[Johnny199r]

Car theft is a great risk/reward crime for a prospective criminal.

if you get caught, you do maybe 30 or 60 days. Hardly a deterrent. There's a minimum sentence of 6 months for a 3rd offence, which means you'll be out in 4. Theft of motor vehicle charges often get pled down to related offences with no mandatory sentence. Additionally, it's pretty hard to get a conviction for someone who is a passenger, rather than driver. There's decent money to be made.

Contrast that with robbing a corner store or a taxi driver with a weapon (easy 2+ years in prison) and it's a no brainer.

Just like trying to pickpocket someone on a bus or the LRT (little to no jail time for theft) vs hitting someone while trying to grab their purse (jail time for robbery)

Or contrast it to trying to make money from selling drugs (high jail sentences, sure to eventually get caught)

Or compared it to breaking into someone's house to steal (usually 2 years in jail or more)

If I was trying to make a living as a criminal, I would steal cars 100%. It's way smarter than dealing drugs and plus there's no violence involved, it doesn't attract high sentences.