Vehicle crime risk on the decline, says Tracker

Vehicle crime remains a harsh reality in South Africa, but the risk faced by motorists today is significantly lower than it was three decades ago, according to Tracker, which says its historical crime data points to a decline in vehicle theft and hijackings from 4% in the 1990s to 0,5% in recent years.

The rate, Tracker says, declined as several industry shifts fundamentally changed the vehicle tracking market. The first was the free fitment model of the late 1990s, which removed the upfront price barrier of installing a vehicle tracker. In the early 2000s, as stolen vehicle recovery networks grew, insurers began offering premium discounts for vehicles fitted with tracking systems.

Further industry developments included the connected vehicle and the rise of telematics data in the mid to late 2000s. This was followed by the use of that data to develop driver-behaviour insights, usage-based insurance models, and safety incentive programmes in the early 2010s.

By the 2020s, connectivity and data were being leveraged at scale, with greater focus on managing fleet operations and providing ancillary services through telematics.

“As a pioneer in the South African vehicle tracking and recovery market, established in response to South Africa’s soaring post-apartheid vehicle crime crisis, Tracker has played an active role in the industry’s evolution helping develop the technologies, partnerships, and insights that have reduced vehicle crime risk over the past 30 years,” says Duma Ngcobo, COO at Tracker. “Over that time, our role has also expanded beyond recovering stolen vehicles. While vehicle recovery remains at the heart of what we do, we’ve become a trusted source of data-driven insights that help motorists, businesses, insurers, and fleet operators better understand risk, improve safety and make more informed decisions.”

Tracker’s latest vehicle crime statistics for January to June 2026 reveal that business-owned vehicles remain at greater risk of vehicle crime. Business vehicles are 17% more likely to be targeted than personally owned vehicles – down from 48% a year ago.

Nationally, crime involving business vehicles remains heavily skewed toward hijacking. Business vehicles are almost twice as likely to be hijacked than stolen. In some provinces, this trend is even more pronounced. In the Eastern Cape, business hijackings are almost five times more prevalent than thefts, while in Mpumalanga they are more than eight times as prevalent.

In contrast, crime involving personal vehicles leans towards theft, with theft accounting for 55% of incidents compared to 45% for hijackings. This national picture is largely shaped by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which together account for 80% of all vehicle crime incidents.

However, Tracker continues to identify regional pockets where hijacking is more dominant. In the Eastern Cape, consumer hijackings are twice as prevalent as thefts, while hijackings exceed thefts by 42% in the Western Cape. Mpumalanga also recorded more consumer hijackings than thefts.

The result is an even national split between theft and hijacking.

This marks a notable shift from recent years when hijackings became the dominant crime type as vehicle usage and mobility returned to normal following the Covid-19 lockdown period.

Nationally, more vehicle crime is reported over weekends.

Theft is most common on Saturdays between 11am and 9pm – and is also particularly prevalent on Fridays between 4pm and 9pm. Hijacking incidents peak between 4pm and midnight on Fridays. When focusing on business hijackings, a slightly different pattern emerges, with incidents most commonly occurring on weekday afternoons and evenings, between 4pm and 9pm.

“The data shows that vehicle crime continues to evolve which means motorists and businesses need to evolve their response too,” says Ngcobo. “Understanding where, when, and how these crimes occur is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk.

“For businesses, the impact of vehicle crime extends far beyond the loss of a vehicle,” Ngcobo says. “Downtime, service disruptions, and lost revenue often represent a far greater cost – making prevention, driver safety, and rapid recovery critical to business continuity.”

Since its inception 30 years ago, Tracker has recovered 142 253 vehicles, assisted in 21 461 arrests, and helped recover 1 154 firearms.

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