Thieves stole more than 20,000 cars in Victoria last year but the safest place to park may comes as a surprise to many motorists.
A quarter of vehicles swiped in the state had been left on the street, Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency revealed to Fairfax Media.
Driveways, front yards, shopping malls, railway stations and car dealerships were where vehicles most were commonly stolen in 2017.
Cars were more likely to be stolen when they were parked outside the front of a house
Railway stations (Mulgrave in Melbourne’s south-east pictured) are a common spot for thieves
However, thefts from beachside car parks and and sports grounds were actually much rarer.
Victoria’s car theft tally of 20,117 for 2017 marked a three per cent drop from the previous year.
Still, there was a particular problem with cars being stolen from dealerships, with 424 vehicles taken from yards last year.
Car yards were were eight on the list of motor vehicle theft hot spots.
Cars are less likely to be stolen when parked at the beach (St Kilda in bayside Melbourne pictured)
The top place went to the street, with 5,662 cars stolen from there in 2017.
This was followed by a house (3,387), a driveway or carport (2,402), a car park (1,084), front yard (943), a garage (541), a flat or apartment (501) and a railway car park (370).
Cars were less likely to be stolen from sporting grounds (68 thefts), schools (41) and beach car parks (24).
The Royal Automotive Club of Victoria’s vehicle engineering manager Michael Case said motorists could prevent their vehicles from being stolen by hiding their car keys and never leaving them in the car ignition.
A small number of people had their cars stolen at the car wash, the hospital, a cemetery or even a house boat.
While the overall number of vehicles stolen in 2017 was a significant drop from 2016, it was still the second worst year for car thefts during the past decade.
However National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council executive director Ray Carroll was confident the number of stolen cars would continue to drop.
‘The car theft crisis is abating, police have been doing a good job of targeting high-risk offenders and car yards have beefed up security,’ he told The Age.
Major shopping malls and railway station car parks are commonly targeted by thieves (Hornsby in Sydney’s north pictured)