Grand theft is also known as “grand larceny,” and the term may be used interchangeably by officers of the court and law enforcement officials.  The term “grand theft” specifies the severity of the theft.  Grand theft auto merely specifies that the theft is high severity as it is the theft of a vehicle.  Grand theft is further specified by the intent on the part of the thief to permanently deprive the victim of their property.     

Grand theft is the intentional theft of property that belongs to another person, and the value of the property amounts to, or exceeds, that of the state statute.  Each state has its own statute on an amount of money that can be stolen before the theft is considered grand theft.  For example, theft of $1.00 would be considered petty theft, whereas theft of a vehicle is considered grand theft.  This is because a vehicle easily exceeds that statute in all states for the crime to be considered petty theft.  Grand theft is further specified by the legal system based on the value of goods taken.  For example, first degree grand theft is the theft of a larger amount of goods than third degree grand theft.