Posted on 02/20/2022 7:52:37 AM PST by PROCON
(NEXSTAR) – Should you be worried about thieves stealing your car’s catalytic converter? The answer may depend on what kind of car you’re driving.
Catalytic converters, which help scrub pollutants from your engine’s exhaust, have become more and more attractive to thieves in recent years. Thanks to the increasing prices of the precious metals used in the production — i.e, platinum, rhodium and palladium — an ill-gotten catalytic converter can “typically” fetch between $50 and $250 when sold to an unscrupulous recycling facility, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).
The pandemic has only driven up demand and prices of these precious metals. Rhodium, alone, is currently valued at over $16,000 per ounce.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
I've even seen ads for shields that are attached over the catalytic converters to make them less likely to be stolen.
Just about anything NOT garaged in our neighborhood. Us? Garaged.
Had exhaust work done on my car last week.
Shop owner was talking to a couple of people about this.
The thieves never stop inventing ways to steal.
😔
Robust battery powered saws and good metallurgy blades have really sped up this process.
I haven’t, but I know people who have. It is a thing.
My last two Jeeps have had underbody skid plates from the factory. While they’re designed to protect the undercarriage during off road use, they also serve as a deterrent to would be converter thieves, who would likely seek an easier target.
I suspect with a little practice a 2 man team can get one in 30 seconds.
I would bet big SUV’s and trucks would be best because they don’t need to be jacked up.
Metro parking, Vienna, Va. Thieves used cordless sawzalls. Under the high-clearance vehicles and out in 1 minute each, during the middle of the day. My ‘97 Takoma. No numbers were released by judging by the roars of mufflerless vehicles starting up in the evening, some outfit made a killing.
Utility vehicles with high ground clearance. In and out in far less time.
Yes and the bigger the engine, usually the bigger the converter, and more metals.
If you’re going to jack it up might as well bring an impact wrench and steal the wheels too.
Article:
Hybrids — and Toyota Priuses in particular — are also a “major target” as their converters tend to be less worn than those of traditional automobiles, the NICB said. AAA also reported that Priuses carry more “hefty amounts” of precious metals than many other models.
One incident at a heavy foot traffic and lots of regular traffic and campus police in broad daylight, at least two cars had their converters stolen in a parking lot.
Those things ride low (for aerodynamics), so definitely needing a jack for them. Maybe that’s what Nascar jackmen do on weekdays?
I know a guy who owns a vehicle repair shop. He just had some stolen from his s fenced yard.
My company has three new F150’s that we bought prior to covid. We haven’t yet hired people for the project.
I’m sort of in charge and worry a lot about losing the catalysts
Yep...our excavator guy had his stolen from his truck right up from our driveway...his truck in view of major interstate..between 8.30am and 10am. Need to go after resellers, too.
This is what happens when when to good citizens can no longer shoot thieves on their own property without being charged with a crime worse than the thief was committing at the time..
Cut off my cc I will track you down and cut off your nuts. Have you ever noticed that the booking photos of these people all look like they are inbreeded?
My Prius was vandalized in front of my house California house two years ago. This article is a crock of $#!+. It wouldn’t matter if the precious metals were free, the thefts would be just as frequent.
There is one reason and one reason only for this nationwide rash of thefts - the California Air Resources Board (CARB). They prohibit aftermarket catalytic converters for replacement of failed or stolen units on cars in the (not so) Golden State. And they specifically look for this during biennial smog inspections.
No problem, just go to a wrecking yard and buy one from a totaled vehicle, right? WRONG, CARB has prohibited this! All harvested converters in California are tracked, with hefty fines if it doesn’t get destroyed at an approved facility.
The OEM units are not just expensive, they’re on back order. So if your cat gets stolen, you either get on a waiting list , line up $3,000.00(!) and walk or take the bus for weeks, or you go to a shady Black Market muffler shop.
If you report it stolen and file an insurance claim, they will write off your car as a total loss. You can re-register it under a salvage title, but your insurance rates will also ramp up, and the cost of used cars makes it financially daunting to look for a replacement vehicle. Nope, you’re gonna go Black Market for half the price, keep your clean title and your existing insurance rate.
But wait, there’s more! The demand accelerates because the cat you just bought had to be stolen from someone else. And the seizures of stolen cats (not to mention actual failures because people in California have to drive millions of extra miles due to unaffordable housing) means that MORE THAN one car was sabotaged to get you your Black Market unit. Now California has a full-on pandemic of thefts.
And although California crime was capable of meeting in-State demand for a while, now the criminal enterprise has had to branch out to other States to source more cats.
All entirely predictable to anyone with half a brain. And entirely due to the effeminate California Deep State.
P.S. - Why, oh why would such a group of simpering pussies vote for these harebrained policies, you ask? They’ll tell you that it’s because the aftermarket cats won’t go 350,000 miles like the OEM units. Never mind that the average car with a replacement cat is unlikely to go more than another 150,000 miles before it gets totaled, scrapped, (or has another cat theft!). California’s dull brown skies can’t take the risk that a handful of cars might be driven a few miles with a failed cat!
In actuality, it’s plainly obvious that despite the fig leaf of OEM superiority and noble bureaucratic intentions, the real reason for this fiasco is that every one of those CARB nitwits is in the back pocket of the Black Market theft cartel.
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