles are on the rise again.
Profit-motivated thefts of vehicles rose 7% to 17,578 vehicles, stolen and not recovered, in the 2011-2012 financial year.
At the same time, 42,296 short term thefts were reported – up 5% on the previous year.
For both classes of thefts it was the first increase in the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council’s rolling five-year comparison.
The 42,296 short term thefts reported over the financial year consisted of 88% passenger and light commercial vehicles (PLCs), 8% motorcycles and 4% ‘other’.
The figure, however, still represents a 17% reduction from 2007/08 – when 50,679 vehicles were reported stolen.
Overall, this reflects a reduction of 20% in PLCs and 4% in other vehicle thefts, compared with an increase of 5% in motorcycles stolen and recovered over the past five years.
In spite of the rise in profit-motivated thefts, the body type profile remained relatively unchanged from the previous year, consisting of 66% PLCs, 26% motorcycles and 7% other vehicle types.
The total number of thefts was still down 4% from the 18,401 vehicles stolen not recovered five years ago. In that baseline year the total was made up of 67% PLCs, 26% motorcycles and 6% ‘other vehicle’ types.
This reflects a reduction of 6% in PLCs and 4% in motorcycle thefts, compared with an increase of 16% in ‘other vehicle’ thefts since 2007/08.
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