Vehicle crime by area
Car crime in Cardiff
Cardiff (Welsh unitary authority) averaged 3,159 police-recorded vehicle offences a year in 2024/25 and 2025/26, against 148,013 privately kept licensed cars: a rate of 21.3 per 1,000 cars, 1.77× the England and Wales rate of 12.1. It ranks 40 of 316 local authorities (1 is highest).
Data to 2026-03-31 · Page updated 2026-09-28 · Publisher: 73 Auto
- Offences per 1,000 cars
- 21.3
- 3,159 offences a year, 2024/25 and 2025/26
- vs England & Wales
- 1.77×
- national rate 12.1
- Rank
- 40 of 316
- 1 of 22 welsh unitary authorities
How Cardiff compares
Official data. Cardiff's rate is 173% above the median local authority (7.8), which puts it in the highest quarter of the 316 areas.
Among the 22 welsh unitary authorities, it is 348% above the middle one (4.8) and ranks 1: the highest of its type.
| Comparison | Per 1,000 cars | Cardiff vs it |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 21.3 | — |
| England and Wales (all offences ÷ all cars) | 12.1 | 1.77× |
| Median of 316 areas | 7.8 | 2.73× |
| All welsh unitary authorities pooled | 7.0 | 3.06× |
| Median of welsh unitary authorities | 4.8 | 4.48× |
Areas ranked either side
| Rank | Area | Type | Per 1,000 cars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | Thurrock | unitary authority | 22.2 |
| 38 | Bexley | London borough | 22.0 |
| 39 | Luton | unitary authority | 21.4 |
| 40 | Cardiff | Welsh unitary authority | 21.3 |
| 41 | Walsall | metropolitan district | 21.1 |
| 42 | Wolverhampton | metropolitan district | 21.0 |
| 43 | Leicester | unitary authority | 20.9 |
How the 73 Auto insurance estimate treats Cardiff
73 Auto estimate, not a quote. Cardiff's vehicle-crime index is 1.77 (its rate ÷ the national rate). That is inside the range the model uses unchanged. The collision part of the premium is multiplied by 1.71 (index^0.94) and the theft part by 1.77 (index^1).
Against the UK-average area (index 0.92), that makes the estimate for the reference driver (age 48, clean record, group 20 car) about 67% higher. The estimate uses your postcode district's index, listed below, not the authority figure directly. The area weighting was fitted to 7 published area premiums (leave-one-out error 13% against 19% with no area effect). See how 73 Auto estimates insurance.
Postcode districts mapped to Cardiff
Districts where most privately kept cars are in Cardiff. A district's index is the car-weighted average of the authorities it covers, so the 4 that cross into a neighbouring authority differ from Cardiff's 1.77. The last column is the 73 Auto estimate relativity for the reference driver.
| District | Cars | Index | Estimate vs UK-average area |
|---|---|---|---|
| CF3 | 20,852 | 1.69 | 1.61× |
| CF5 | 30,875 | 1.64 | 1.57× |
| CF10 | 4,332 | 1.77 | 1.67× |
| CF11 | 14,480 | 1.75 | 1.66× |
| CF14 | 37,719 | 1.77 | 1.67× |
| CF15 | 10,660 | 1.55 | 1.50× |
| CF23 | 22,266 | 1.77 | 1.67× |
| CF24 | 14,344 | 1.77 | 1.67× |
Limitations
Police-recorded crime only: unreported offences are missing, and recording practice varies between forces.
The rate is per car registered to a keeper in Cardiff, not per car on its streets. Where many commuters or visitors park, offences against their cars count here while the cars count elsewhere, which pushes the rate up.
Offences a police force did not assign to an area are shared across its areas by car numbers. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered.
Estimate insurance for a car kept in Cardiff
Enter a UK registration, then add your postcode to see how your district's vehicle-crime index moves that car's insurance estimate. Your first check is free and shows the vehicle summary and its headline ownership cost. The category-by-category breakdown is part of a paid check.
UK number plate or 17-character VIN
Where these figures come from
- Official data: Police recorded crime by Community Safety Partnership, year ending March 2025 and March 2026 — Home Office. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Official data: Licensed vehicles by small area (VEH0125), privately kept cars, 2026 Q2 — Department for Transport. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Official data: Postcode to LSOA to local authority lookup (August 2026) — Office for National Statistics (Open Geography Portal). Open Government Licence v3.0; contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database right; contains Royal Mail data (c) Royal Mail copyright and database right; contains National Statistics data (c) Crown copyright and database right.
- 73 Auto analysis: area index and insurance relativities from the Insurance V2 model (insurance-v2.0) — 73 Auto. Our own calculation from the sources above.
Figures labelled as 73 Auto estimates are our own analysis of these sources, set out in the methodology and data sources. To report a factual error, see corrections.