MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT AND THEFT FROM A MOTOR VEHICLE^{Endnote 1}

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

What is motor vehicle theft?

In this survey, motor vehicle theft is defined as an incident where a motor vehicle was stolen from any member of the household. This includes:

• cars, utilities, motorcycles (including motorised scooters), buses, trucks and motor homes
• privately owned vehicles and business/employer/company owned vehicles only if the vehicle was used exclusively by members of the household.
  

Motor vehicle theft excludes boats, trailers and company vehicles not used exclusively by household members.

For the purposes of this survey, motor vehicle theft incidents are considered to be household crimes rather than a crime against an individual person.

Prevalence and reporting rate for 2012-13 (see Data cube 1, Table 1)

An estimated 57,200 households (0.6% of all households) were victims of motor vehicle theft in the 12 months prior to interview in 2012-13. Over 9 in 10 households (93%) that were victims of motor vehicle theft reported the most recent incident to police.

Characteristics of motor vehicle theft incidents (see Data cube 4, Table 19)

This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for households that were victims of motor vehicle theft in the 12 months prior to interview.

In the most recent incident of motor vehicle theft experienced by households, the most common location for motor vehicle theft to occur was the victim's home or another person's home (47% or 26,600 households), followed by in the street or other open land (38% or 21,800 households).

THEFT FROM A MOTOR VEHICLE

What is theft from a motor vehicle?

In this survey, theft from a motor vehicle is defined as the theft of property owned by any member of the household from a motor vehicle owned (for private use) by any member of that household. It excludes:

• property stolen that belonged to someone not living in the household (e.g. a friend or other relative)
• property owned by a business or employer (e.g. a computer, mobile phone or work tools)
• property stolen from commercial vehicles (this includes a self-employed business operator whose vehicle is mainly used for work purposes)
• any break-in into a motor vehicle if nothing was stolen.

Prevalence and reporting rate for 2012-13 (see Data cube 1, Table 1)

During the 12 months prior to interview, an estimated 276,200 households (3.1% of all households) were victims of theft from a motor vehicle. Just over half of all households (55%) that were victims of theft from a motor vehicle reported the most recent incident to police.

Characteristics of theft from a motor vehicle incidents (see Data cube 4, Table 20)

This section discusses characteristics of the most recent incident for households that were victims of theft from a motor vehicle in the 12 months prior to interview.

In the most recent incident of theft from a motor vehicle experienced by households:

• the most common type of property stolen was money (31% or 85,800 households) followed by other personal items (24% or 66,500 households)
• the most common location for the occurrence of theft from a motor vehicle was the victim's home (61% or 169,400 households), followed by in the street or other open land (12% or 31,900 households)
• where the incident was not reported to police, the main reason given was:
  • the incident was considered too trivial/unimportant (26% or 72,300 households)
  • it was believed there was nothing the police could do (11% or 29,800 households).

ENDNOTE

1 All comparisons discussed have been tested for statistical significance with a 95% level of confidence that there is a real difference between the two populations being tested. Only data with a relative standard error (RSE) of less than 25% is referred to in the text of this publication. For further information, refer to the Technical Note.