Motor claims specialist praises police and carmakers as DVLA data shows UK car thefts down
Specialist motor insurance loss adjuster Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA), part of the QuestGates group, has praised the police and carmakers as new Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) figures show UK car thefts down 4.5% and recoveries up 2.3% year-on-year.
Cars stolen and recovered in UK 2023-24
Year | Total Cars Stolen | Total Cars Recovered | % Recovered within 7 days |
2023 | 65,905 | 26,765 | 19.71% |
2024 | 62,980 | 27,015 | 20.27% |
Source: CMA analysis of DVLA data
Philip Swift, a former detective, now technical director at CMA, commented: “For the first time since the pandemic, the annual DVLA stolen vehicle figures contained some much-needed good news for both the public and the UK motor insurance industry. Not only were substantially fewer cars reported stolen overall, 4.45% less than in 2023, the percentage successfully recovered by the police increased, as did the number recovered quickly, within seven days. Considering their stretched resources, the police deserve great credit.”
In terms of the most stolen models, the top three in 2024 were: 1) Ford Fiesta, 2) VW Golf and 3) Ford Focus, with Range Rover thefts well down.
Swift continued: “From an insurance perspective, this is a welcome return to the numbers game; popular models topping the chart simply because there are more of them, rather than certain cars being seen as soft targets. The prestige vehicle manufacturers especially deserve praise. Their latest security upgrades do seem to be working, for now.
“There are some important caveats to all this, not least that the headline figure is likely a significant understatement. The DVLA say 106,000 vehicles were reported stolen in the UK in 2024, including cars, vans, motorcycles and more, while the Office for National Statistics (ONS) say it is 130,000. The difference is due to the data processes, for example, vehicles recovered before being reported stolen might never be added to the DVLA database. Over the coming weeks we will be undertaking more in-depth analysis of the figures.”
CMA has studied vehicle data for the past 30 years, tracking the number of ‘takings’, crime trends and methodologies, the recovery rate and condition if found – all the theft-related factors that have cost implications for insurers, and therefore for motorists in terms of policy pricing.