Tracker report shows alarming rise in local vehicle crime

South African vehicle crime continues to rise, according to Tracker, which reported a 12% car theft increase in its customer base in 2022 compared to the year before.

The tracking company reported a 14% increase in hijackings for the same period, taken from its subscriber base of 1.1-million Tracker-installed vehicles.

Gauteng incidents rose by more than 18%, the largest contributor being vehicle theft, which rose 22% year on year. Gauteng hijacking incidents in 2022 were 15% higher than the previous year.

The company reports a similar trend in the Western Cape, with a 14% increase in year on year vehicle crime incidents from its aggregated data. While Western Cape incident volumes are significantly less than those in Gauteng, they mirror the upward trend observed nationally, says Tracker. 

Violent vehicle crime incidents have continued their upward trajectory in KwaZulu-Natal. Tracker noted a 25% increase in hijackings in its KwaZulu-Natal base from 2020 to 2021, and this escalated a further 8% during 2022. While the province’s theft/hijacking ratio for 2020 was reported at 54% for thefts and 46% for hijackings, hijackings now account for 54% of KwaZulu-Natal's incidents. 

While vehicle crime incidents occur seven days a week and throughout the day and night, reported thefts were more prevalent between 11am and 8pm, with theft volumes escalating on Saturdays. Hijacking was marginally elevated on Fridays and between 4pm and 8pm.

“These year on year increases in observed incident volumes to our base significantly exceed our annual subscriber growth,” says a Tracker spokesperson.

“We saw opportunistic vehicle crime, like hijackings, increase during the Covid-19 lockdown period and this violent crime has unfortunately remained elevated following a return to normal daily routines. Moreover, thefts are also on the rise, with newer criminal tactics such as keyless entry theft contributing to this increase.”