A few weeks ago, YesAuto ran a great story about the most stolen cars in the UK which revealed the Ford Fiesta as the most nicked motor in 2020.
Figures from the DVLA revealed 3,392 Fiestas were taken without permission, up more than 1,000 on 2019’s stat. At the time we pointed out that the Ford Fiesta has topped the car sales charts for years, with 49,174 sold last year alone, so perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that it was also the most stolen car. However, the Range Rover was the second most stollen car, and it’s definitely not the second best-selling car on the market. This got us thinking, what would the ‘most stolen’ list look like if you accounted for the number of that model that were on the road and produced a most likely to be stolen list?
To recap, here’s the outright chart for most stolen cars in the UK:
Most stolen cars in the UK in 2020
1.Ford Fiesta (3,392)
2.Range Rover (2,881)
3.Volkswagen Golf (1,975)
4.Ford Focus (1,587)
5.BMW 3 Series (1,435)
6.Vauxhall Astra (1,126)
7.Land Rover Discovery (900)
8.Mercedes-Benz E-Class (766)
9.BMW 5 Series (678)
10.Nissan Qashqai (655)
11.Ford Kuga (620)
12.BMW X5 (551)
13.Fiat 500 (358)
14.Mercedes GLC (342)
15.Audi A6 (268)
If you’re the owner of one of these cars, a potential buyer, or even an insurer, then a more useful figure would be a ‘likelihood of being nicked’ number. Probability, if you like.
To get to this it’s back to the DVLA’s vault of car stats to find the total number of each model currently on UK roads. Take the number stolen and divide it by the total and you have your answer in the form of a ratio. For example, 1 in every 451 Ford Fiestas were stolen in 2020.
As the chart shows, the Fiesta then becomes the ninth most stolen car and the Range Rover climbs one place to top spot with 1 in every 146 nicked in 2020. And at this number, it’s three times more likely to be stolen than the Fiesta.
Organising the list this way also reveals two clear trends.
Firstly, thieves like an SUV. The top four most stolen cars in this list are large off-roaders; the Range Rover, BMW’s X5, Mercedes’ GLC and the Land Rover Discovery.
The second point to take away is that premium brands are far more likely to be stolen than more mundane brands. Not only do classier makes occupy the top seven places in this table, but more than half of this top 15 are from premium brands.
The premise of looking at the numbers this way may be to create a level playing field so that you can compare the likelihood of a particular car being stolen, however, there is one more trend.
The cars in this list are also all pretty big sellers. Part of this is because we’re selecting from the 15 most stolen, but that’s the point. If there are lots of a certain type of car it makes them easier to clone and also easier to gain experience stealing. There are plenty of Volkswagen Golfs around, so if a thief knows how to break into them, then they’ve got plenty to choose from rather than working out how to break into something different.
Keyword: Which cars are most likely to be stolen?