Motorists who live or drive in Newcastle's East End are the most likely to become victims of car crooks.
New figures have revealed the Byker and Walker areas of the city to be the car crime capital of Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.
The area, which is one of the 35 'policing divisions' that make up Northumbria Police's force area was the location of 479 vehicle-related crimes in 2018.
This included a peak in September when there were 60 offences.
Sunderland West, which includes Pennywell, Pallion and Silksworth came in second with 463 recorded offences.
Meanwhile Jesmond and Heaton, home to a large student population, and a number of the city's plushest streets, was third with 442 crimes.
Motorists in Northumberland fared best last year with the Alnwick area, which had just 45 car-related crimes last year.
Berwick came in second with 77 offences last year, while West Tynedale, which includes Hexham and Haltwhistle, had 100.
Northumbria Police's Neighbourhood Inspector for Byker and Walker, Dan Whyte has today urged motorists to help keep their cars safe by double-checking all doors are locked.
He said: "We are committed to tackling car-related crime and we would like to reassure the public that police actively investigate all reports made to us.
"Many reports of this nature involve opportunistic thieves going street to street trying car doors searching for a quick win. If the door is locked, they will move on to the next vehicle.
"We would therefore ask members of the public to take an extra moment to ensure their doors are locked, and that any items are not left on display.
"We will continue to work hard to investigate crimes and target offenders."
The figures were recorded on the Home Office’s police.uk website and have been analysed by Lancashire-based firm 24/7 Vehicle Rescue.
The company's director, Ranjen Gohri, said: "These latest Home Office figures show that car crime continues to be a blight on society.
"It is to be expected that areas close to town centres would have high vehicle-related crime rates, but these statistics show incidents happen everywhere.
"They are more prevalent in urban areas, but even here there are strange anomalies. For example, Newcastle city centre saw 151 offences, but the centre of Sunderland recorded 421.
"Owners should be able to leave their vehicles at home, car parks or in streets without risk of being broken in to, damaged or stolen, but that is not always the case.
"They can take some comfort in the fact that among these figures are spikes that come and then go.
"However, owners should always look to leave their vehicles as safe as possible, including not leaving valuables in open view.
"Overall it is worrying that incidents against vehicles remain a mainstay of Northumbria Police’s crime statistics.”
Top 10 areas with most car crime, January to December 2018:
1 - Byker and Walker: 479
2 - Sunderland West: 463
3 - Jesmond and Heaton: 442
4 - Sunderland Central: 421
5 - South Gateshead: 411
6 - Sunderland North: 371
7 - Houghton: 329
8 - West Shields and Riverside: 325
9 - Benwell and Elswick: 307
10 - Central Gateshead: 295
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Top 10 areas with least car crime, January to December 2018:
1 - Alnwick: 45
2 - Berwick: 77
3 - West Tynedale: 100
4 - Blakelaw, Kenton and Fawdon: 102
4 - East Tynedale: 102
6 - Morpeth: 111
7 - Sunderland East: 144
8 - Bedlington: 151
9 - Newcastle Central: 151
10 - Outer West Gateshead: 158
