Motor vehicle theft

Motor vehicle theft is a crime of theft. This is generally understood to refer to the stealing of automobiles, buses, motorcycles, snowmobiles[?], trucks, and the like; but not to aircraft, boats, bulldozers[?], and spacecraft.

In almost all jurisdictions, theft of a motor vehicle is punishable as a felony due to the extreme economic distress it causes to the victim and to society.

Colloquially, stealing a motor vehicle while it is occupied by its owner is known as "carjacking". Stealing a motor vehicle to ride and then abandon it is known as joyriding.

In order to prevent motor vehicle theft, most jurisdictions require that the the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN in North America) of motor vehicles be registered with a vehicle licensing authority, making it difficult to resell a stolen vehicle. Most motor vehicle theft involves dismantling the vehicle and selling its parts which are not registered and for which there is a large market, or by moving the vehicle to another country that does not have access to the same database such as by boat to the former Soviet Union or a jurisdiction that has weak customs controls.

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