Figure 1: Vehicle theft in Australia, Jan 2001 - December 2005

Australia recorded 78,604 motor vehicle thefts in 2005.  This represents a decrease of 8 per cent over the previous year.

Despite the success of theft reduction reforms being pursued by the Council and its stakeholders, vehicle theft remains a significant social and economic issue.

Most vehicles stolen in Australia are subsequently recovered, usually with substantial mechanical and body damage. This highlights the influence of opportunistic theft — theft of older vehicles for a short term use such as joyriding, to aid another crime or simply for transport — on the nation’s high theft numbers. The overall recovery rate is around 74 per cent. Almost half of recovered vehicles are found within one day; four out of five are recovered within a week.

Vehicles aged ten years or older account for 7 out of every ten thefts but only around 40 per cent of Australia’s vehicle fleet. These vehicles are desirable to opportunists because they tend to lack adequate security. Advances in security technology over the last ten years have provided a much greater level of protection against theft for newer model vehicles and as a result these are stolen in much lower numbers. Taking advantage of owner carelessness, key theft and, in a small number of cases, burglary or violence to access keys have become the most common methods of stealing immobilised cars.

In 2005, passenger / light commercial vehicles protected by an Australian Standards compliant immobiliser were stolen at a rate of only one in every 450 vehicles with the risk almost doubling to one in every 240 for vehicles with a non-complying device. The rate of theft was significantly higher for non-immobilised vehicles at one theft for every 120 registered vehicle.

Figure 2: Percentage of total thefts and registrations by immobiliser type, passenger and light commercial (PLC) vehicles, Australia, 2005

The annual cost of vehicle theft in Australia is estimated to be around $1 billion with much of the cost incurred by insurers and by motorists through their insurance premiums. Based on an annual sample of 28,650 finalised vehicle theft claims, the average claim cost was $9,220. The average claim cost for an agreed value policy was much higher at $11,650.

Figure 3: Passenger & light commercial vehicle thefts and average claim costs by vehicle year, 2005

Older vehicles account for the largest volume of vehicle theft however it is newer model vehicles that account for the highest proportion of insurance costs.

Table 1: State and territory snapshot, 2005

For updated statistics, refer to the quarterly Theft Watch newsletters in the publications section of this website or Quickstats.