Cars safer when parked outside office, not home: Delhi Police data

Your vehicle is most unsafe when parked outside your house. According to the data by the Delhi Police, 55 per cent of vehicles in the city are stolen from outside houses, while only one per cent theft of vehicles is reported from outside offices.

The data also says that 44 per cent of motor vehicles is stolen between 9 pm to 6 am, while 16 per cent of such thefts is reported between 6 pm to 9 pm.

Lack of proper parking spaces and preferences of auto-lifters are some of the factors contributing towards increasing incidents of vehicle thefts outside houses, a senior police officer said.

"We have seen that auto-lifters now steal vehicles on demand. When vehicles are parked outside houses during night, they can easily choose whichever vehicle they want to steal," he said.

"Secondly, many of the colonies do not have security guards and not all the colonies are gated. During night time when there is less security, thieves find it ideal to steal vehicles," another officer said.

A total of 21,298 cases of motor vehicle thefts were reported till June 30 this year. As many as 12,689 motorcycles have been stolen during this time, accounting for 60 per cent of thefts, says the data.

As many as 3,871 cars and 3,237 scooters were stolen during this time while other vehicles accounted for 7 per cent of the thefts, the data adds.