Insurance data shows a 25% increase in motor vehicle theft claims in Victoria from 2024 to 2025, contrasting with declines in every other mainland Australian state. The total bill for Victoria reached $243 million across more than 12,500 claims, with Greater Melbourne accounting for 10,400 claims totaling $205 million.
Car theft insurance claims have risen by 25 per cent in Victoria between 2024 and 2025, according to new data. Motor vehicle theft has declined in every mainland Australia n state except Victoria , which has notched up a 25 per cent increase in claims.
Victorian vehicle theft claims are concentrated in greater Melbourne, which recorded 10,400 claims between 2024 and 2025, totalling $205 million. Political analysts say crime is set to be a key topic ahead of the Victorian state election in November. Motor vehicle theft claims have spiked in Victoria, according to new insurance data, bucking a decline in every other mainland state.
New analysis from the Insurance Council of Australia shows there was a 25 per cent increase in motor theft claims from 2024 to 2025, and a 37 per cent rise in incurred costs over the same period. ICA chief executive Andrew Hall said the Insurance Statistics Australia data showed Victoria's total bill — $243 million across more than 12,500 claims — was higher than the combined sum of all other mainland states.
"It's good news around the rest of the country where we have seen Queensland reduce its rates in the biggest drop since 2022, down 1 per cent. Western Australia is down 15 per cent.
"South Australia is down, even New South Wales has come down a couple of points. But in Victoria it jumped so much that it lifted the overall costs again for the country.
", which recorded 10,400 claims totalling $205 million, up 30 per cent by volume and 42 per cent by value between 2024 and 2025. By comparison, metropolitan Sydney notched up about 2,600 claims between 2024 and 2025, while Brisbane and Perth had about 2,700 and greater Adelaide about 1,000 claims during the same 12-month period.
"This is a problem in Melbourne," Mr Hall said. "It's about 10,000 cars a year now being stolen or broken into in Melbourne — the equivalent of every car you can park at Tullamarine airport being stolen or broken into. "Victorian motorist Samantha Petrevski and her partner pulled over to help at the scene of a car crash in Melbourne's outer north in November last year.
A car ahead of them had flipped onto its roof and a man was trying to get himself free from the wreck.
"All of a sudden, I hear someone turn around and say, 'Whose red car is that? He's getting in it,' and I turn around and he's literally closing my driver's door, puts the keys in the ignition, I see my brake lights turn on and that's when I started to run for the car," she said.
Supplied: Samantha PetrevskiMs Petrevski said the man they tried to help then sped off in her vehicle but crashed again only a short time later.
"I don't stop now if I see an accident. I just lock my doors. I get a little bit shaken up," she said. With a state election scheduled for November, Monash University politics professor Zareh Ghazarian said car theft and crime more broadly were key campaign issues.
Dr Ghazarian said the state government had attempted to address rising crime rates with changes to bail laws and introducing adult time for violent crime laws. Zareh Ghazarian says crime will be one of the hot topics on the Victorian state election campaign trail.
"We've seen in opinion polls that crime has been really prominent and at top of people's minds when it comes to Victoria," Dr Ghazarian said. "And we've also seen data that is showing that there are increases of crime in the state. So this is politically a very big and very serious issue for the Allan government.
" In a statement, a Victoria Police spokesperson said car theft had spiked significantly in recent years. "While Victoria Police usually locates around 80 per cent of stolen cars within a year, car owners should install anti-theft measures such as on-board diagnostics port locks and park off street where possible," the police spokesperson said. Victoria's Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the state government had ramped up measures to curb car theft statewide.
"You also face an uplift in the conditions for you to get bail. "
Car Theft Insurance Claims Victoria Melbourne Australia
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