Key Points
- Downtown Auckland is the worst area for car crime.
- Areas around parks and panoramic walks, such as Mount Eden, One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park, are also crime hotspots.
- In Auckland, car crime patterns are concentrated around key road routes, plus leisure and shopping areas where many cars are parked unattended.
Unfortunately, it's a sinking feeling that too many Aucklanders experience. You return to your car to find a door open or a window smashed, the glove compartment ransacked and your possessions gone. Or, worse still, your car isn't where you left it. Fortunately, few car crimes lead to physical harm. But they are a major, often expensive, hassle.
According to police data there were just over 10,500 car crimes reported across the Auckland region in the 12 months to the end of February this year. Incidents were spread out pretty evenly day-to-day over the weeks, but Thursdays to Mondays were the most popular days for thieves to strike. Although it's worth noting day-of-week data only records incidents when the exact day of the crime is known.
But while the crimes were spread evenly over the weeks, the locations of the car crimes were far more concentrated, centered around busy residential and commercial centres.
Auckland's worst suburbs for car crime
Coming in at No.1 on the list of the worst places to park your car in the City of Sails is downtown Auckland. However, as you'd expect, car crimes seem to pretty much follow the main highways, and anywhere else there's a proliferation of parked cars.
As you can see from the car-crime map below, the areas around Mount Eden, One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park are also crime hotspots. (The darker the shaded suburb, the more car crime). Visitors park, leave for a gentle stroll around the picturesque landmarks, only to return to find thieves have broken into their cars.
Unfortunately, parked cars attract criminals – a fact borne out by other car-crime locations on our list. Areas such as LynnMall are favourite destinations for shoppers. While Parnell and Newmarket are close to popular leisure spots, yet more shops, plus busy hospital parking areas.
However, industrial areas and residential suburbs are also targets, and top car-crime locations reach from Albany in the north of the city, down to Manukau, Takanini, Papatoetoe and Donegal Park and Ormiston in the south.
Overall, here are the suburbs that recorded the most car crime in the 12 months to the end of February this year:
Location | No. Crimes |
Downtown Auckland | 667 |
Mount Wellington | 340 |
Takanini | 262 |
Mangere | 241 |
Maungawhau (Mt Eden) | 210 |
Papatoetoe | 202 |
Henderson | 177 |
Manurewa | 172 |
Onehunga | 145 |
Papakura | Manukau | 138 |
Balmoral | 133 |
LynnMall | 125 |
Sandringham | 119 |
Otahuhu | 116 |
Glen Innes | 110 |
Most stolen car models in NZ
The number of car crimes recorded in industrial areas is reflected in the vehicles that are the biggest magnets for thieves, who also target tools and work gear. As you can see from our list of top stolen vehicles, two of the top three are utes, and the other, the HiAce, is your typical commercial white van.
The top makes and models targeted by thieves in the six months to March 11, 2025:
Car Brand/Model | No. Stolen |
Toyota Hilux | 176 |
Ford Courier | 109 |
Toyota HiAce | 96 |
Toyota Corolla | 90 |
Ford Ranger | Holden Commodore | Toyota Aqua | 81 |
Mazda Atenza | 73 |
Nissan Navara | 70 |
Nissan Tiida | 69 |
Mazda Demio | Subaru Legacy | 65 |
Suzuki Swift | 60 |
Ford Falcon | Mazda Axela | Subaru Impreza | 56 |
Toyota Landcruiser | 53 |
Mazda Bounty | 47 |
But before you despair about car crime, one important factor links all the car thefts listed above: the age of the cars taken. The vast majority of the cars and utes stolen were pre-2013 models (80%), 17% were registered between 2013-19, and just a few (3%) were recent 2020+ models.
What this says about the nature of car crime is that newer cars that feature sophisticated security systems are a lot harder to steal, and therefore less of a target for young joyriders.
How to deter car thieves
Of course, if you're a criminal looking to break into cars, you are going to target places where there are lots of unattended automobiles, and where your presence isn't going to attract too much attention: think busy car parks. But while the average motorist can't avoid parking in such places, there are steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of car crime:
- Always ensure your car is locked
- Try to park in a busy area, with surveillance cameras if possible
- Park in a secure garage overnight, instead of on the street
- Don't leave valuables in your car
- Don't leave worthless items in your car that could attract thieves - for example, an empty bag or briefcase
