A Freedom of Information request has revealed the cities where your car is most likely to be stolen.
Taking London out of the equation, Manchester tops the table, with 50.66 crimes per 1,000 vehicles. Of the 178,400 registered vehicles in the city, 9,037 were targeted in some way.
The data was sourced from Freedom of Information requests made to the police constabularies of the UK’s 30 most populated towns and cities. Crimes were committed between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019.
Although Birmingham doesn’t make the top 10, the city has the most overall car crimes in the UK. There were 14,758 car crimes during the period, but there are far more vehicles on the road in Birmingham, so the crimes per 1,000 vehicles figure is lower.
Nottingham, Bradford, Wolverhampton and Northampton complete the top five, but there’s better news elsewhere in the country.
Just 395 car crimes took place in 12 months in Luton – 10 times less than hotspot cities such as Liverpool and Bristol. The Bedfordshire town is named alongside Plymouth and Belfast as the safest places to own a car.
Top 10 UK car crime hotspots
| City | Crimes per 1,000 vehicles |
| 1. Manchester | 50.66 |
| 2. Nottingham | 29.51 |
| 3. Bradford | 27.59 |
| 4. Wolverhampton | 27.07 |
| 5. Northampton | 25.97 |
| 6. Liverpool | 25.95 |
| 7. Bolton | 24.86 |
| 8. Coventry | 22.24 |
| 9. Kingston upon Hull | 22.13 |
| 10. Leicester | 21.74 |
Perhaps predictably, the capital sees more car crime than anywhere else in the UK. The worst hit areas are in the centre of London, with Westminster, Hackney and Tower Hamlets topping the table. It’s worth remembering that the figures relate to all motor vehicles, including motorcycles and light vans.
Top 10 London car crime hotspots
| Borough | Crimes per 1,000 vehicles |
| 1. Westminster | 78.20 |
| 2. Hackney | 74.31 |
| 3. Tower Hamlets | 70.17 |
| 4. Haringey | 69.01 |
| 5. Camden | 68.34 |
| 6. Enfield | 66.10 |
| 7. Havering | 65.64 |
| 8. Kensington & Chelsea | 64.75 |
| 9. Newham | 62.06 |
| 10. Southwark | 59.18 |
The data was collated by ChooseMyCar. You can view the full results of the research here.
How can Nottingham be 2nd and 5th in the list?
Quite so – it should be Northampton! Thanks Tony – we’ve updated.