Price comparison website moneysupermarket.com has found Birmingham West is the UK’s hotspot capital for car and taxi theft, according to recent data released.
The research shows that 61,743 vehicles were stolen over the last 2 years. Theft rates dropped by amost 15% in 2020 (28,500) while most of us were at home and able to see our cars due to Coronavirus, compared with 2019 (33,300).
The data was sourced through a Freedom of Information request (FOI) to police all across the UK throughout May 2021 and is built from 26 responses, spanning data from 2019 and 2020.
According to These Figures, Based On the Responses, The Top 10 Car Theft Hotspots Are:
Overall, the West Midlands were victims to the most crime (11,506) over the last 2 years. However, it is Birmingham West that sits on top for the total number of crimes, despite thefts in 2020 dropping by nearly 21% compared to 2019.
While theft rates in Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham East also fell last year, Doncaster actually saw thefts increase by a staggering 8%.
When we examined closer, the vehicle theft rates across the UK, further analysis indicated an annual rise in keyless car theft, which now accounts for 93% of all the recorded thefts from last year. The most stolen vehicles include the Land Rover and Range Rover series, especially the Range Rover Sport, and Range Rover Autobiography. The Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery follow. In 2020 moneysupermarket.com saw a rise in enquiries for the Evoque by 12% when compared with 2019, whilst the Range Rover Sport saw an increase of 10%, and the Discovery at 8%.
Daniel Huston, Head of Insurance at moneysupermarket.com, said: “There are practices you can put in place to help to reduce the chance of your vehicle being stolen, but unfortunately nothing can keep your car 100% safe and secure. Therefore, you need to ensure you have a good insurance policy that covers you for theft, so you don’t end up losing out financially, if you become a victim of crime.”