The automotive market is rapidly changing every year. Yet in the midst of all this change, some things – such as scams on the used car market – remain the same. Automotive data company carVertical has recently published its annual report of insights and statistics for 2021. The study analyses information from 25 different countries: the UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Finland. All facts are based on the company’s data.

1. The most-often damaged car on the market is BMW

The overall damage statistics are impressive: all the reports combined add up to more than €3 billion (€3,282,580,416) in damages. What’s interesting is not all cars get into accidents as much as others. It may be no surprise that BMWs top the damage lists – 47.77% of all BMWs on the market are damaged. On the flip side, only 29.53% of Fiats have failed to avoid a pummeling.

2. Most likely to get stolen: Škoda Octavia

In 2021, thieves continued to steal and shady sellers continued to offer stolen cars. Last year, the car history company generated 672 reports for cars marked “stolen”. This data revealed that the most stolen car model was Škoda Octavia with 38 stolen units. Going on reports, Octavia is 3.75 times more likely to get stolen than your neighbor’s BMW 3 Series. That means Škoda owners should be extra careful and take good care of their cars.

3. Odometer fraud is still extremely common: 18.5% of checked cars have been tampered with

According to the car history reports generated throughout the year, mileage rollbacks are among the most common ways car buyers get scammed. 18.5% of all reports this year showed signs of odometer tampering. In pure numbers, that’s more than 7 billion kilometers (7,112,444,874 km) rolled back across all vehicles checked.

4. Favorite cars 2021: BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi

Based on report data, BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi are the most popular car makers. Combined, they account for 13% of all the cars checked on the platform. Specifically, the BMW 3 Series is the people’s favorite and accounts for approximately 5% of all carVertical history reports. VW Passat and Audi A4 are not far behind, while models by other manufacturers make an appearance lower in the top 15. Other popular car models on this list are BMW 5 Series, VW Golf, Audi A6, Škoda Octavia, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Opel Astra, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Ford Focus, Audi A3, BMW X5, Škoda Superb, and BMW 1 Series.

5. The oldest of checked car models are BMW

There are more old BMWs than almost any other car. 40.38% of the BMWs you checked in 2021 were manufactured between 1990 and 2010. Meanwhile, for VW and Audi, those numbers are only 14.56% and 19.97%. And the percentage of older cars falls even lower for a maker like Citroën – only 10.92%. Read carVertical’s full ReDrive 2021 report to learn other statistics, insights, and fun trivia about last year.