Tracker’s vehicle crime statistics for the period January to June 2024 reveal that at a national level, hijackings still dominate, comprising 54% of all vehicle crime incidents versus theft at 46%. However, this becomes even more pronounced in the Eastern and Western Cape, and particularly with business-owned vehicles.
The Tracker Vehicle Crime Index aggregates information from Tracker’s more than 1.1 million subscriptions. The data indicates that in the Eastern Cape a personal vehicle is four times likelier to be hijacked than stolen. Moreover, it is nine times likelier for a business-owned vehicle to be hijacked rather than stolen in the province. Plus, the highest propensity toward business vehicle crime occurs in the Eastern Cape, with 43% over-representation relative to Tracker’s business-owned vehicle subscriber base.
The Western Cape follows a similar trend, with a skew towards hijacking rather than theft. A personal vehicle is almost twice as likely to be hijacked than stolen. A personally owned vehicle in the Western Cape also has a higher propensity to vehicle crime at 22% over-representation relative to Tracker’s subscriber base. For a business-owned vehicle there is statistically lower vehicle crime relative to Tracker’s business subscriber base in the Western Cape, yet it is four times likelier to be hijacked than stolen.
While hijacking also dominates total business vehicle crime nationally at 65%, bucking the trend, vehicle crime for personal vehicles leans towards theft at 52% nationally. This means that nationwide, the likelihood of vehicle crime being a hijacking rather than a theft is 34% higher for business vehicles compared to personal vehicles. Business-owned vehicles are also 45% more likely to experience vehicle crime compared to personal vehicles.
Business-owned vehicles range from cargo trucks with trailers to courier vehicles delivering items ordered online. Crime aimed at these vehicles proves highly lucrative, with the objective mainly to acquire the goods being transported.
Gauteng is still the province that experiences the highest volume of vehicle crime with 58% of the total vehicle crime incidents, which is significantly over-representative of Tracker’s Gauteng vehicle subscriber base. While 51% of all nationwide hijackings occur in Gauteng due to vehicle volumes, Gauteng experiences more theft at 53% versus hijacking at 47%.
Across the country, a higher proportion of vehicles are reported hijacked on Fridays, and between the hours of 4pm and 8pm. Theft is mainly reported on Saturdays, and between the hours of 11am and 3pm.
Tracker’s efforts to combat vehicle crime has resulted in 127 884 vehicle recoveries, 20 958 arrests and 1 119 firearms recovered to date.
“Crime tends to shift across provinces over time, and there are different levels of crime based on the sophistication of the crime syndicates in the province. At the moment, theft in Gauteng is greater than hijacking most likely due to syndicates using keyless entry relay attacks to steal vehicles. More concerning is that crime along the N2 corridor towards Gqeberha has significantly increased. Given the economic situation in the Eastern Cape, a province with significant unemployment, this is most likely opportunistic crime. In other words, the hijacking and looting of bounty on the back of trucks or in delivery vehicles, with a view to converting this into quick, easy, untraceable cash,” says Duma Ngcobo, Chief Operating Officer at Tracker.
