Recently, the local news has been having stories about the increase in thefts of catalytic converters in Washington State, and proposed laws to make it illegal for shops and recycling companies to buy them from individuals. Catalytic converter thefts increased 3,800% between 2019 and 2020 in Washington. My uncle says catalytic converter thefts are ‘big business’ in Portland, OR. Our tenant, a mobile auto mechanic, says thefts have increased greatly down in San Diego. A friend in the Antelope Valley says thefts are rampant there. I’m sure thefts are up everywhere. Many of you probably know that the catalytic converter was stolen from my Prius on Thursday.
I made a very quick search to find out how much of three precious metals are used in the converters, and another to find the price of these metals on February 11th 2022. I calculated that the value of the metals in one converter would be between almost $900 and almost $2,000. If I were to ‘find’ a catalytic converter and extract the metals myself, discounting any equipment or chemicals I would need, and whatever value I assigned to my time, my gross profit would be around $900 to $2000. Obviously, a thief (or most thieves) are not going to do that. They’ll sell the unit for much less than the value of the metals it contains.
Question 1: How much does a thief typically get for the stolen goods?
It seems to me that thefts have increased so much that auto shops and recycling companies would be making a conspicuous amount of money. So…
Question 2: Where do most of the stolen units go? Unscrupulous businesses here in the U.S.? Or is there a criminal syndicate that ships them in bulk overseas to be processed by people who make very little money?
Thanks for that. I don’t know what many of those items are, nor whether the Prius converter is a ‘small foreign’ or ‘medium foreign’; so your link led me to google ‘prius catalytic converter’. I found this link:
Though the headline states my year Prius is an ‘unlikely’ target, the article talks about how 2004-2009 cars are being hit especially hard (58.1 claims per 1,000 insured 2004–09 models in 2020, compared with 1.4 claims in 2016).
In any case, I learned that hybrids have more of the precious metals in their converter because they don’t get as hot as conventional vehicles. According to the article, the answer to Question 1 is $1,022 (in 11/2022) for my car, $548 for a later-model Prius, $269 for one from an Impala or a Grand Am, and $143 for one from a Ford F-150.
So Question 1’s answer is ‘It depends’; but now I see a range.
Unless it’s sold to an auto salvage yard or something similar probably none. Metals containing Platinum, palladium, and rhodium are quicker to resell than a bunch of used catalytic converters.
The sheriffs out here said that thieves got about $200 or so . Remember, you bring in one and you are a legit auto repair shop or wreck towing yard- that is one thing. But when you want to dump a half dozen inexpertly chopped off, they know you stole them, and you get less.
Mine was stolen last month. I’d never heard of the converters being stolen until it happened to me. It was parked on the curb in front of a relative’s house for a week while I was away on a trip. My guess is that the culprits targeted it because they saw that it hadn’t moved in a while.
But people are telling me that my car (a 20-year old Honda) is a prime target. That true? If so, why? Is there something different about the CC from an older car?
Rat bastards stole my cousins 1992 Honda CRV. My first thought was disbelief. Perhaps a joy ride. A '92 Honda CRV? Seriously?
Police found it. The thieves fucked it over pretty well including just trashing the inside for no reason.
They also stole the CatC and two wheels. The police called my cousin. They had found it and moved it to some sort of impound lot. The police told my cousin it was drivable.
My cousin took an expensive cab ride only to discover that it had no exhaust system, and well, only two wheels on it. Kinda hard to drive a car with only two wheels.
As far as how to steal one, it might be bad SDMB policy to suggest how it may be done.
My worker lost his last month in Californias rainy weather, middle of the day, pouring rain, parked right down the street next to the 101 freeway. Its an older 350 Ford beatup worktruck, easy ground clearance With XXXXXXXXXXXXX they are gone in under 5 minutes. If you dont know the owners of a vehicle parked somewhere, you might just assume they are working on a problem, rather than stealing a CC. $800 to replace.
edit to add: XXXX out details as dont want to run afoul of Dope policy, as enipla suggested.
I used to have a Honda Element (loved that car). I had the catalytic stolen twice. Once I’d parked it for a week. Another time I parked it for ten minutes while I ran into the supermarket.
The insurance agent told me that there were three highly prized vehicles—the Element, one of the Jeeps, and a Toyota (Camry?). They had higher levels of valuable metals in their converters.
So is yours an Element?
Anyway, this past 4th of July weekend the catalytic was stolen from our Kia. It turns out that the cost of metals has risen to the point that just about any cat will be profitable to steal.
So I bought one of these, installed it, and haven’t had it stolen again (knock on wood).
I remember that cycle from the 80s: it concerned car radios. In some parts of Spain you were offered radios on the street that had obviously been just stolen. If yours had been stolen recently some people bought one to replace it. Then the radios began to be extractable, people took them out when they left the car. You saw them on every table at bars and restaurants.
Then, about fifteen years ago, the thing to steal was the navigation system, particularly, it seems, of BMWs (talking of Berlin now). That is one reason why I still prefer my portable one, though it is not integrated in my car’s electronics and can do much less that an (overpriced!) factory installed one.
I thought it was curious that for a while in the Netherlands the headlights of Porsche Panameras were in high demand and thus frequently stolen. It seems they were just right for growing dope. Don’t know whether that is still a thing.
Now it is the catalytic converters, has been a minor issue here for some years, but is getting more acute. I guess if it can be done, they will find a way to make them extractable, like the radios.
Scrap thieves are a powerful mafia in Europe: they steal copper and other metal from places you would not suspect. That is not always a good idea. Small comfort when your CC is gone, but still.
OP, I stumbled across this while looking for something else. $300-$1500 value at the scrapyard, according to this source.
A quick google shows that that was the third best selling car that year. If it had a particularly valuable cat, I think we would have heard about it before. But as I said, if metals became valuable enough all cats become targets. The worst AIUI is the current Prius.
Cheap deterrent is to tack weld short pieces of rebar on the exhaust pipe before and aft of the CC.
Cordless grinders with a cutting wheel was the way to steal the CCs in the past, now a “chain cutter” - looks like chain saw chain with handles to cut metal plumbing pipes- is the way to do it now. No noise and very quick.
Lifted pickups and gas powered straight trucks with cargo boxes (delivery trucks) are easy targets.
My son does some occasional scrapping. If he buys a car he makes sure to pull the CC before taking the car to the auto recycling yard. Worth his time removing as the auto recycling yard pays by weight (mixed metal) but the metal recycling place pays almost as much for the CC as he got for the whole car at the salvage yard.
I often park my car at remote trailheads when backpacking, this could be a vulnerability. What exactly happens if your catalytic converter is cut out? Can you still drive your car a short distance (a few tens of miles back to civilization) with nasty fumes coming out? Or does it somehow completely disable the car?
It’s very noisy, as the engine is no longer connected to the muffler. There was also exhaust gases that made me keep the window cracked. I drove the car 120+ miles home. It seemed to be down on power. I suspect that you need the back-pressure from the muffler for full power. Also the ‘check engine’ light came on after a few miles. This almost certainly indicates that the oxygen sensor has been damaged.
It’s loud as hell. They cut into the pipe before it and after it, so it’s unfiltered engine noise I guess. I had to have 2 pipes replaced each time as well.
What I didn’t understand about it at first is that it clamps the wire. I thought, ‘If you cut a shoelace at any point, you can unravel the whole thing. Likewise here.’ But no. That sleeve inside bites down on the cable at each point. A thief would have to snip each segment of the wire.
For what it’s worth, I heard or read that one quick and easy way to add a little protection to your cat is to paint it. You want to be careful because these things hit extreme temperatures, so not just any paint will do. Quick google…
Typically, converter temperatures will not exceed 1200°F on a properly running engine. Periodic operation above 1600°F can negatively affect the precious metals coating on the substrate, reducing its efficiency.
I picked up some special red paint at Autozone, VHT brand IIRC. I think some buyers shy away when they see it was painted, must be stolen. I found this: