Victorians have their utes stolen as crims target top-selling utes and SUVs

Victorians Sarah Mitchell, Haley and Orin James have had their ute stolen. But they are not alone. See where crims are stealing top top-selling utes now.

When Haley and Orin James saw their 2009 Toyota HiLux twin cab ute being stolen from their home at Daisy Hill, near Maryborough they called police.

But while they were waiting for officers to arrive, the thieves returned driving their ute up their own driveway.

Ms James posted her story on Facebook saying her husband gave chase on foot and in their family car, and but the crooks got away.

Their story of theft is all too common among Australian ute owners, with the vehicle type now accounting for 17 per cent of the more than 35,000 vehicles stolen across the country.

Australia wide last year there were 8129 utes and light commercial vans stolen worth a total of $116,709, 355.

Utes stolen from Daisy Hill. Pictures: Facebook

Popular model SUVs were the second-most targeted vehicle, after passenger vehicles which remain at the top of the list, according to the latest data collected by the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC).

While the number of ute thefts has dropped slightly during the pandemic, down from 9942 from the previous year, those that were stolen have had a devastating effect on their owners who have posted about their loss on a range of social media pages dedicated to finding the treasured vehicles.

Sarah Mitchell posted about her brother Ray’s Mazda ute being stolen on October 2, from Truganina as a string of utes have been reported stolen in the past few months from Preston to Truganina and Ballarat.

Ute stolen from Trugania in Victoria in the past few months: Pictures: Facebook

According to its 2020-2021 annual report, the NMVTRC revealed the top three locations in Australia with the highest number of short-term thefts of vehicles (meaning vehicles that were recovered) were the Queensland cities of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Townsville.

In NSW the most thefts across all vehicles were from Blacktown and Newcastle, while Victoria was Hume and Casey in South Australia it is the city of Salisbury.

On the Sunshine Coast there has also been a recent spike in ute thefts this year with police warning owners not to leave them unlocked with keys inside.

Overall Queensland had the highest number of short term thefts of all vehicles at 10,310. Victoria followed with 8834 thefts, then NSW with 7763, WA at 4155.

South Australia had 1958, the ACT had 989 thefts, TAS 729, and the Northern Territory had 499.

The top theft makes and models for the year are the Ford Ranger PXMY 11+, the Toyota HiLux MY05-11 + and, Toyota HiLux MY12-15

The top target for van thefts is the Toyota Hiace MY05 19.

Statistics show the number of utes and light commercial vans stolen across Australia in 2020-2021 has dropped from 9566 five years ago.