Sun, 14 Mar 2021 21:57:18 +0000 The 2022 vehicle theft statistics for Mexico are in! The results below reflect theft statistics for insured cars.  Most vehicles in Mexico are uninsured; the numbers indicate that 57% of vehicle theft losses in Mexico were absorbed by the family and not an insurance company. *The data from this report comes from the Asociacion Mexicana de Instituciones de Seguros.

Vehicle Theft Rankings by State 2022

This year, just like last year, the central part of Mexico dominates car theft.  If you look at the numbers for Mexico State (Estado de Mexico) and Mexico City (which is surrounded by Estado Mexico) you find almost half of all vehicle theft reported are here.   Notice Baja California maintains the 11th spot for the second year in a row, with only 1,726 stolen vehicles.

Stolen Vehicle Recovery by State

Here is some good news from the report this year – vehicle recovery is up.  Below is the chart of vehicle recovery by the Mexican State.  The most frequently traveled states by visitors with United States or Canadian license plates are highlighted.

Most Stolen Vehicles in Mexico

So now you must be wondering, what are the favorite vehicles among thieves?  We get that question a lot, people trying to figure out which car to drive down to Mexico related to “target of thieves.”  The good news is that most of the vehicles reported stolen are not even made for the United States market.  Take a  look:

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Vehicle Theft Statistics Mexico – 2019

I just received the Mexico Vehicle Theft report for 2019. The results reflect December 2018 through November 2019. According to these numbers, automobile theft in Mexico is down for the first time since 2015. The numbers come raw (and in Spanish) from AMIS (Asociación Mexicana de Instituciones de Seguro) in Mexico. Below we organize and chart the data for you. But, except for the alarming car-jacking figures, most U.S. vehicles appear off-radar to thieves. And in particular, the tourist towns and border states seem comparatively safe from theft. Vehicle recovery is also consistently in the 40% range throughout Mexico.

Vehicle Theft in Mexico By State 2019

The chart and graph below illustrate that overall, vehicle theft in Mexico is down by 9% from 2018. In the top 12 states for Vehicle theft in Mexico, only Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Baja California increased yearly.

Stolen Vehicle Recovery in Mexico

Surprisingly, insurance companies recover nearly 40% of stolen vehicles in Mexico.

Most Popular Vehicles Among Thieves in Mexico 2019

So, which vehicles are most popular among thieves in Mexico? For the most part, the top 15 vehicles stolen in 2019 were the most popular in 2018 and 2017. Nissan is the biggest target, but not the U.S. makes of Nissan. The Tsuru and NP300/Pickup top the list again this year, followed by the Versa and the GM Aveo.

Vehicle Theft in Mexico -CarJacking 2019

With insurance, vehicle theft is the least of your worries. But carjacking? Nobody wants to get jacked. In Mexico, they call it “robo con violencia,” or theft by violence. It is a concern to me that more than 50% of vehicle theft in Mexico is by carjacking. I suppose it’s a great way to take a car without having to hotwire the system or break the windshield and door mechanisms. Carjacking is a method of choice in Mexico. The good news for tourists, we have the data on which cars are most likely to be carjacked and where.

Where in Mexico are you more likely to be suffer carjacking?

Which Cities are at Risk of Carjacking?

This chart shows that Carjacking events declined last year compared to 2018 in most of the major cities except Celaya (Guanajuato) and Tonala (Jalisco). Zapopan (Jalisco) is still on the rise, but not at the clip of those above.

What Cars are Most Common to Carjack by Thieves in Mexico?

Fortunately for tourists and clients, we don’t see many of these across the border. It looks like most carjackings happen to Mexican-registered (with Mexican license plates). Which also makes sense. It is illegal for Mexican nationals to drive a foreign-plated vehicle. These thieves would not be wise to draw more attention to themselves.

Final Tally By State

Below is the final auto theft tally for each state since 2014. The annual listings represent December to November of the following year. For example, the heading 2013-2014 represents data from December 2013 through November 2014.

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Vehicle Theft in Mexico Statistics – 2018

The results are in!  The Mexican Insurance Industry automobile theft report from September 2017 to August 2018 just provided reports and we’ve had a chance to go through them.  The numbers are on the rise in many parts of Mexico.  Especially carjacking in the South and Southeastern parts of Mexico.  These Insured Mexican Car Theft reports are in Spanish, so we summarize these for you in English in different categories:

• Overall Insured Vehicle Theft in Mexico
• States Ranked by Insured Auto Theft in Mexico
• The Favorite Vehicles to Steal
• Carjacking of Insured Vehicles in Mexico

Mexican Insurance – Vehicle Theft Summary

• The number of vehicles recovered remains between 30,000 and 50,000 from July 2012 to July 2018.
• The trend of stolen vehicles decreased by 19% from July 2012 to July 2015. while for the period from October 2015 to July 2018, there was an increase of the 54%
• The number of vehicles recovered remains between 2.8 and 3.0K in 12 months (2017-2018) the theft rates oscillate between 7 and 8.03K.

The States In Mexico With the Most Insured Vehicle Auto Theft.

80% of insured vehicle thefts occur in 10 of the 32 states. If you are driving into one of those top states, be aware of this list…the top 15 towns or colonies within those states where the insured vehicles are being reported stolen.

The top 15 cities or colonies for vehicle theft in Mexico.

It is important to mention that the States of Queretaro and Puebla have their greatest increase, 25% and 58.8%, respectively. Here you will find the rankings by State for vehicle theft.  It’s nice to see Baja Sur second to last of the 32 states.  A little concerning that Baja North is 11th since it is part of the mexinsurance.com Limited Territory plan.  Also, nice to see Sonora down at #19. Now that we’ve seen where the thieves are stealing vehicles let’s take a closer look at what they are stealing. Volkswagen Sedan stills the most stolen car with 92% for the last period.

Carjacking in Mexico

Most tourists will pay the highest attention to these numbers and reports below.  Whenever a vehicle is stolen at gunpoint or by force or threat of violence (what we call “carjacking”), it is reported as a violent theft in Mexico.  Here are the numbers below for violent thefts, and notice the majority are in just a handful of states. The municipality of Ecatepec de Morelos is at the top of the list, followed by Tecamac, both in the State of Mexico and Reynosa in Tamaulipas, where the theft is 83% with violence. Celaya and Reynosa registered a variation of 100% during the period 2017. You can see from the graphic below that carjacking in Mexico, except in Sinaloa, is most common in the South and Southeastern parts of Mexico.  These reports suggest that 80% of all Mexican Vehicle Thefts by Violence, “carjackings,” happen in these nine states: