Joyriding may seem like a harmless guilty pleasure. All you are doing is taking someone else’s vehicle out for a spin and giving it back, often without them ever knowing it was gone.

In Nevada, however, joyriding is a serious crime under NRS 205.2715. Formally called “unlawful taking of vehicle,” joyriding is a gross misdemeanor carrying:

• up to 364 days in jail and/or
• up to $2,000 in fines.¹

It is irrelevant that you never intended to keep the vehicle permanently.

Does joyriding apply only to cars?

No. In Nevada, you can be convicted of joyriding using any kind of vehicle, including:

• automobiles,
• motorcycles,
• e-scooters,
• motorboats, or
• airplanes.

Note that NRS 205.2715 does not apply to non-motorized devices such as bikes, skateboards, or rowboats. The statute also does not apply to devices that move only on rails or tracks, like train cars.²

How do I fight the charges?

In my experience, there are four effective defenses to Nevada joyriding charges:

1. You had the owner’s consent to drive the vehicle; or
2. It was someone else who took the vehicle, and you were falsely accused; or
3. You owned or shared title to the vehicle in question; and/or
4. The police committed misconduct, such as entrapping you or coercing your confession.

Getting joyriding charges reduced or dismissed is always an uphill battle because courts automatically infer you violated NRS 205.2715 if you are found in possession of a vehicle without the owner’s consent.³ To overcome this inference, I typically rely on such evidence as:

• recorded communications between you and the vehicle’s owner,
• GPS data,
• vehicle title documents,
• odometer readings,
• video surveillance footage, and/or
• eyewitness accounts.

Joyriding vs. Car Theft

Joyriding with a car is a less serious Nevada crime than stealing a car, which is formally called:

• “grand larceny of a motor vehicle” or
• “grand theft auto.”

This is because with car theft, you intend to take someone else’s car permanently. Joyriding is meant to be a temporary taking.

The following table shows the penalty ranges for car theft in Nevada.

Grand Theft Auto Crime	Nevada Sentence
First offense	Category C felony:  1 to 5 years in prison, up to $10,000
Second/successive offense	Category B felony:  1 to 6 years in prison, up to $5,000

In addition, the court will order you to pay restitution to the vehicle’s owner.⁴

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to the following scholarly articles:

• Injuries related to car crime: the joy-riding epidemic – Injury.
• Perceptions of Physical, Psychological, Social and Legal Deterrents to Joyriding – Crime Prevention and Community Safety.
• Investigation into Joyriding as an Addictive Behaviour – Loughborough University.
• Speeding and Joy Riding – Shades of Deviance: A Primer on Crime, Deviance and Social Harm.
• Addicted to joyriding? An exploration of young offenders’ accounts of their car crime – Psychology, Crime & Law.

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Legal References