Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to constabularies across South East England by motor insurance loss adjuster Claims Management & Adjusting, part of the QuestGates Group, have revealed huge disparities in stolen vehicle recovery performance.
In London last year, the Metropolitan Police found well over half (54.28%) of all vehicles reported stolen, whereas Bedfordshire Police recovered only 8.38% and Kent Police even less, just 5.65%.
2023 Stolen Vehicle Recovery Rate
| Constabulary | Stolen | Recovered | % Recovered |
| Met (London) | 33,864 | 18,381 | 54.28% |
| Essex | 5,489 | 1,688 | 30.75% |
| Cambridgeshire | 1,518 | 269 | 17.72% |
| Bedfordshire | 1,564 | 131 | 8.38% |
| Kent | 2,429 | 131 | 5.65% |
Source: CMA analysis of police data
Philip Swift, a former detective, now Technical Director at CMA, said:
“We know from our day-to-day work that some constabularies are much better than others when it comes to finding stolen cars. These new figures put that postcode lottery into shockingly sharp focus. This is a trend which deserves far more attention. It affects all makes and models, and it plays a significant role in increasing insurance premiums. Take Kent for example, if 95% of stolen vehicles are never seen again, you do the math. 150 Land Rover Evoques at £40k each is £6m in lost assets. 200 Ford Fiestas at £15k each is another £3m. Back in the 1990s, the national average recovery rate was around 70%. It is nowhere near that now. According to this new data, the average for the South East is currently about 25%.”
“There are big questions to answer here.
- Why is the Met apparently ten times better at stolen vehicle recovery than neighbouring Kent?
- Why are certain constabularies seemingly so reluctant to provide even basic data when the Met can tell us the condition of the vehicles found?
- Why has the Home Office’s Vehicle Theft Taskforce, established in 2019, apparently only ever met once?
The overall impression is that tackling vehicle theft just isn’t a priority.
Meanwhile, motorists are left facing a triple whammy – the shock and hassle associated with the initial crime, the combination of more thefts and less recovery bringing pressure to increase premiums, and, as a final kicker, delays to policy settlements while the police work through a spiralling number of crime report requests from insurers.”