South African business-owned vehicles have surpassed privately owned ones in hijacking rates.
This comes from Tracker South Africa’s latest vehicle crime data, which showed a marked shift in hijacking patterns across the country, and which was compiled from over 1.1 million Tracker subscriptions between January and June 2025.
The results of this data showed that vehicles owned by businesses are 48% more likely to be targeted than privately owned vehicles.
Mpumalanga was also identified as a particularly notable hotspot for this new pattern of vehicle crime.
This increase in targeting business vehicles is primarily driven by hijackings rather than vehicle theft, revealing a notable shift in criminal behaviour.
For hijacking, business-owned vehicles are being targeted at a far higher frequency than privately owned vehicles.
In terms of Tracker’s customer base, the crime rate relating to the business-owned vehicles listed is 32% higher than expected, and such vehicles are hijacked nearly twice as much as they are stolen.
The data also showed that Gauteng remains the province with the highest incidence of vehicle crime, at 57%.
This is followed by the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, along with the surprise addition of Mpumalanga, which had not featured prominently in the crime statistics for provinces in prior years.
Additionally, there has been an increase in crimes during the week, rather than over weekends, suggesting that criminals are adjusting their strategies to target vehicles that are active during business hours.
In the Western Cape, hijacking is occurring at five times the rate of theft, and in the Eastern Cape, it is four times this rate.
Mpumalanga’s data showed that business-owned vehicles are three times more likely to be targeted by hijacking rather than theft.
50 hijackings a day
According to the data, a personal vehicle operating in the Eastern Cape is five times more likely to be hijacked than stolen, while in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the hijacking rate is around double that of theft.
Duma Ngcobo, Tracker’s Chief Operating Officer, noted that shifts in criminal patterns underscore the importance of situational awareness.
Criminals are known to adjust their strategies as needed, especially when there is a high demand for specific parts or vehicles.
For business owners with fleets of vehicles, Ngcobo advised they should institute proactive security measures.
This includes options such as AI-powered fleet dashcams with facial recognition and 360-degree monitoring, as well as safe zone management tools, cargo door sensors, and emergency assistance alert systems for drivers.
A rapid response armed support service can also be an effective tool for reducing the impact of incidents and protecting drivers.
Taking such measures is essential as the South African Police Service (SAPS) provided figures for vehicle crime.
These figures showed that there were 4,533 hijackings in the latest three-month reporting period, which reflects a year-on-year decline of 15.1%.
While this is a good trend, it still means around 50 vehicles are being hijacked per day.
Additionally, data from the Victims of Crime survey suggests the actual number is much higher, with the survey finding that hijackings fell from 114,000 to 81,000 year-on-year, a decline of nearly 29%.
This is all good news, but overall, the year recorded an average of 222 hijackings per day, a very high figure that highlights the extent of the problem.
Security experts have advised that drivers always remain alert, as it’s often drivers who are distracted or unaware of their surroundings that are most likely to be targeted.
Major cases of this are at driveways, intersections, and traffic slowdowns.
Business vehicle drivers should also follow this advice and be vigilant for unusual activity that could indicate an attempted hijacking.
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