Majority of car thefts happen at home

Over half of motor vehicle thefts and three-quarters of thefts from a motor vehicle took place at a home in 2022-23, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).  

William Milne, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said: “An estimated 55,000 households had a motor vehicle stolen in the last 12 months, with 59 per cent saying that the incident happened at their own or another person’s home. 

“Eighty-six per cent of households reported their motor vehicle theft to police, which was the highest police reporting rate of all crime types collected in the survey.”

In 2022-23, about 220,000 households had items stolen from a motor vehicle.

“Seventy-three per cent of these households said that their motor vehicle was at home at the time of the incident and around half the households reported the incident to police,” said Mr Milne.

Items most often stolen during theft from a motor vehicle included money, a purse or wallet (43 per cent) and personal items like jewellery, clothing and keys (36 per cent). 

The survey found that similar types of items were also taken during household break-ins. 

“Around 185,000 households were broken into last year, of which 69 per cent had something stolen during the incident,” said Mr Milne.

The report found that for all household crimes, the prevalence and police reporting rates has remained stable since the survey was last run in 2021-22. 

The Crime Victimisation Survey covers a selected range of personal and household crimes. It includes the socio-demographic characteristics of victims, whether the most recent incident was reported to police, and other characteristics of the most recent incident.

More information about the 2022-23 survey results can be found in Crime Victimisation, Australia.