In Spain, 30,917 vehicles were stolen last year, an average of 85 cars every day, or what is the same, 3.5 every hour. Thieves take advantage of any opportunity, both at night and in broad daylight, to steal or try to loot all types of vehicles. The illegal second-hand spare parts market has become a very prosperous business for criminals, which is why not only luxury cars are the most desired by thieves, but also those that already have many kilometers on their wheels.
In 2022, for the third consecutive year, the most stolen cars in our country are models with a long history on the market. The Seat Ibiza, the Seat León and the Volkswagen Golf were the models preferred by thieves, according to a report prepared by the HelloSafe insurance comparator.
The interest of criminals in these three best-selling passenger cars from the Volkswagen Group is due to the fact that the parts for these cars are the most in demand in the circuits for the illegal sale of spare parts. This is how the Unespa insurance employers maintain it, adding that this material often ends up in countries in North Africa, such as Morocco and Algeria, and in Eastern Europe.
The map of car thefts in Spain paints an asymmetrical picture with notable differences between autonomous communities. The four most populated regions – Andalusia (8.5 million inhabitants), Catalonia (7.7 million), Madrid (6.7 million) and the Valencian Community (5.09 million) – top the list of communities where they were perpetrated. More vehicle thefts.
According to data published in the Ministry of the Interior’s Crime Statistical Portal, Madrid (7,450 stolen vehicles), Catalonia (7,425) and Andalusia (5,625) lead the list of regions with the highest incidence of this crime in 2022. They are followed by the Community Valenciana with 3,205 stolen cars. Vehicle thefts increased in the four communities, especially in Levantina with 28.7 percent more cases compared to the previous year.
In contrast, the three least populated communities, La Rioja (0.3 million inhabitants), Cantabria (0.5 million) and Navarra (0.6 million), were the ones that suffered the least vehicle thefts. Only in Navarra the number of this type of crime exceeds one hundred copies (147) while they do not reach that figure in La Rioja (98) and Cantabria (90). In Ceuta (107) and Melilla (80), the number of car thefts is high compared to the population, both around 80,000 inhabitants.
The increase in the number of thefts, which has gone from 26,417 in 2021 to 30,982 in 2022, is general throughout Spain. The only exceptions are Cantabria and Asturias, where there was a decrease in this type of crime of 35.7% and 3.9%, respectively. The greatest increases were registered in the autonomous city of Melilla, 128.6% (from 35 to 80) and in the Balearic Islands, 46.3% (from 1,073 to 1,570).
For years, manufacturers have reinforced the security of vehicles by incorporating sophisticated anti-theft systems that make them less vulnerable to the methods most used by thieves to steal cars. Most of the newer models incorporate alarms, GPS tracking systems and locking devices.
Even so, it cannot be said that the best equipped vehicles from this point of view are safer than the rest. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to open and unlock cars. Jammers, for example, intercept the remote control signal and give them free rein to enter cars since the doors don’t close as they should.
A trick to make sure that the car doors have been closed correctly is to check if, after activating the remote control, the turn signal light blinks once. The National Police advises it in a publication on its social networks, where it also indicates that this verification can also be carried out manually by operating the car’s levers.
