Rising cost of vehicle spare parts in France leads to increase in thefts
Official figures reveal a sharp increase in thieves targeting car parts such as bumpers and doors
Certain French cars are highly sought after for their parts
Daniel Jedzura / Shutterstock
Theft from vehicles is increasing in France, official figures show, with targets being whole car parts, such as bumpers, bonnets or even doors, rather than car radios, which used to be the main target.
In September such thefts were 3% higher than in September 2023 with 24,061 reports to the police and gendarmes, according to Interior Ministry figures.
At the same time overall crime figures for the month were lower than in September 2023.
Authorities believe the sharp rise in the price and low availability of spare parts is driving the thefts.
Bumpers, which garages buy for €1,000 and take a month to arrive via official suppliers, are found for €150 on the second-hand market in places such as classified ads website Le Bon Coin.
Police sources say there are occasional waves of specialised thefts with, for example, the round screen dashboards in Minis – which cost €5,000 to replace – being targeted at the end of the year.
Mini was so concerned that it started fitting GPS tracking devices to all new dashboards it sold in France, leading to an immediate drop in the number of thefts.
Read more: Car repair and insurance costs on the rise in France
Good price for bumpers and bonnets
But most of the car-part thefts are of parts for small French cars, with the fifth generation Clio a particular target.
French TV featured the case of one Clio owner whose car had parts stolen three times while it was parked in a Paris underground car park.
In the most recent theft the bumpers and the bonnet were stolen at 3:00 by two young men recorded on a security camera, who took 20 minutes to unbolt the parts they wanted.
Replacing them cost the owner €10,000, and he now parks his car at his in-laws’ house in the Paris suburbs.
Peugeot 208 and 2008 cars are also frequent targets.
France Assurers, the insurance trade body, recorded a 10% rise in vehicle thefts in 2023, which included both cars being stolen and theft from cars.
The average claim was €3,975.
Insurance companies do not pay out if the car has only the most basic third party insurance. But they do if intermediate third party, fire and theft packages are bought or fully comprehensive insurance – although the franchises (the amount clients pay) can be high.
Read more: Warning for drivers in France as car number plate fraud on rise
Use of messaging app Telegram
Law enforcement agencies also point the finger at encrypted messaging service Telegram, which they say has been used as a “supermarket for car parts” with thieves stealing-to-order.
Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in August 2024, and he is being held in custody while a number of crimes linked to the platform are investigated, including enabling illegal transactions by an organised group.
The platform has also been linked to groups associated with child sex offence allegations and French authorities briefed media saying that all attempts to get help from Telegram to identify criminals were blocked by the company.
Read more: Telegram boss: What is his ‘exceptional foreigner’ status for French nationality?
Gendarmes in the north of the country also said that they had arrested people in a gang that stole car parts to order, targeting mainly BMWs.
Several teams went out and returned with stolen parts which were loaded onto a lorry at night in a car park, before heading for Romania.
Suspects from the case have yet to appear in court.
