Stats using « per inhabitants » ratio are skewed by frontaliers in Luxembourg so it’s really not comparable to other countries.
In that case it would make more sense to compare theft by number of cars circulating in the country.
Thief’s are really fast across the border which makes police work so much more complicated due to jurisdictions etc
Frontaliers always screw this kind of statistics. There must something close to 50/50 lux cars with non-lux cara circulating here.
However a factor can also be the amount of people with full insurance, it’s really not that bad to get stolen if you the insurance covers, less actually look for the car, more dealing with bureocracy.
Also, the border is just there all the time, I imagine it’s not that easy to coordinate searches with other countries police, even if so, they won’t apply the same effort to catch the car, specially because it can be in 4 different countries in like 2:30 hours.
Now that I think of it, Luxembourg would be a nice niche if I ever was to become a car stealer.
This a record that disturbs many people and the obvious reaction is to find reasons to tame the percentage, like blaming the frontaliers. Or, as stated on a report by Le Foyer insurances, the government is in denial with Bausch reporting different figures, which would place Luxembourg lower in the list. (https://www.foyer.lu/en/blog/Mobility/luxembourg-sadly-takes-top-honours-in-car-theft).
However I found other sources with the same ranking for Luxembourg, these statistics are even more recent, covering a period from 2017 – 2021:
I believe that the explanation is relatively simple and some clues are clearly stated on Le Foyer analysis:
Besides the easy runaway offered by close borders there are these important factors:
1) luxembourg has a High concentration of Most desirable vehicles. Listed in order of attraction for thieves:
Land Rover
Bmw
Mercedes
Audi
VW.
2) Many cars using the Key Less Go system. Easy to hack.
Also, I believe this is comforted by the position of Danemark, last country on the list. Why? Well Danmark has the less attractive cars in whole Europe. Not trying to be offensive but the Danish car park is the one with the most low budget cars. Absolutely not attractive to thieves. Not because Danes have no taste or no money. But because VAT for cars is damn high: The cost of owning a car is higher in Denmark than in other European countries. Denmark is known for high vehicle registration costs which go up to 150% of the car’s market value, which makes the cost of car ownership truly high.
it says: “per 100000 INHABITANTS”. What exactly is meant by “Inhabitants”?
I would expect it to say “residents” or “citizens”.
The stats mean nothing until we can get clarification of their terms, the methodologies, etc. Maybe it’s in the paper this was lifted from.
7 comments
I guess it’s because there are cars with higher value here.
The newer cars are easier to steal: https://www.golem.de/news/kia-challenge-us-jugendliche-knacken-autos-mit-usb-kabeln-2208-167560.html
https://www.golem.de/news/can-spoofing-diebe-stehlen-autos-ueber-die-scheinwerfer-2304-173309.html
Stats using « per inhabitants » ratio are skewed by frontaliers in Luxembourg so it’s really not comparable to other countries.
In that case it would make more sense to compare theft by number of cars circulating in the country.
Thief’s are really fast across the border which makes police work so much more complicated due to jurisdictions etc
Frontaliers always screw this kind of statistics. There must something close to 50/50 lux cars with non-lux cara circulating here.
However a factor can also be the amount of people with full insurance, it’s really not that bad to get stolen if you the insurance covers, less actually look for the car, more dealing with bureocracy.
Also, the border is just there all the time, I imagine it’s not that easy to coordinate searches with other countries police, even if so, they won’t apply the same effort to catch the car, specially because it can be in 4 different countries in like 2:30 hours.
Now that I think of it, Luxembourg would be a nice niche if I ever was to become a car stealer.
This a record that disturbs many people and the obvious reaction is to find reasons to tame the percentage, like blaming the frontaliers. Or, as stated on a report by Le Foyer insurances, the government is in denial with Bausch reporting different figures, which would place Luxembourg lower in the list. (https://www.foyer.lu/en/blog/Mobility/luxembourg-sadly-takes-top-honours-in-car-theft).
However I found other sources with the same ranking for Luxembourg, these statistics are even more recent, covering a period from 2017 – 2021:
https://chronicle.lu/category/surveys-reports/38711-luxembourg-ranks-10th-in-europe-for-most-annual-car-thefts-per-100k-people.
I believe that the explanation is relatively simple and some clues are clearly stated on Le Foyer analysis:
Besides the easy runaway offered by close borders there are these important factors:
1) luxembourg has a High concentration of Most desirable vehicles. Listed in order of attraction for thieves:
Land Rover
Bmw
Mercedes
Audi
VW.
2) Many cars using the Key Less Go system. Easy to hack.
Also, I believe this is comforted by the position of Danemark, last country on the list. Why? Well Danmark has the less attractive cars in whole Europe. Not trying to be offensive but the Danish car park is the one with the most low budget cars. Absolutely not attractive to thieves. Not because Danes have no taste or no money. But because VAT for cars is damn high: The cost of owning a car is higher in Denmark than in other European countries. Denmark is known for high vehicle registration costs which go up to 150% of the car’s market value, which makes the cost of car ownership truly high.
it says: “per 100000 INHABITANTS”. What exactly is meant by “Inhabitants”?
I would expect it to say “residents” or “citizens”.
The stats mean nothing until we can get clarification of their terms, the methodologies, etc. Maybe it’s in the paper this was lifted from.