Car theft is unfortunately a phenomenon that every country has to put up with. Cars are seen by opportunistic criminals as high value items which they can access and then sell on to make pure profit. Some higher profile valuable cars can be seen by some people as the obvious target but this is often not the case. Other lower value vehicles can also be seen as attractive to the prospective thief as firstly the car might be easier to access with less sophisticated security and secondly a less exclusive car will have parts that will be quite valuable as they will be easier to sell on.

The rate of car theft has fallen quite a bit over the last number of years. The biggest fall has been seen since 2007 probably due to the introduction of more advanced technology in terms of car security. This has made many cars less accessible to car thieves. Some of the statistics covered in the infographic below make for interesting reading in terms of the rate of car theft now compared to a few years ago.

The infographic also looks at the types of vehicle that are most popular with car thieves. This varies between the USA and Europe which is probably due to differing tastes and availability. This statistic shows some interesting results as in the USA as the most popular car to be stolen in 2012 was a Honda Accord, a relatively low value vehicle while in the UK the vehicle stolen the most was a luxury BMW X5.

The infographic also gives some tips on how best to prevent car theft or car break-in happening to you. Some of these tips are quite straightforward but statistics show that thieves are opportunistic and so will look for any chance to gain access to a vehicle to make financial gain. So lock your doors!

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