Joyriding

The unauthorized taking and temporary use of another person's motor vehicle without their consent, distinguished in many legal systems from motor vehicle theft by the absence of an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the vehicle. A number of jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom under the offense of taking a conveyance without consent, created a separate, generally lesser offense for this conduct after courts found it difficult to prove intent to permanently deprive in cases where an offender abandoned a vehicle after using it, while other jurisdictions prosecute the same conduct under a broader unauthorized use of a vehicle statute.