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. Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared In the criminal law, theft (also known as stealing) is the wrongful taking of someone elses property without that persons freely-given consent. ... A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... Imme R 100,Germany, 1948/1949 A 125 cc motorcycle, the Italian-manufactured Cagiva Planet. ... A snowmobile tour at Yellowstone National Park, note the snowdust in the air (NPS Photo) A snowmobile (or snow scooter, often referred to by enthusiasts as a sled and in the Canadian north and Alaska as a snowmachine) is a land vehicle propelled by one or two rubber tracks, with... The driver of this DAF tractor with an auto-transport semi-trailer prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For other meanings, see Truck (disambiguation). ... A Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400. ... Lobster boat A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. ... A bulldozer is a powerful crawler (caterpillar tracked tractor) equipped with a blade. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta space probe on March 2, 2004. ...

In almost all jurisdictions, theft of a motor vehicle is punishable as a felony due to the extreme emotional and economic distress it causes to the victim and to society. A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. ...

The crime is commonly charged under the name grand theft auto in the U.S. Motto: Official (Latin): E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Translated: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government  â€¢ President  â€¢ Vice President Federal...

Colloquially, stealing a motor vehicle while it is occupied by its owner or authorized user is known as carjacking, and in many legal systems is treated as a form of robbery. Stealing a motor vehicle and then abandoning it is known as joyriding. Slang is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... Dramatised carjacking In the United States, carjacking is the crime of motor vehicle theft from a person who is present. ... To joyride is to drive around in a car with no particular goal, a ride taken solely for pleasure. ...

This crime, though common throughout the 20th century, has been in decline in most jurisdictions over the last decade. One big exception is the Washington metropolitan area, which has seen the number of motor-vehicle thefts increase dramatically in recent years. Prince George's County, Md., a nearby suburb of the capital, had more than 18,000 cars stolen last year, many by juvenile car thieves, according to an investigation the Washingtonian magazine published in December 2005.

In order to prevent motor vehicle theft, most jurisdictions require that 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, where the local authorities may not be linked to the same database or such protections may not be in place. Vehicle identification numbers (VINs) are used to uniquely identify motor vehicles. ...