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Methodology

Motor Vehicle Theft — Methodology and Sources

Last reviewed: 2026-05-17

What this measures

Recorded theft of a motor vehicle offences in Victoria. From Vic CSA Recorded Offences Table 01, subgroup B41.

This does NOT include theft FROM a motor vehicle (subgroup B42) — those are tracked separately by CSA and would belong on their own chart.

Year cadence

Year-ending-December (calendar year), matching CSA's publishing cadence.

The recent trajectory

Counts fell during COVID lockdowns (2020 17,166; 2021 15,331) then surged through 2024 (28,897) and 2025 (32,013). The 2023+ rise correlates with the documented escalation in residential aggravated burglary, where high-value vehicles are a common target.

Sources

The Victoria Ledger

Victoria's last decade across fiscal, tax, workforce, capital, services, crime, and economy, plotted as continuous time series. Every figure traceable to an official primary source.

Last refreshed 2026-06-11. Data refreshes follow each new release from the underlying agencies.

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