Motor vehicle insurance: Cottbus, Berlin and Hamburg are car theft strongholds – divisions

In Germany, fewer motor vehicles were stolen in 2021 than in the previous year: 21,584 thefts (including unauthorized use) were counted nationwide according to police crime statistics. This is a decrease of around nine percent compared to the previous year (2020: 23,646 thefts). The number of stolen vehicles has been declining for years: in 2000 more than 80,000 were reported stolen. On the numbers did that first Insurance journal carefully.

Most thefts were counted in relation to the number of inhabitants in Cottbus, where 161.1 stolen vehicles were counted per 100,000 inhabitants. They are followed by Berlin (116.6 thefts per 100,000 inhabitants), Hamburg (63.9), Magdeburg (61.5), Potsdam (59.9), Aachen (59.1), Lübeck (50.0) and Bremen (44.5).

According to the police, metropolitan areas can be identified as the focus of car theft: often near the border, since the vehicles are taken abroad by internationally networked gangs. In particular, high-quality cars, SUV models and vans are currently the focus of thieves. The theft of vintage cars is also increasingly being registered. If the car was stolen, the comprehensive insurance covers the damage incurred. This protection is usually also included in fully comprehensive tariffs.

The nationwide average is 26.0 stolen vehicles per 100,000 inhabitants. Basically, there is a large disparity between the individual regions. Significantly fewer vehicles are stolen in southern Germany than the national average, especially in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. This is also reflected in the city statistics. The lowest theft rates per 100,000 inhabitants are in Ingolstadt (4.4), Heilbronn (5.5), Ulm (8.7), Munich and Heidelberg (8.8 each).

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