Car theft risk checker: how exposed is your car?
Put in your postcode and your car and the checker scores your theft risk out of 100. It reads the most recent police.uk vehicle-crime figures for the streets around you, adds what DVLA records show about how often thieves take your make and model, and weighs up how the car is kept. You get the score, what is driving it and a dual layer protection plan to bring it down.
How the score is worked out
The score adds five parts. Each one rests on published figures or on long-standing police and insurer advice, and nothing is hidden. It is an indicator to help you decide what to fit, not a prediction and not an insurance rating.
| Part | Points | What it uses |
|---|---|---|
| Crime near you | up to 50 | Police.uk vehicle crime within a mile of your postcode, averaged over July 2026 to September 2026, ranked against the Great Britain sample. |
| Your make and model | up to 25 | DVLA counts of cars reported stolen in 2025: the 20 most stolen models score highest, then the 20 most stolen makes. |
| Keys | up to 8 | Keyless entry and push-button start add points, because police forces name keyless cars as a common target. |
| Parking | up to 7 | On-street parking scores highest and a locked garage lowest. |
| Security fitted | up to 10 | Full points with nothing extra fitted, half with one layer, none with a tracker and an immobiliser together. |
Bands: under 35 is lower, 35 to 54 moderate, 55 to 74 high and 75 or more very high.
Where the figures come from
Your local figure is compared with 400 randomly chosen postcodes across Great Britain, checked the same way for July 2026 to September 2026. A typical postcode had 2.7 vehicle crimes a month within a mile; one in ten had more than 37.8.
- Police.uk street-level crime. The "vehicle crime" category counts theft of a vehicle, theft from a vehicle and interfering with one. Police.uk moves each crime to a nearby anonymous map point, so the one-mile count is a close guide, not an exact street total. Police.uk street-level crime API.
- DVLA stolen-vehicle records. 54,830 vehicles were reported stolen in 2025, down 11% on the 61,343 of the year before. These are raw counts, so very common cars rank high partly because there are so many of them. Released under a Freedom of Information request and published by What Car?.
- Your postcode's map point. Looked up through postcodes.io, which uses the Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
- Greater Manchester. Greater Manchester Police has not sent street-level figures to police.uk since 2019, so postcodes there are scored without the local crime part, and the checker says so.
| # | Model | Reported stolen |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford Fiesta | 3,511 |
| 2 | Volkswagen Golf | 1,625 |
| 3 | Ford Focus | 1,474 |
| 4 | Toyota RAV4 | 1,319 |
| 5 | BMW 3 Series | 1,249 |
| 6 | Nissan Juke | 1,200 |
| 7 | Toyota C-HR | 967 |
| 8 | Lexus NX | 951 |
| 9 | Land Rover Range Rover Evoque | 895 |
| 10 | Vauxhall Corsa | 874 |
Bringing your score down with dual layer protection
The parts you can change are the keys, the parking and above all the security fitted. Dual layer protection means one layer that stops the car being driven away, such as an aftermarket immobiliser or a robust steering lock, and a second layer that gets it back if the first is beaten: a monitored tracker that alerts you and helps police find the car. With both layers in place, the security part of the score drops to zero.
Want to know what fits your car? Read our guides to aftermarket immobilisers and S5 and S7 trackers, see how cars are being taken right now on our theft method watch, or look up vehicle crime in your town.
Get a price for both layers on your car
Send your details and we come back with our best fitted price. Your checker answers are added for you, so there is nothing to type twice. Fitting is by TASSA and Autowatch approved installers across England, Scotland and Wales.
Theft risk questions
Is my postcode or car stored when I use the checker?
No. Your postcode is used once to look up its map point and the police.uk figures around it, and is not saved. Your car and answers never leave your browser unless you choose to send the quote form.
Why does my area score high when I have never had a problem?
The local part counts every police-recorded vehicle crime within a mile, including break-ins and theft from cars, across three months. Busy town centres and areas near main roads often score high even on quiet residential streets.
My car is not in the DVLA top 20. Does that mean it is safe?
No. It means fewer of your model were reported stolen in total. Thieves target what they can sell, and a rarer car with keyless entry parked on the street can still score high on the other parts.
Will this score change my insurance?
No. Insurers use their own data. Some ask for an approved tracker on higher-risk cars, and our S5 vs S7 guide explains the difference.
How often is the checker updated?
Every month. A bot reads the newest police.uk release, rebuilds the Great Britain comparison sample and republishes this page, and the DVLA figures are refreshed when the next full year is released.