Vans have made-up the top three positions for the most stolen vehicles in 2020/2019, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by Rapid Car Check has revealed.

Rapid Car Check submitted a FOI request to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to find out which vehicles by make and model were stolen the most in 2019/2020 based on the total number of vehicles reported to the DVLA, and how many of the vehicles were recovered – the total number of vehicles notified to the DVLA as recovered, after being reported as stolen.

In both 2020/2019, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 313 CDI claimed the top spot for the most stolen vehicle with 1,169 vans stolen in 2020 and 1,466 stolen in 2019. In 2020, only 247 were recovered, in comparison to 362 vans recovered in 2019.

The second most stolen vehicle in 2020/2019 was the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 314 CDI with 860 vans stolen in 2020 – 112 recovered - and 1,135 vans stolen in 2019, with 204 vehicles recovered.

However, the Ford Transit 350 was the third most stolen van in 2020 with 756 vans stolen in the year and 220 recovered. In 2019, the Ford Transit 125 T350 RWD, was the third most stolen vehicle with 772 models stolen and 177 recovered.

The FOI request also revealed that more vehicles were stolen in 2019 than in 2020, with 100,369 vehicles stolen in 2019 and 78,563 vehicles stolen in 2020. The number of vehicles recovered in 2020 equalled 35,381 and 50,517 in 2019.

Logistics UK reported last year that more than a third of businesses had been hit by van theft.

Lewis Vernon, a spokesperson at Rapid Car Check, said: “When we made the FOI request to the DVLA we asked for information about "vehicles" which has revealed the top 3 stolen vehicles of 2020 to be vans.

“Seven out of the top 20 stolen vehicles of 2020 were also vans, you could take this as a warning if you are a van owner and take extra precautions.”

Rapid Car Check offers a free stolen vehicle check to registered users, where a search for a registration can be made to identify if the vehicle is recorded as stolen on the Police National Computer (PNC).

Top 20 most stolen vehicles by make and model in 2020

	Vehicle make	Vehicle model	Stolen	Recovered
1	Mercedes-Benz	Sprinter 313 CDI	1,169	274
2	Mercedez-Benz	Sprinter 314 CDI	860	112
3	Ford	Transit 350	756	220
3	Yamaha	GPD125-A NMax 125 ABS	678	423
4	Ford	Transit 125 T350 RWD	493	107
6	Honda	WW 125-A	426	281
7	Ford	Fiesta Zetec	370	164
8	Land Rover	Range Rover Sport HSE SDV6 A	355	119
9	Ford	Fiesta Titanium X	353	135
10	Ford	Fiesta ST-2 Turbo	343	140
11	Ford	Fiesta Titanium Turbo	311	112
12	Ford	Fiesta ST-3 Turbo	298	119
13	Ford	Transit 115 T350L RWD	285	100
14	Ford	Transit 100 T280 FWD	279	60
15	Honda	WW 125 EX2-H	273	174
16	Ford	Transit 100 T350 RWD	254	48
17	Honda	WW 125 EX2-F	252	167
18	Ford	Transit Custom 290 Eco-Tech	252	58
19	Honda	NSC 110 Mpdh	245	165
20	Honda	NSC 110 E-E	236	148

Top 20 most stolen vehicles by make and model in 2019

	Vehicle make	Vehicle model	Stolen	Recovered
1	Mercedes-Benz	Sprinter 313 CDI	1,466	362
2	Mercedes-Benz	Sprinter 314 CDI	1,135	204
3	Ford	Transit 125 T350 RWD	772	177
4	Ford	Transit 350	715	257
5	Yamaha	GPD125-A NMax 125 ABS	712	522
6	Ford	Fiesta Zetec	539	266
7	Ford	Transit 115 T350L RWD	451	152
8	Honda	WW 125 EX2-H	445	315
9	Ford	Transit 100 T350 RWD	434	109
10	Honda	WW 125 EX-F	388	284
11	Yamaha	YBR 125	382	220
12	Land Rover	Range Rover Sport HSE SDV6 A	378	113
13	Honda	NSC 110 E-E	359	262
14	Honda	NSC 110 MPDH	340	255
15	Ford	Fiesta Titanium Turbo	329	152
16	Ford	Transit 100 T280 FWD	327	89
17	Ford	Fiesta ST-2 Turbo	321	156
18	Ford	Fiesta Titanium X	316	149
19	Honda	WW 125-A	305	212
20	Honda	WW 125 EX2-A	298	220