Crime is down nearly across the board in America, but car thefts are not. Nearly three-quarters of a million automobiles were stolen in the U.S. across the 2022 calendar year, representing a 20 percent surge from pre-pandemic numbers, according to a new report issued by the FBI. The bureau partially blames this uptick in thefts on the viral TikTok Kia and Hyundai thefts, a phenomenon they refer to as performance crime. Even worse, 2023 doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of reversing that trend, as the Council on Criminal Justice estimates nationwide auto theft rose 33.5 percent in the first half of the year compared to last year.
While we’re largely living in a time of downward trending crime—homicide, burglary, gun assaults, and burglaries are all down year over year—motor vehicle theft is rising sharply. It’s not difficult to see why—and it’s not just TikToks—with car prices continuing to go up, supply chain delays driving up the cost of replacement parts, staggering inflation, and wage stagnation pushing Americans to desperation. Since 2018 car theft has nearly doubled, now counting around 87 cars reported stolen per 100,000 residents.
In certain cities, the trend is even worse. Cleveland, OH. for example, has seen car thefts more than double year over year. In 2022 the city saw 1753 cars stolen in the first half of the year, compared to 3480 cars in 2023. New York City has seen car theft rise around 15 percent in the same period. It’s car theft season in Atlanta, Georgia, as well, reporting seven of every 1000 registered cars having been stolen in 2022.
According to data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, Dodge Charger Hellcats have a higher likelihood of being stolen than any other car in the country. So likely that they’re around three times more likely to be stolen than non-Hellcat Hemi-powered Chargers. HLDI and IIHS give every car a “relative claim frequency” score based on how many registered examples exist versus how many claims were filed. Just 196 Charger Hellcat claims were filed, but its RCF is 6,128, compared to 712 stolen Hemi Chargers with an RCF of 2197.
The top-five is rounded out by Infiniti Q50s (RCF 878), Dodge Challengers (strangely not broken out by engine, with RCF 766), and (RCF 611) Land Rover Range Rovers. These are largely high-dollar cars with relatively few examples built, so a few thefts can skew the numbers.
You might think Kias would hit that list, but the Sportage is just the sixth-most-likely-to-be-stolen car in America with an RCF of 479. After that is the Range Rover Sport, Kia Sportage 4WD, and Honda CR-V. Of everything on the list, CR-V was actually the most stolen car, with 1,141 theft claims filed.
Apparently nobody is stealing Teslas, because just three Model 3 and five Model Y claims were filed. The list of least-stolen vehicles is littered with Teslas, Volvos, General Motors crossovers. Just two Nissan Leaf electric cars were stolen in the U.S. last year.