General Insurance Article - 55% more stolen vehicles recovered in 2025 worth over £41m

What’s more, 200 non-Tracker fitted vehicles that had been stolen were also recovered and returned to their rightful owners as a result of Tracker’s SVR success.

 

While high-end vehicle thefts make the headlines, the biggest percentage of stolen cars recovered by Tracker last year were valued between £10,000 and £20,000, and one in ten of all stolen vehicles recovered by Tracker were worth less than £10,000. Just 4% of the stolen cars the business recovered in 2025 were valued at over £50,000. Profits from the sale of stolen cars are being used to fuel the wider activities of Organised Crime Gangs (OCGs). Tracker urges all car owners to be vigilant, warning that no vehicle is immune from being targeted by professional criminals.  

 

The record figures reported by Tracker are a result of increasing numbers of car manufacturers, insurers and dealers coming together to fight the unrelenting threat of vehicle crime, by helping motorists install Tracker’s SVR devices on new and used cars. Tracker is the only stolen vehicle recovery expert that is formally supported by all 43 police forces in the U.K. Most police patrol vehicles and all police helicopters are fitted with Tracker detection units, capable of locating stolen vehicles via Tracker’s unique VHF signal, which remains unaffected by GPS or GSM jamming.

 

The combination of Tracker’s police collaboration and its unique VHF technology sees it achieve a 95% recovery rate, 50% of which are recovered within 4 hours and 80% are returned to their owners within 24 hours. 

 

Whilst a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Tracker to the DVLA reveals a 11% year-on-year decline in vehicle theft across England and Wales in 2025, Tracker reminds motorists that theft figures are 48% higher than recorded by the DVLA a decade ago?. Adding to motorists’ woes is a drastic decline in recovery rates for unprotected vehicles. Between 2022 and 2025 just 13% of stolen vehicles were recovered by policeii. 

 

Over 90,000 vehicles were reported as stolen in 2025 according to the DVLA, from motorbikes to vans used by small businesses and prestige cars to combine harvesters.  The most stolen vehicle recorded by the DVLA in 2025 was the Yamaha NMAX, a favoured scooter amongst urban riders, delivery riders and first-time bikers, followed closely by the ever-popular Ford Transit 350.  

 

Clive Wain, Head of Police Liaison at Tracker says that it too sees a huge variety of cars being targeted by criminals on a daily basis, “Our stolen vehicle recoveries are dominated by thefts of premium car brands, such as BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Toyota. However, the intelligence we gather from our partner network tells us that the Toyota RAV4, Ford Puma, Nissan Juke and BMW X5 are firm favourites amongst thieves.”

 

Tracker goes on to advise car owners to be extra vigilant at this time of year, as stolen vehicle recoveries peaked around the March and September plate registration changes. Over £4 million of vehicles were recovered by Tracker around the spring plate change alone.

 

“Vehicle theft can be financially and emotionally devastating for motorists. That’s why we continue to forge industry partnerships and work tirelessly with U.K. police to recover stolen vehicles to their owners,” continues Clive Wain. “Together, not only are we stopping motorists' prized possessions from being sold on or shipped abroad, but we are also stopping them from being stripped for their parts. The illegal harvest and sale of quality second-hand parts have become a lucrative revenue stream for OCG’s operating on the black market. Last year, Tracker and the police uncovered and closed 78 illegal chop shops, resulting in 147 arrests, which was another record year.”

 

Concludes Mark Kameen, Lead for the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership (NVCRP): “An overarching ambition when launching the National Vehicle Crime Strategy in 2024 was to enhance intelligence between law enforcement and the private sector to help tackle organised vehicle crime.  And we are actively achieving our goal. The record number of stolen vehicle recoveries by Tracker and the U.K. police also underlines this. We will continue to build on this success by working closely with all of our partners and members, sharing expertise to ensure we all play a vital role in tackling vehicle crime across the country.”