Surprised No One Is Talking About Cat Thefts

[AbleGuy]

What do you do with 100 stolen converters? Rip the guts and sell it? To who?

Two of the three rare earth metals used in catalytic converters are worth more per ounce than gold!

The catalyst components of a converter usually are platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rh). All of these platinum group metals are extremely rare and valuable.. The recoverable amount of rare materials from a converter can range from 1-2 grams for a small car to 12-15 grams for a big truck in the US.

Soooo...your big rig may be more susceptible! PLUS....it’s easier to crawl under your big rig to get to an steal the cat!

Anyway, the value in recoverable metals ranges from $25 to a few hundred dollars per vehicle. ...

So some cretin cuts off and steals your converter, get a few bucks for it, and it costs you many hundreds to get a replacement installed. Plus, once you’ve suffered the theft and remedied it, then the thieves know a new, more valuable unpolluted one is sitting there waiting for their return visit.

The frustratingly high cost to victims vs. the relatively low $$$ gain to thieves is like the deal where a car clout breaks your passenger window to steal something and only finds a pair of old sunglasses or some change in your console. The cost vs. loss just adds even more to a victim’s anger...

And typically, owners of older vehicles often cancel coverage for comprehensive damage, which would cover a theft, because those policies aren’t worth it...they can be too expensive compared to the value of their vehicles. Folks who do have comp coverage might feel compelled not to report a cat theft if the repair costs come close to their deductible (to avoid possible increases policy premiums).

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Sounds like a good justification for me to run a catless down pipe.... They can't steel what's not there...haha.

 

[DrkBlue]

Bakersfield... Only 93 cats.

Probation check leads to over $150,000 in stolen catalytic converters in Tulare County

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office says a man was arrested after he was found to be in possession of stolen catalytic converters. "The sheer amount of catalytic converters this individual was able to get away with is the most shocking part of it," said Ashley Ritchie, media supervisor for the...

kmph.com

 

[calicamper]

So US and UK law enforcement just in the past few months have realized that Catalytic converter theft is largely tied to big criminal organizations and lots of evidence found at large busts are shipping containers full headed to china.

Since the “Organized” crime aspect has been noticed far more resources are being invested to catch/track and bust the big players.

Here in CA recently they have found several hundred catalytic converters during big busts. Along with large sums of cash. It’s reminiscent of the big drug busts back in the day with several 100-thousand in cash or more also found etc.

For sure not really preventable and covers or other devices can cause heat issues or even fire risk. As for the theft? Sawzawl and 15 seconds its gone.

Our local ACE Hardware local family owned, had a strange couple come in last week and buy all their sawzawl blades. They called the PD given word was out in town about a couple stealing catalytic converters. PD just missed them at the store but looked at the camera footage said yep same couple. 2 hours later they were arrested 3 miles away snooping a parking lot. Camry trunk was full of stolen Catalytic Converters.

It takes an entire community to fight this sort of crime..

 

[AbleGuy]

It takes an entire community to fight this sort of crime..

Two more thoughts on this problem :
—laws and cops need to clamp down on the salvage yards buying the stolen converters (one state recently passed a law addressing the buyers),
—can’t remember the second one ?

 

[calicamper]

Two more thoughts on this problem :
—laws and cops need to clamp down on the salvage yards buying the stolen converters (one state recently passed a law addressing the buyers),
—can’t remember the second one ?

Thats part of the issue the scrap yards aren’t involved. Organized crime rings pack containers and ship them back to China where they get max $. Even the scrap yards are left out of the loop.

UK has the same exact issue.

 

[mog]

As expensive as some of the ' anti-thief ' devices are, it will soon be more profitable to steal those, instead of the cats

 

[jeepers29]

Thats part of the issue the scrap yards aren’t involved. Organized crime rings pack containers and ship them back to China where they get max $. Even the scrap yards are left out of the loop.

UK has the same exact issue.

Just one more reason to wave hello to china with 1 finger.

 

[plh]

A guy from my town steals 45K in Rover cats.

Wait! what the... 9 cats for $45K!!! remind me why I don't own a RR...

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

They “tried” getting mine off my ‘05 Element. The sound of the sawzall woke my stepson up (LAPD) and fortunately for the three dirtbags involved, he brought his flashlight with him and not his ‘45. They sawed about 3/4ths of the way through before being interrupted, but the damage was done. I investigated replacing it myself but the added $500 for the CARB sticker over the exact same non-CARB unit convinced me to call Allstate. This area of Ventura County has been hit hard.
Note: several months later during a traffic stop and subsequent arrest 40 miles east of here, my stepson recognized one of the perps from that evening. And the perp recognized my stepson! Unfortunately, not much could be done at that time but apparently the panicked look on the perp’s face when he was questioned about the thefts was priceless. He was able to add the info in the report and it was passed on to VC detectives. ?

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

The frustratingly high cost to victims vs. the relatively low $$$ gain to thieves is like the deal where a car clout breaks your passenger window to steal something and only finds a pair of old sunglasses or some change in your console. The cost vs. loss just adds even more to a victim’s anger...

This exactly. Insanity. Just come talk to me and I'll give you $100 to leave my rig alone....

 

[calicamper]

They “tried” getting mine off my ‘05 Element. The sound of the sawzall woke my stepson up (LAPD) and fortunately for the three dirtbags involved, he brought his flashlight with him and not his ‘45. They sawed about 3/4ths of the way through before being interrupted, but the damage was done. I investigated replacing it myself but the added $500 for the CARB sticker over the exact same non-CARB unit convinced me to call Allstate. This area of Ventura County has been hit hard.
Note: several months later during a traffic stop and subsequent arrest 40 miles east of here, my stepson recognized one of the perps from that evening. And the perp recognized my stepson! Unfortunately, not much could be done at that time but apparently the panicked look on the perp’s face when he was questioned about the thefts was priceless. He was able to add the info in the report and it was passed on to VC detectives. ?

Thats the kind of stuff that gets the investigators on the right track and big busts?. Glad he was able to include a heads up on the guys prior activities.

 

[MiamiC70]

Wait! what the... 9 cats for $45K!!! remind me why I don't own a RR...

I had 911 cats changed out under warranty the bill for 2 was $5,900.00 ?

 

[1stDeuce]

Not that it's easy to steal, thanks to the center skid covering it, but I replaced the cat on my TJ with a resonator, or more specifically, I used a forward pipe intended for the leaded fuel market... The resonator looks just like a glasspack. Looks legit at inspection, costs $20 to replace, and won't get hot enough to set grass on fire, or melt the carpet, since I'm running a belly up skid that gets rid of a lot of the air space around the factory cat.

Win, win, win for me. Sorry environment, you lose, but I drive the Jeep so little that it's probably not a big loss... Interestingly enough, it still passed the Colorado emissions exhaust sniff test on a "fast pass", meaning levels well below threshold. The Jeep has also never illuminated the CEL, which is nice.

I gutted the cat on my Duramax, as I suspected it was plugging up after it nearly failed emissions for opacity on the high RPM runs. After gutting the cat, the opacity actually improved quite a bit, so there was evidently a lot of restriction. Not sure if the environment won or lost on that one... Which is worse, particulates or NOx?

I had about $20 in gas stolen from my TJ a few years ago. They cut the $60 filler hose, and used my axle vent hose to siphon. I had to replace that too because they evidenly took with them. I would have given them a 5 gallon can of gas if they had asked...

Now have motion sensors in the driveway to tell me when something moves out there. Some false alarms, but worth the little bit of hassle to keep my family and belongings safe. Plus, we moved out of the "big city" of Farmington, NM.

 

[Wilbah]

I think alot of cameras like Ring and the like might make stealing them from driveways more difficult. Maybe a game cam hidden when you park at a trailhead makes sense. Wont stop anyone but if you get footage it might save a deductible on your insurance.