How to Protect Your Car from Catalytic Converter Theft

One greeting successful June, Janet went to commencement her Prius and was shocked to perceive a large rattling coming from the car. 

“It made a horrible racket!” she recalled. 

Janet, who lives successful Pleasanton, discovered idiosyncratic had stolen the catalytic converter from her Prius. 

Her communicative is not uncommon, the Pleasanton Police Department received 27 reports of catalytic converter thefts successful 2019, 64 reports successful 2020, and 70 reports successful 2021 truthful far. 

This mirrors a spike successful catalytic converter thefts across the Bay Area, across California, and across the country since the commencement of the pandemic. 

“Since 2019, we’ve seen a 300% summation successful the theft of catalytic converters,” said David Glawe, the President and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. 

Why Converters Get Stolen

Catalytic converters incorporate precious metals similar rhodium, platinum, and palladium. Thieves tin pouch hundreds of dollars for each stolen converter by selling them to recyclers and car repair shops.

“The proviso concatenation and the mining of these precious metals is difficult, which has caused the terms to spell up exponentially implicit the past year,”  Glawe said, noting that the summation successful thefts coincides with the summation successful the prices of these metals.

It tin instrumentality criminals 2 to 3 minutes utilizing tools from a hardware store to swipe your converter, leaving you with a several-thousand dollar portion to replace. 

In California, it’s a usurpation of the authorities conveyance codification to bargain a converter. The punishment is simply a misdemeanor offense.

“You volition spell to jail,” emphasized Ryan Tujague, the Crime Prevention Officer with Pleasanton Police, adding that determination are much terrible penalties if you're recovered stealing aggregate converters.

Tujague pointed retired that portion your converter whitethorn beryllium casual to steal, determination are besides casual ways you can prevent your car from becoming a target.

Park Smart

The easiest (and cheapest) proposal Tujague has to curb your hazard is to deliberation cautiously astir wherever you park. Garages are the safest option, but if that’s not possible, purpose for driveways, well-lit areas, and places with video surveillance. 

Etch Your Converter

Tujague said etching your catalytic converter with your licence sheet number, driver’s licence number, oregon telephone fig tin deter thieves. You tin bargain an etcher for astir $20 and bash it yourself, oregon you could inquire a mechanic to bash it for you. Some instrumentality enforcement agencies volition assistance you bash this etching for free. 

Cage Your Converter

A muffler store tin assistance you weld a rebar cage astir your converter. Tujague explained that the metallic cage volition halt thieves from trying to saw disconnected your converter. The rebar enactment whitethorn outgo you respective 100 dollars. 

Lock Your Converter

For much protection, Tujague recommends installing locks connected your converter. You tin bargain locks designed to spell connected your converter, they typically merchantability online for betwixt $100 and $400. Some locks you tin instal yourself, others mightiness necessitate a mechanic’s help.

“It’s perfectly worthy the money,” Tujague said. 

Will Insurance Cover Locks oregon Cages? 

An NICB spokesperson told america “it isn’t typical” that insurers would screen anti-theft instrumentality installation. However, NICB noted that installing an anti-theft instrumentality mightiness gain you a discount connected your wide security that could beryllium packaged with different discounts specified arsenic a harmless operator discount. 

Insurance Coverage

Look into what your security would screen should your converter beryllium stolen. NICB explained that catalytic converter theft is mostly lone covered by security if the conveyance proprietor has “comprehensive insurance” which is optional successful California. Check to spot what your deductible would beryllium to repair a stolen catalytic converter.

 Which Vehicles Are Most At Risk? 

In Pleasanton, the vehicles targeted astir are Ford F-150s, sheet oregon proscription vans, Honda Accords, Honda Elements, and the astir predominant people of all: the Toyota Prius. 

The Highway Data Loss Institute published a study this outpouring connected theft losses for 2004-2009 Toyota Prius models and recovered that theft nonaccomplishment for these cars accrued "substantially" successful 2020. A spokesperson said HDLI believes a spike successful catalytic converter theft is what is driving the summation successful theft losses for Prius owners.

Many instrumentality enforcement agencies judge the Toyota Prius is targeted due to the fact that the converter is utilized little often and is casual to access.  

NBC Bay Area reached retired to Honda and Ford for remark connected this communicative but did not perceive back. 

Toyota did respond to america with a connection saying, “Catalytic converter theft is an industry-wide challenge.”

Toyota went connected to say, “While not the solution to the occupation arsenic a whole, taking preventative measures similar astute parking and adding the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to the catalytic converter tin assistance support drivers from theft.”

“I don’t privation to support dealing with it”

As for Janet, she feels grateful that her security coiled up covering the $2,700 it outgo to regenerate her catalytic converter. 

But present she is acrophobic that the thieves volition instrumentality and bargain her catalytic converter again. 

Her intuition is correct, Pleasanton Police accidental galore catalytic converter theft victims upwind up having their converters stolen again erstwhile they’ve replaced the part. 

“Now I’m truly reasoning astir conscionable selling the car due to the fact that I don’t privation to support dealing with it,” Janet said of her Prius.