This article aims to analyse the spatial patterns of the crime of car theft in Mexico City. Large metropolitan areas in Latin America have witnessed the increase in urban violence and the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City (MMCA) is not the exception. One of the offences with the highest number of previous enquiries in the MCA is the theft of vehicles with an average of 40 336 over the period 1995-2007. In 2010, car theft reached 44 446 previous findings, accounting for 38 % of the total number of previous searches recorded in truth. However, this crime does not show a homogeneous distribution throughout the territory, but shows a high concentration in some Mexico City delegations such as Benito Juárez, Coyoacán and Cuauhtémoc. In this context, is there a spatial relationship between the concentration of vehicle thefts and the socio-economic characteristics of the environment? The theoretical support of the article is provided by theories such as social disorganisation and routine activities. The information used for vehicle theft corresponds to complaints made by the persons concerned, which became prior enquiries, the source of information is the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal (PGJDF, 2010). The rest of the socio-economic variables correspond to the 12th Population and Housing Census (2010), both at the level of the basic geostatistical area (AGEB). The methodology is mixed, some regional analysis techniques such as location quotient, a multiple linear regression model and exploratory analysis of spatial data were applied to measure the spatial relationship in the Moran Index. The results identify four variables such as non-residential land use, population density, female-headed households and concentration of young population as factors influencing vehicle theft. This makes it possible to devise public security policies focused on the places where programmes aimed at the situational prevention of crime and the social prevention of crime can be implemented, with a view to rebuilding the social fabric and community organisation.