Secure Driveways Research
Where Are Cars Actually Most Likely to Be Stolen?
New analysis of official crime data shows that around two-thirds of stolen vehicles are taken from locations at or around the victim's home.
- Analysis of ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales data
- Year ending March 2025
- Last updated September 2026
66.9%
of vehicle thefts happened at or around the victim's home
Theft of vehicles · Table 2b
75.3%
of vehicle thefts happened during the evening or night
Theft of vehicles · Table 1b
74.4%
of stolen vehicles were not returned to their owner among surveyed incidents
Theft of vehicles · Table 4
£16,000
median reported value of a stolen vehicle
Theft of vehicles · Table 7a
Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2025.
Some detailed estimates are based on relatively small survey samples and should be interpreted with caution.
Theft of vehicles
Two Thirds of Stolen Vehicles Are Taken From Around the Victim’s Home
The ONS records where each incident happened. Taking the three home categories together, 66.9% of theft of vehicle incidents happened at or around the victim’s home. The ONS data does not record whether the vehicle was on a driveway, so these figures describe theft at or around the home rather than driveway theft. Individual categories are rounded, so they do not always sum exactly to the published total.
Select or hover a bar for the ONS definition. All figures are listed in the table below.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Home - semi-private | 37.3% | Table 2b |
| Home - street | 16.1% | Table 2b |
| Home - private | 13.6% | Table 2b |
| Work - car park | 8.9% | Table 2b |
| Other - car park | 8.7% | Table 2b |
| Other - street | 7.0% | Table 2b |
| Other - other | 6.5% | Table 2b |
| Work - street | 2.1% | Table 2b |
Home – private
13.6%
Home – semi-private
37.3%
Home – street
16.1%
66.9% of vehicle thefts happened at or around home
All vehicle-related theft
Vehicle Related Theft Is Even More Concentrated Around the Home
Vehicle-related theft is the broader ONS category. It includes theft from vehicles and attempted theft as well as vehicles being stolen, so these percentages do not describe complete vehicles being taken.
Individual categories are rounded, so they do not always sum exactly to the published total.
Select or hover a bar for the ONS definition. All figures are listed in the table below.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Home - semi-private | 37.0% | Table 2a |
| Home - street | 35.9% | Table 2a |
| Other - street | 6.8% | Table 2a |
| Other - car park | 6.2% | Table 2a |
| Home - private | 5.9% | Table 2a |
| Other - other | 5.0% | Table 2a |
| Work - car park | 2.7% | Table 2a |
| Work - street | 0.5% | Table 2a |
Theft of vehicles
When Are Cars Most Likely to Be Stolen?
These figures relate specifically to theft of vehicles.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Morning / afternoon | 24.7% | Table 1b |
| Evening / night | 75.3% | Table 1b |
All vehicle-related theft
Almost Half of Vehicle Related Theft Happens Between Midnight and 6am
- 00:00 – 06:00Night49.8%
- 06:00 – 12:00Morning6.2%
- 12:00 – 18:00Afternoon10.4%
- 18:00 – 00:00Evening20.7%
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Night | 49.8% | Table 1a |
| Morning | 6.2% | Table 1a |
| Afternoon | 10.4% | Table 1a |
| Evening | 20.7% | Table 1a |
These figures relate to the broader category of vehicle-related theft. The ONS also publishes categories for incidents where the respondent could identify a broad period but not a precise one, so these four percentages should not be expected to total 100%.
All vehicle-related theft
Nearly 8 in 10 Vehicle Related Theft Incidents Happen in Darkness
- Darkness77.9%
- Daylight19.1%
- Dawn / dusk3.0%
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Darkness | 77.9% | Table 1a |
| Daylight | 19.1% | Table 1a |
| Dawn / dusk | 3.0% | Table 1a |
Theft of vehicles
Does Vehicle Theft Happen More at the Weekend?
- During the week — 61.8%Monday 6am to Friday 6pm.
- At the weekend — 38.2%Friday 6pm to Monday 6am.
The ONS weekend definition runs from Friday 6pm until Monday 6am. The two periods contain different numbers of hours, so these percentages cannot be used to work out whether a vehicle is more likely to be stolen on any particular day without data on how many vehicles are exposed during each period.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| During the week | 61.8% | Table 1b |
| At the weekend | 38.2% | Table 1b |
Theft of vehicles
How Are Thieves Getting Into Vehicles?
The categories below use the ONS wording exactly. “Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device” is the ONS category and is not the same as, and should not be described as, relay theft.
Select or hover a bar for the ONS definition. All figures are listed in the table below.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Offender manipulated signal from remote locking device | 46.7% | Table 3b |
| Offender used a key / electric fob | 16.7% | Table 3b |
| Offender forced lock / tried to | 16.6% | Table 3b |
| Door was not locked | 14.5% | Table 3b |
| Offender broke window / tried to | 8.0% | Table 3b |
| Other | 6.3% | Table 3b |
Theft of vehicles
What Happens After a Car Is Stolen?
- Not returned — 74.4%
- Returned — 25.6%
Among respondents in the survey whose vehicle was stolen, around three quarters reported that the vehicle had not been returned.
Caution: This estimate is based on a relatively small underlying survey sample and should be interpreted cautiously.
| Category | Percentage of incidents | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Not returned to owner | 74.4% | Table 4 |
| Returned to owner | 25.6% | Table 4 |
Theft of vehicles
The Reported Value of Stolen Cars Has Risen Sharply
2014/15
£2,500
Median reported value
Mean reported value: £4,494
2024/25
£16,000
Median reported value
Mean reported value: £19,387
6.4×The latest median reported value is 6.4× the 2014/15 figure
57.7% of stolen vehicles in the latest survey were reported as being worth £15,000 or more.
Caution: These value estimates are based on relatively small underlying survey samples and should be interpreted with caution.
| Category | Reported value | ONS table |
|---|---|---|
| Median reported value 2014/15 | £2,500 | Table 7a |
| Mean reported value 2014/15 | £4,494 | Table 7a |
| Median reported value 2024/25 | £16,000 | Table 7a |
| Mean reported value 2024/25 | £19,387 | Table 7a |
| Reported value of £15,000 or more | 57.7% | Table 7a |
Is Your Car Safer on a Driveway?
The data doesn't allow us to answer this question as simply as it might first appear.
The Crime Survey shows that a substantial proportion of vehicle theft happens at or around people's homes, but it doesn't provide enough information to calculate a reliable theft risk for an individual driveway compared with every alternative parking location.
For example, we would need to know how many vehicles are normally parked in each type of location to calculate a true risk rate.
It would therefore be misleading to say that a car is a particular percentage more or less likely to be stolen simply because it is parked on a driveway.
What the data does demonstrate is that parking at home doesn't eliminate vehicle theft risk.
Two-thirds of surveyed vehicle theft incidents occurred at or around the victim's home, and three-quarters occurred during the evening or night.
What Secure Driveways Says
One of the most interesting findings is how much vehicle theft happens around people's homes.
It's easy to associate car theft with public car parks or leaving a vehicle somewhere unfamiliar, but the data shows that home security is an important part of the picture too.
No security measure can guarantee that a vehicle won't be stolen, but homeowners can make it more difficult for a thief by using layered security and thinking about both the vehicle itself and how easily it can be removed from the property.
How We Analysed the Data
Secure Driveways analysed the Office for National Statistics Nature of Crime: vehicle-related theft dataset for the year ending March 2025.
The dataset was released on 26 March 2026.
The figures come from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
The Crime Survey measures people's experiences of crime and differs from police recorded crime.
Throughout this article we distinguish between theft of vehicles (incidents in which a vehicle itself was stolen) and vehicle-related theft (the broader ONS category, which also includes theft from vehicles and attempted theft of and from vehicles). The two are not interchangeable and each chart states which category it uses.
Percentages are taken directly from the relevant ONS tables and are not recalculated, except where individual location categories are added together, which is stated on the page.
Some detailed estimates have relatively small unweighted sample sizes. Where this is the case a caution notice is displayed alongside the figures.
Source
- Publisher
- Office for National Statistics
- Dataset
- Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft
- Period
- Year ending March 2025
- Released
- 26 March 2026