Mercedes-Benz sits near the top of the UK car theft tables, but its exact position depends on who did the counting. In 2025 it was the fourth or fifth most stolen make. The C-Class, E-Class and A-Class all made the DVLA top 20 for 2024, and Mercedes ranks high in the recovery lists that tracking firms publish. This guide covers what those figures show and what owners can do about it.

Mercedes-Benz in the 2025 theft data: fourth or fifth, depending on the count

Two analyses of DVLA data for 2025 give different answers. What Car?'s analysis, reported by Car Dealer Magazine, counts 3,992 Mercedes-Benz thefts. That puts it fourth, behind Ford (7,677), BMW (5,489) and Toyota (4,518), and just ahead of Land Rover on 3,690.

MotorEasy's FOI-based analysis has the same top three in the same order (Ford 8,362, BMW 6,176, Toyota 5,475) but swaps the next two: Land Rover on 3,939, then Mercedes-Benz on 3,856.

The two work from different extracts of the records, and MotorEasy's needs extra care. It estimates around 60,900 cars were stolen in 2025, while What Car? counts 54,830 vehicles, down 11% on 2024. The fair reading is that Mercedes and Land Rover are roughly level, a clear step behind Ford, BMW and Toyota. The full 2025 make and model table shows where the other makes fall.

Both lists are raw counts. They don't adjust for how many of each make are on the road, so they show where thefts are concentrated, not how likely your own car is to be taken.

C-Class, E-Class and A-Class: the Mercedes models in the DVLA top 20

The model picture is clearer for 2024. DVLA data requested by What Car? and Tempcover, reported by LBC, shows around 61,343 cars stolen that year, with the Ford Fiesta top on 4,446. Three Mercedes models made the top 20.

Position in 2024 top 20ModelThefts in 2024
6thMercedes C-Class1,123
12thMercedes E-Class802
15thMercedes A-Class690

Ford, BMW and Land Rover also had three models each. The C-Class sat just behind the BMW 3 Series (1,371) and Toyota RAV4 (1,260), and ahead of the Range Rover Evoque (1,087). The A-Class is the brand's entry-level model, so thieves are not only after the most expensive Mercedes.

For 2025, neither What Car? nor MotorEasy has a Mercedes model in its top 10. Tenth place in both went to the Vauxhall Corsa, on 874 and 880 thefts respectively, so no single Mercedes model reached that level even though the brand total was 3,992 or 3,856. Mercedes thefts are spread across the range rather than concentrated on one car.

What recovery firms' data shows about Mercedes, and its limits

Mercedes sits near the top of each of these recovery lists.

These lists measure something narrower than theft. A recovery firm can only find cars that carry its unit. Tracked cars are likely to be weighted towards higher-value vehicles, though Tracker says it is increasingly recovering high-volume models such as the Nissan Juke and Kia Sportage. Either way, a make with lots of tracked cars will rank highly whether or not it is stolen more often, and untracked cars that were never found don't appear at all.

What the lists do show is that thieves are still taking Mercedes models that owners judged worth tracking, and that tracked Mercedes are among the cars being found. Land Rover comes first in both the Smartrack and Global Telemetrics lists, and our Range Rover theft guide covers that side of the picture.

Mercedes theft rates in the West Midlands

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner published 2024 car thefts by make with a rate per 1,000 registered cars, using the force's crime database and DfT registration figures for 2023. That adjusts for fleet size in a way the national counts don't.

MakeThefts in 2024Per 1,000 registered cars
Ford2,94818
Toyota1,02113
Mercedes89313
BMW88311
Nissan85613
Land Rover77432
Audi5958
Vauxhall5384
Volkswagen5335
Jaguar29521
Lexus12919
Mitsubishi8915

Mercedes was third by count in the region, and its rate of 13 per 1,000 matched Toyota and Nissan. That is below Ford and far below Land Rover, whose rate was down from 43 per 1,000 in 2023. Jaguar (21), Lexus (19) and Mitsubishi (15) also had higher rates than Mercedes, from far fewer thefts. This is one force area, so rates elsewhere may differ.

Keyless entry and signal manipulation: how cars are taken

None of the sources here breaks down Mercedes thefts by method, so the figures below cover vehicle theft in general. They show electronic methods account for a large share of vehicle thefts, far larger than in 2019.

  • In Admiral data reported by Which?, 60-70% of cars stolen in the 12 months to July 2024 were keyless models. Admiral is the UK's largest car insurer. The figure counts the type of car stolen, not the method used to take it.
  • The Crime Survey for England and Wales found the offender manipulated the signal from a remote locking device, by relay or jamming, in 46.7% of thefts of vehicles in the year ending March 2025. That was down from 57.6% the year before, but up from 12.7% in the year ending March 2019. The latest figure rests on just 51 unweighted incidents, so treat the yearly change with caution.
  • Announcing plans to ban devices used in these thefts in February 2025, the Home Office cited CSEW data showing signal manipulation in 40% of vehicle thefts in 2022/23, and a Metropolitan Police estimate that signal jammers or electronic devices are used in about 60% of vehicle thefts in London.

Relay attacks. A keyless car unlocks and starts when it detects the fob nearby. One thief holds a device near the house to pick up the fob's signal; a second device by the car passes it on, and the car responds as if the key were there.

Jamming. A jammer blocks the signal when the driver presses lock, so the car is left open while the owner walks away thinking it is secure.

Key programming. Once inside, thieves can use the diagnostic (OBD) port to program a blank key with equipment made for garages and locksmiths, then drive off without the owner's key.

Export demand for premium cars, and why speed of recovery matters

Thatcham Research, reporting data from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), says 52% of stolen vehicles intercepted for export between 2021 and 2024 were premium or luxury makes, and 79% were SUVs. The top destinations were:

DestinationShare of intercepted export vehicles
DR Congo38.5%
United Arab Emirates20.1%
Cyprus6.7%
Jamaica5.7%
Georgia5.1%

These are vehicles stopped before they left, not every car exported, and the figures are not split by make. Shipping containers are one route out: NaVCIS found 420 stolen vehicles in containers at UK ports between April 2024 and March 2025, it told the East Anglian Daily Times.

That is why the first hours after a theft count. A car still in a car park or lock-up near where it was taken has a much better chance of being recovered than one sealed in a container or already abroad. Tracker says half of the stolen vehicles it recovers are found within four hours, a figure it measures itself.

Protecting a Mercedes: practical steps and where a hidden tracker fits

No single measure stops a determined thief. The aim is to make your car more trouble than the next one, and to improve your chances of getting it back if it goes. None of the sources behind this guide documents a Mercedes-specific countermeasure, so the advice below is general.

Ask about updates and keyless settings

Ask a Mercedes-Benz dealer whether any software or key updates apply to your car, and check the handbook to see whether keyless entry can be switched off. An update only fixes weaknesses the manufacturer knows about, and older cars may not get one.

Store keys properly

Keep fobs, including the spare, away from doors and windows, and put them in a signal-blocking pouch or metal box overnight. Test it by trying the car door with the fob inside, and retest now and then, as pouches wear out. This guards against relay attacks on a fob at home, but not against jamming in a car park or key programming once a thief is inside.

Add a physical lock and park with care

A steering wheel lock, pedal lock or wheel clamp is visible from outside and adds time, which can be enough to send a thief to another car, though a prepared thief can still remove one. A locked garage is best. On a driveway, a lockable post or a second car parked in front makes a quick getaway harder. A car right outside the front door may also be within relay range of the fob, so parking close to the house only helps if the keys are stored properly too.

Fit an OBD port lock

A lock over the diagnostic port stops a thief quickly plugging in to program a new key. It has to come off for servicing, and it blocks only one route into the car's electronics.

Where a hidden tracker fits

A GPS tracker does not prevent theft. It is not an immobiliser or an alarm, and it won't stop anyone driving off. What it does is tell you the car has moved and show where it is, so you can give the police a live location early, before the car is stripped for parts or loaded into a container.

How it is fitted matters. Plug-in OBD trackers are quick to install but sit in an obvious place, so thieves find and pull them out more easily. A hidden wired unit such as the 12 mm thin Teltonika FMC920 is wired in out of sight. The alerts that matter for theft are:

  • Movement alert: the car moves when it shouldn't.
  • Towing alert: movement with the ignition off, as when a car is lifted onto a trailer.
  • Unplug alert: the tracker loses its power supply.
  • Jamming alert: the unit detects signal interference. That doesn't guarantee a position while the jammer runs, but it tells you something is wrong.

If an alert comes in and the car has gone, call 999, report a theft in progress and give the police the live location. Don't go after the car yourself. There is more on how stolen vehicle recovery works with a hidden tracker and on combining a tracker with other car theft protection.

Fleetalyse is an authorised Teltonika seller. Our hidden stolen vehicle recovery trackers come with plans from £5.99 a month inc VAT per vehicle, a 14-day free trial, no setup fee and free UK delivery by Royal Mail 24. If your insurer requires a particular type of tracker, check that before buying any tracker, ours included.

Questions owners ask

Is the Mercedes C-Class one of the most stolen cars in the UK?

It was in 2024, when DVLA data put it sixth with 1,123 thefts. It was not in the 2025 top-10 model lists from What Car? or MotorEasy.

Will a tracker stop my Mercedes being stolen?

No. It alerts you when the car moves and helps the police find it.

About this guide: Fleetalyse sells GPS trackers, including the hidden units described above, and has no connection with Mercedes-Benz. All theft and recovery figures come from the named sources linked in the text and listed below.

Sources