Range Rover models dominate the podium of most popular vehicles for thieves in 2020

The latest data analysis from stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) expert, Tracker, reveals that Range Rovers and Land Rovers take six of the ten places in the 2020 list of Tracker’s most commonly stolen and recovered vehicles.

The three top spots in the 2020 league table are all Range Rover models — #1 the Sport, #2 the Vogue and #3 the Autobiography. The Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Defender also make the top ten. These six models alone account for 37% of all stolen cars recovered by Tracker in 2020.

Analysis of how criminals stole cars in 2020 reveals that keyless theft has risen to an all-time high, with 93% of all recovered vehicles having been stolen without the thief having possession of the keys. This has nudged up from 92% in 2019 but represents a 26% increase in the last 5 years. Thieves use sophisticated equipment to exploit keyless technology by hijacking the car key’s signal, typically from the security of the owner’s home, and remotely fooling the system into unlocking the doors and starting the engine. This is commonly known as a “relay attack”.

Clive Wain, Head of Police Liaison for Tracker, commented: “Range Rover and other Land Rover models have always featured in our top ten most stolen and recovered league table in the last 10 years, as has the BMW X5 which has slipped from 2nd to 4th position in 2020.