Car thefts and car break-ins in the UK from 2019 to present

FOI reference: FOI-2025-2932

You asked

I’m hoping you can help me find the following data on car thefts and car break-ins in the UK from 2019 to present day:

1. How many car thefts were reported each year since 2019 (past 5 years)

2. How may car break-ins (without theft the car itself) were report each year since 2019 (past 5 years)

3. 10 most common car makes and/or models reported stolen to the police since 2019 to present

4. Total number of car thefts reported split by 12 government regions in 2024 only (to show highest/lowest regions for car theft reports last year).

If there is any further location data available to identify city hotspots for theft within the regions – please could I have this too?

We said

Thank you for your query. 

We produce statistics from two main data sources, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and Police Recorded Crime (PRC). Our publications and data concern crime as it is experienced by victims, or as it is recorded by the police across England and Wales. 

For crime statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland, you would need to contact Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency directly. They can be contacted at Justice_Analysts@gov.scot for Scotland, and statistics.research@justice-ni.x.gsi.gov.uk for Northern Ireland.  

Estimates of vehicle-related theft, including theft of and theft from a motor vehicle from the CSEW can be found in Table A1 of the appendix tables released on a quarterly basis, and provide estimates going back to the year ending December 1981. Police recorded vehicle offences are also available in Table A5a and go back to the year ending March 2003. Currently, the latest available data is for the year ending December 2024, however we will be releasing estimates up to the year ending March 2025 on 24 July 2025 at 9:30am. 

We publish more detailed CSEW data in our Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft tables, which may also be of interest. These present information on when incidents happened, where they took place, and what items were stolen or damaged during the incident. 

We provide police recorded crime data at Police Force Area (PFA) and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) levels, published on a quarterly basis. Vehicle offences by PFA can be found in Table P1 of the Police Force Area tables, and the CSP level can be found in Table C2. However, please note that these tables only include the overall headline offence, and not breakdowns of theft of or theft from a vehicle.  

Unfortunately, we do not collect the details regarding the type, make or model of a vehicle for CSEW and we do not have this for police recorded data. The Home Office may be able to assist further regarding any queries related to police recorded crime, and they can be contacted at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.