Car thefts know no stop in Italy. After the decline in 2020, also thanks to the continuous lockdown and deployment of law enforcement agencies on the territory, in 2021 the stolen cars started to grow again with 104,000 thefts. In order, Campania, Lazio, Puglia, Sicily and Lombardy are the areas most at risk; one in four theft takes place in Campania, Lazio is the region where thieves are more able to lose track of stolen vehicles. It is therefore important to know all the tips on how not to get your car stolen.
Car, motorcycle, truck theft 2021
Overall, the thefts reported in 2021 were 104,372, with a recovery rate of 37%. In detail, stolen cars reached 69,843 units (37% recovered), vans stolen were 5,268 (46% recovered, motor vehicles 26,707 (36% recovered) and 2,194 heavy vehicles (31% recovered). These are the main trends that emerge from the “Dossier on Vehicle Theft”, prepared by LoJack Italia, a company specializing in telematic solutions for the Automotive and in the recovery of stolen vehicles. which collected and analyzed the data provided by the Ministry of the Interior on 2021 and integrated with those coming from national and international elaborations and reports on the phenomenon. After the significant retreat of the phenomenon in 2020 (the year of the lockdown and in which the restrictions on free movement due to the pandemic were felt more strongly), last year vehicle thefts began to grow again, albeit slightly (+ 2%): from a total of 102,708 cases in 2020 to 104,372.
How not to get your car stolen in the summer: 6 useful tips
In view of the summer and in light of the resumption of the theft trend, LoJack provides six useful tips to avoid being a victim of what, after home burglary, remains one of the most difficult traumas for Italians to overcome: 1) Non distr star – Do not leave the car on and with the keys inserted, even for a few seconds (for example while in a double row), they could be decisive for theft. 2)Beware of the heat – Before leaving the car, make sure the windows are closed tightly. Even a small opening can prove to be fatal. 3)Beware of parking – Do not leave your car in isolated or unattended parking lots and carefully observe the place where you leave the car. Do not always park in the same place, habits allow the thief to better organize the theft. If you don’t use your car every day, make sure it is parked where you left it. Reporting any theft promptly increases the chance of finding it again. 4) Be careful when you leave your car at the motorway restaurant or at the shopping center – When locking the car remotely using a smart key, always manually check that the doors have been closed. A thief could disturb the signal with a jammer and then enter the vehicle undisturbed and take advantage of the stop. 5) Never leave your PC or tablet in the car – Thefts of digital devices left unwisely in the car are more and more frequent. The thief does not need to see the owner of a vehicle with his own eyes and leave the PC in the trunk, he can easily choose his prey thanks to specific APPs for mobile phones that receive the Bluetooth signals emitted by many devices even when they are apparently inactive, signaling their position. 6)Protect your car with an anti-theft system or recovery system – A mechanical alarm represents a slowdown in the activities of the thief and can lead him to prefer the removal of an unprotected car, but a hi-tech and unshieldable recovery system makes rapid recovery of the vehicle very likely.
Suvs and motorcycles: the most stolen
After the significant retreat of the phenomenon in 2020 (the year of the lockdown and in which the restrictions on free movement due to the pandemic were felt more strongly), last year vehicle thefts started to grow again, albeit slightly (+ 2%): from a total of 102,708 cases in 2020 to 104,372.The growth of the phenomenon concerned in particular the car / suv and motorcycle / scooter categories and instead saved heavy vehicles and vans. What is worrying, in fact, in addition to the reversal of the trend recorded last year, is also the confirmation of the difficulties encountered in the recovery of stolen vehicles with the percentage of recoveries that in 2021 dropped to 37%: almost two out of three stolen vehicles disappear in the nothing. The annual analysis carried out by LoJack in this edition, in addition to providing an overall overview of the thefts of all motor vehicles, reports a new interesting data (surveyed by the Ministry of the Interior) concerning the type of crimes committed to steal a vehicle: in 97% of the cases behind this crime there is a break-in of the vehicle with theft while it is parked at a safe distance from the rightful owner; in just under 3% of cases it is an embezzlement, most likely perpetrated to the detriment of a company that unknowingly granted it to a criminal; and in less than 1% of cases the vehicle was stolen following a robbery or other crime.
Stolen cars: Campania and Lazio the most affected
Particularly significant is the growth recorded in Campania (+ 7%) which thus consolidates the primacy of the area at greatest risk of theft, with almost 27,500 victims in one year. In this region, which for years has held an undisputed record, 75 vehicles are stolen every day. At a certain distance, Lazio follows with 18,215 vehicles stolen in 2021 and another record: that for the lowest recovery rate at the national level. In this region only 30% (vs 37% nationally) of the stolen vehicles are returned to the rightful owner. To complete the quintet of the “red stamp” areas there are Puglia (14,498 thefts), Sicily (13,180) and Lombardy (11,636). The latter is fifth in the ranking for car thefts, but is definitely in the top positions for that of SUVs. Most stolen cars and vans The new growth in thefts has not substantially affected the ranking of cars preferred by thieves, with the first four positions remaining unchanged compared to 2020: the Fiat Panda always leads with 8,816 subtraction (over 1 car stolen out of 10 is Panda), followed by the Fiat 500 (6,743 stolen models), the Fiat Punto (5,292) and the Lancia Ypsilon (2,979). The Smart ForTwo Coupè (1.389) has risen by one place, displacing the Volkswagen Golf (1.381) from 5th place, while the ranking of the most attentive cars is completed by Renault Clio (1.284), Fiesta (1.059) and Opel CORSA (824) ) In total, these 10 models represent 44% of the car theft phenomenon in Italy. The thefts of vans, unlike cars, have suffered a contraction of 9%, reaching an altitude of 5,600 episodes. The phenomenon recorded a strong concentration on 4 territories: in the order Lombardy (1,213 thefts), Campania (880), Lazio (819) and Puglia (753).