8 vehicles that led America’s stolen-car counts over the last two years

The National Insurance Crime Bureau tracks every reported vehicle theft nationwide across all model years, a measure of raw scale rather than risk per vehicle on the road. That approach consistently favors popular older sedans and full-size pickups, models common enough that a stolen example turns up in nearly every city. Here are eight vehicles that topped America’s theft counts over the last two years.

1. Hyundai Elantra: America’s Most-Stolen Car

The Hyundai Elantra led every model in the country in 2024, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which recorded 31,712 reported thefts of the compact sedan that year alone, more than any other car, truck or SUV tracked nationwide in the bureau’s annual count of stolen vehicles.

The bureau’s methodology counts total reports rather than theft rate, so a car this common on American roads was always likely to surface near the top regardless of any particular vulnerability, and the Elantra’s ubiquity in rental fleets and used-car lots only widens the pool of targets available to thieves in any given city.

2. Hyundai Sonata: The Runner-Up

The Hyundai Sonata finished a close second nationwide on the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s 2024 list, with 26,720 reported thefts, trailing only its Elantra stablemate and edging out every pickup, SUV and sedan built by a rival automaker that year.

Analysts point to shared parts and ignition components across Hyundai’s sedan lineup as one reason both models cluster near the top of the national count, alongside sheer sales volume that keeps millions of Sonatas parked on driveways and in commuter lots where a theft can go unnoticed until the next morning commute.

3. Honda Accord: Fourth Nationwide

The Honda Accord ranked fourth on the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s 2024 report, with 18,539 reported thefts recorded across the country, placing the midsize sedan just behind Chevrolet’s full-size Silverado in that year’s national tally.

Its high resale value and widely interchangeable parts make an Accord easy for a thief to strip for components or resell whole, and the sedan’s long production run means older, less secure model years still make up a sizable share of the cars actually taken from driveways and parking garages nationwide, particularly in dense metro areas where commuters leave sedans parked overnight on the street.

4. Chevrolet Silverado 1500: Top Pickup on the List

The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 led every pickup truck in the country in 2025, with 16,764 reported thefts tallied by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, more than any other full-size truck tracked in that year’s national count.

Full-size pickups like the Silverado carry valuable tools, trailers and equipment that make them attractive targets beyond the vehicle itself, and their sheer numbers on American roads, especially in rural and suburban areas, give thieves a wide pool of nearly identical trucks to choose from at any given time, and the Silverado’s shared parts with GMC’s Sierra lineup only widen the resale market for stolen truck components.

5. Ford F-150: The Only Other Truck in the Top Ten

The Ford F-150, America’s best-selling vehicle for decades, was the only other pickup to crack the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s 2025 top ten, with 10,102 thefts logged nationwide that year.

Its massive production numbers mean an F-150 is parked on nearly every block in the country, and steady parts demand for the popular truck keeps a market for stolen trucks and salvaged components alike, from tailgates to entire drivetrains pulled from a truck bed and resold piece by piece. Insurers note that trucks left running to warm up in cold-weather states remain an easy, low-effort target for opportunistic thieves.

6. Honda CR-V: The Only SUV to Crack the Top Ten

The Honda CR-V landed ninth on the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s 2025 national list, with 9,809 reported thefts, making it the only compact SUV to crack that year’s top ten most-stolen vehicles.

Like its Accord and Civic stablemates, the CR-V shares components across Honda’s lineup, and older models built before newer immobilizer technology became standard remain especially easy for experienced thieves to start without the original key, a gap that keeps demand for used parts high. The SUV’s popularity as a family vehicle also means plenty of examples sit in shopping-center lots and school pickup lines, prime spots for a quick theft in broad daylight.

7. Kia Optima: Named in the Anti-Theft Recall

The Kia Optima was named among the Kia models eligible for a 2023 nationwide anti-theft software upgrade after the Highway Loss Data Institute found its theft-claim frequency running far above the industry average.

The vulnerability traced to a steering-column defect that let thieves start certain Kia and Hyundai models with nothing more than a USB cable, a flaw that fueled a viral social media trend and pushed insurers to flag the sedan specifically for the free software fix offered at dealerships. Some insurers briefly refused to write new policies on affected Optima models until owners could show the update had been installed.

8. Honda Civic: The Longtime Repeat Offender

The Honda Civic has anchored the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s national tally for years, and the bureau’s own Hot Wheels report found 17 times as many 1998 Civics stolen as 2017 models in one comparison year.

Pre-immobilizer Civics built before the technology became standard remain a favorite among parts thieves, since a stripped engine, transmission or set of body panels from an older Civic fetches steady demand in a used-parts market that has barely slowed in two decades of steady output. Enthusiast demand for lightweight Civic hatchbacks as project cars adds another layer of incentive for thieves targeting the model specifically.