Data

The street, driveway, or public car parks? Where cars are stolen from most in Victoria

Nicola Dowse

Posted March 16, 2023

More than one in four car thefts happened in one common location. Do you know where your car is most at risk? These are locations where cars are stolen from the most in Victoria.

In the year to September 2022, there were 15,307 motor vehicle thefts were recorded across Victoria according to the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA). While car theft is nothing to celebrate, it is good news that 2022's numbers are only a slight increase on 2021 (15,064) and are a far cry from 2017’s peak of 19,380 vehicle thefts.

While vehicle theft can happen anywhere, data shows that just as some cars are more-commonly stolen than others, some locations are also more likely to have a car stolen from.

These are the most-often locations in which cars are being stolen from. 

Where are cars most often stolen from?

Data from the CSA is sourced from Victoria Police and breaks down the location of motor vehicle theft into three main categories: residential, community and ‘other’. 

Residential locations such as houses, apartments and hotels were the locations where almost half of all vehicles were stolen in 2022 (48.7 per cent) with a total of 7,456 thefts reported.  

Bambi Gordon, CEO for Neighbourhood Watch Victoria, says this result is unsurprising. “I believe it is because these are the locations that cars are at night – few prying eyes, less likely to hear an engine starting up,” she says. “More cars are stolen at night-time than during the day.”

Community locations are the next most likely place for a vehicle to be reported stolen from, with 5,944 reports in 2022 – 38.8 per cent of all motor vehicle thefts in 2022. These locations include parks, streets, hospitals, car parks, schools, public transport locations and religious buildings.  

Retail and business locations like shopping centres, offices, service stations, cinemas and factories reported the least number of vehicle thefts for 2022, with 1,907 thefts recorded.

table detailing the where vehicles were stolen from the most in 2022

Combined residential locations are the most common location vehicles are stolen from.

Residential vehicle theft locations

One of the most common locations for vehicles to be stolen from is one of the places you should feel your vehicle is safest.  

Houses were the most common residential location for motor theft in 2022, with 3,285 vehicles stolen, followed by apartments, units and flats with 483 recorded thefts. Vehicles were also stolen from farmhouses 48 times in 2022, demonstrating the importance of security on farms. 

Where specific location data for the residential location was provided, driveways and carports were one of the most common specific locations vehicles were stolen from, with 1,745 vehicles stolen in 2022. Front yards (465 thefts), multi dwelling carparks (513), garages (288), sheds (172) and backyards (119) were also commonly recorded theft locations 

There are steps you can take to minimise the risk of vehicle theft at home, including reducing the potential for opportunistic crimes says Gordon.

“Parking in a locked garage or at least behind a locked gate takes away the opportunity for an offender to quickly jump into and steal the car,” she says.  

Other ways to reduce at-home vehicle theft include installing sensor lights and security cameras, ensuring garage access points are highly visible, and never letting an unfamiliar car follow you into a communal garage. 

 

A residential street in Melbourne with cars parked out the front

Cars parked on the street are at high risk of motor vehicle theft but there are ways to minimise the danger. Image: Getty

 

Vehicle theft locations in the community

While community thefts overall might be less common than residential, there’s one specific location that records more vehicle thefts than even houses.  

In 2022, 4,379 vehicles were reported as being stolen from the street or footpath, making up the overwhelming majority of vehicle thefts recorded in community locations.  

The latest figures do represent the lowest number of motor thefts recorded on the street since 2015 and is a marked drop on the peak of 5,661 in 2017. 

Data suggests that the risk is alleviated slightly by parking in a car park, with 822 vehicles reported stolen from single-level carparks and 182 reported from multi-level carparks in 2022. Railway car parks were also reported as having 141 motor vehicle thefts in the same year, while car parks at beaches recorded 13 for the same year.

Again, the reason for vehicles being stolen from either the street or car park shouldn’t be that surprising, given they’re some of the main locations for motorists to park their vehicles at when out and about. Gordon recommends some simple precautions that can further reduce your risk.

“Remove the temptation of valuables being in sight,” she says. “Ensure that plates have one-way screws fitted – so that the offender can see that if they steal the car, they are going to have a challenge to swap the plates, and fit data dots or something similar to be able to track your car if it is stolen.” 

Parklands (87 thefts) and other open spaces (62) also reported several thefts, and interestingly, three thefts were reported as occurring from a police station.

 

Minimise car theft tips

Follow these tips to help minimise your chances of car theft. 

Other common locations for vehicle theft

When it comes to thefts within the ‘other’ category (largely retail and business), non-specific other retail businesses (264 thefts), car sales yards (215), factories (200), warehouses (159), farmland (118) and service stations (115) are the most likely locations for thefts to occur.  

Shopping complexes recorded 108 vehicle thefts for 2022, while restaurants and fast food outlets reported 73. Sporting areas or facilities recorded 69 thefts and licensed premises 46.  

Vehicle thefts from ‘other’ locations in 2022 were the lowest since 2016.

 

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