Car theft in the United States surged again in 2025, and the list of favorite targets ranges from top-selling commuter sedans to muscle cars prized for their horsepower. Some models are stolen the old-fashioned way, hot-wired or towed off a driveway, while others fall to a steel key without an immobilizer or a relay device bought online. Here are ten vehicles that repeatedly top America’s theft lists.
1. Hyundai Elantra: America’s Most Stolen Car
The Hyundai Elantra topped America’s stolen-vehicle list in 2025, logging 21,732 reported thefts, more than any other model sold in the country. Insurance data compiled from National Insurance Crime Bureau reporting puts Hyundai vehicles in the highest theft brackets nationwide, with the Elantra leading the pack outright.
For owners, the ranking is a practical warning rather than a reputational knock: models this common are easy for thieves to resell for parts, and a steel-bodied commuter car draws far less scrutiny at a chop shop than a flashier target would.
2. Honda Accord: The Runner-Up Target
Second on the 2025 theft rankings was the Honda Accord, with 17,797 reported thefts trailing only the Elantra nationwide. Its popularity as a family sedan works against it: high production volume means Accord parts move quickly through resale channels, and older models often lack the anti-theft electronics found in newer trims.
Owners of older Accords can offset the risk with an aftermarket immobilizer or a steering-wheel lock, both cheap fixes for a model thieves keep favoring precisely because it is everywhere on American roads.
3. Hyundai Sonata: Hyundai’s Third Straight Entry
Hyundai’s sweep of the top three continued with the Sonata, which recorded 17,687 reported thefts in 2025 according to the top-ten theft table. Alongside the Elantra, the Sonata shares an ignition design that left many model years without the engine immobilizers that became standard on rival sedans years earlier.
That gap makes the Sonata a recurring target for the same social-media-driven theft method that spread across Hyundai and Kia’s lineup, since a car without an immobilizer can be started in seconds once its ignition cylinder is removed.
4. Ford F-150: The Best-Seller Thieves Also Want
Despite being America’s best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150 still landed seventh on the same 2025 rankings, with 10,102 reported thefts. Sheer sales volume plays a role: with millions of F-150s already on the road, thieves have a correspondingly large supply of trucks, tailgates, and catalytic converters to target.
The truck’s popularity as a work vehicle also means many are left running or unlocked briefly on job sites, giving opportunistic thieves an easy window that a sedan parked overnight in a driveway rarely offers, and its resale value as parts keeps demand for stolen trucks high.
5. Dodge Challenger: Horsepower Thieves Can’t Resist
The Dodge Challenger has become one of the most stolen cars in the country, with Hellcat-equipped versions especially prized by thieves chasing supercharged horsepower. A Challenger’s straight-line speed makes it attractive both to joyriders and to organized rings that export muscle cars overseas for resale.
That appeal cuts both ways for owners: the same horsepower that makes the Challenger a favorite on enthusiast forums also makes it a favorite target for thieves who know a stripped engine and driveline can outsell the rest of the car combined.
6. Dodge Charger: The Hellcat’s Sibling
Its sedan-bodied sibling, the Dodge Charger, carries the same reputation among the nation’s most stolen cars, with Hellcat-powered variants drawing equal attention from thieves chasing raw horsepower. Its rear-wheel-drive platform and factory-supercharged option make it one of the few sedans that can outrun a pursuing patrol car.
Its four-door body also makes it easier to disguise in traffic than a two-door coupe, letting a stolen Charger blend in with ordinary sedans long enough for a ring to move it across state lines before it is flagged.
7. Chevrolet Camaro: L.A.’s Fastest-Growing Target
Thefts of the Chevrolet Camaro jumped more than 1,000 percent in Los Angeles in 2024 alone, according to national auto-theft tracking. The spike mirrors the pattern seen with other high-horsepower coupes: a car built for straight-line speed is also a car thieves can disappear with quickly once it clears city traffic.
A single-city spike this sharp also points to organized rings rather than opportunistic joyriding, since coordinated theft of a specific model tends to track a resale or export pipeline rather than random targets of opportunity.
8. Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Britain’s Most Stolen Import
Across the Atlantic, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class held the title of single most stolen car in the United Kingdom in 2018, per the same tracking data. Its keyless-entry system, common to many premium sedans of that era, sat among the platforms most exposed to relay devices that intercept a fob’s signal from inside a house and trick a car into unlocking as though the owner were standing beside it.
Faraday pouches that block a fob’s signal, and simple steering-wheel locks, remain the most practical defense against this style of relay theft, a low-cost precaution any owner of a keyless-entry vehicle can still take today.
9. Kia Sportage: The Steel-Key Weak Point
Kia Sportage models built from 2010 on used a steel key instead of an immobilizer-equipped fob for the U.S. market, a gap that left them exposed to the viral theft method known as the ‘Kia Boyz’ trick. The method spread rapidly on social media, turning a design shortcut into a nationwide wave of thefts concentrated on Kia and Hyundai models.
Video tutorials showing how to strip the steering column and start the engine with nothing more than a USB cable circulated widely enough on social media that Sportage and other affected Kia and Hyundai models saw thefts climb sharply in cities across the country.
10. Range Rover: Unlocked With an eBay Gadget
Range Rovers could be unlocked and started using hand-held relay equipment readily available on eBay, a flaw first reported in 2014 that let thieves capture and amplify a key fob’s signal from yards away. The exploit worked even while the fob sat inside a house, turning a supposed security feature into an open door.
The theft wave grew severe enough that high-end motor insurers began refusing to cover new Range Rovers in London, a rare instance of an insurer treating a car’s own security design as the risk rather than its driver.
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