Fewer car thefts in Budapest – these are the most popular targets

There are fewer car thefts in Hungary: in the capital, cases have decreased to one-tenth in ten years. In the first half of 2020, seventeen cars were stolen in Budapest and thirty-one in Pest County.

In total, 2,573 cars are officially missing, so this number is included in the Hungarian police’s public list of registered stolen vehicles. What is interesting is that the list includes 8 Trabant cars, 3 Wartburgs, but, for example, no Ferraris, reports novekedes.hu.

The list is indeed pretty long, considering that official data claims there are fewer car thefts year by year. For instance, in Budapest, the number of car thefts in 2010 was 3,331, and last year, it was only 352. These numbers are also better in the countryside compared to previous years.

According to recent data from the Hungarian National Police Headquarters, the most cars that still become victims of theft are in Budapest – which probably does not come as a surprise.

In the Hungarian capital, in the first half of 2019, 164, while this year, only 70 car thefts were reported to the police, so the numbers are improving (also in the countryside). In Pest County, last year 40, while this year 31 cars have been stolen so far.

On the other hand, in Fejér County, the statistics just got worse. From January to the end of June in 2019, there were 4 reported car thefts, but this year, the number is 10 already. Békés and Veszprém counties behave the best – no stolen cars have been reported so far.

Besides the abovementioned numbers, it could also be interesting to look at which types of vehicles are preferred the most by car thieves. Regarding this, various – somewhat controversial – data have been published. According to data from the International Car Hunting Association (Nemzetközi Autóvadász Közhasznú Egyesület), last year, the most popular car amongst car thieves was the Renault Mégane. Other sources, however, considered Fords to be on top of the list (66 stolen) last year, while Opel was second (65 stolen), Suzuki third (51), and Volkswagen fourth (47).

As László Farkas, the head of a subdepartment at the Department for Stolen Vehicles at the National Police Headquarters, has said before: they successfully made it to a point where it is not worth it for car thieves – a lot of them just gave up knowing they would get caught.

He could indeed be right since, in 2010, the percentage of successful investigations in Budapest was 3.3% while in 2019, this went up to 26.8%. New investigation methods could have contributed to the growing success; for example, they compiled a list of potential suspects who habitually stole cars, and they were constantly observing them. There was also a case in August where the car thief gave himself up before the police were about to find him. Also, technological developments like new security devices help, too.

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Source: növekedés.hu