<p>Someone ripped the catalytic converter off of our old junker 1991 Toyota Previa last week when it was parked at a BART station. My husband just called and said “$5,888 dollars! plus a few other choice words” and then switched back to his other call. Apparently whoever ripped off the catalytic converter did a lot of damage in the process.</p>
<p>Looks like we’ll be purchasing another vehicle. The old Toyota isn’t worth that much. </p>
<p>Apparently stealing these catalytic converters is big business these days. When my DH called the service dept. to have it towed in he was told that that was the fourth person that day to call with the same problem.</p>
<p>$5,888! Word!</p>
<p>So, anyone know which cars are less likely to be targets of this? Don’t want to buy a new car and have the same thing happen again, if it can be helped.</p>
<p>Copper, it is copper theft around here. Someone stole the drainpipes off the side of our church - hauled them off one by one on the back of a bicycle, each drainpipe section was about 20 foot long.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard of the catalytic converter theft issue but have heard of the copper pipe theft issue as well as an issue where thieves go into almost completed newly built homes and steal all of the appliances.</p>
<p>Maybe it’d be a good idea to weld some fish hooks to the catalytic converter of your next car.</p>
<p>mstee,
sorry to hear about the theft. in my neighborhood there have been many a catalytic converter stolen: so far Toyotas, Hondas & a Nissan have been the targets. according to someone on the neighborhood list, Japanese & German cars contain enough gold or platinum to make it worthwhile for thieves to take them.</p>
<p>H is checking with the insurance. I’m guessing they would total it, but I don’t know. We had no idea the damage was so much. I thought it would be more like a few hundred.</p>
<p>mstee - my office is up on the north Peninsula, i.e. your general vicinity, and yes, one of my co-workers had the catalytic converter stolen from his oldish Toyota 4Runner just about a month ago. From the completely open parking lot of our office building. Methinks it’s a ring. Apparently they just cut it off and sell it for the metal.</p>
<p>My son had his catalytic converter cut off his car in the high school parking lot during school. Fortunately (I guess) they cut it off fairly cleanly and it only cost us $850 to get it fixed. His was the only vehicle hit out of 500+ parked in their lot. </p>
<p>This is a big deal in many cities. The police here said thieves frequently hit places with lots of cars and not many people around, such as car lots, apartment complexes, car & truck rental places, airport long-term parking, etc. They also said that with a battery operated saw (or whatever they use) the converter can be cut off in less than 2 minutes.</p>
<p>What is it with these lowlifes stealing metal for scrap? Last week they stole the permanently installed hurricane shutters from a vacant rental house we own here in town. Pulled 'em right out of the tracks and hauled 'em off! </p>
<p>And last month there was a story on the TV news about thieves stealing the plumbing from the toilets in the public restrooms at our local county parks. Every time they’d replace the valves or whatever they were, the thieves would come back and take them again! It cost the county a fortune to keep replacing them.</p>
<p>Seriously, I hope there’s a special place in hell for these petty thieves.</p>
<p>The recycling businesses need to be notified not to accept stolen items. There was a police sting in our area - police had an undercover agent who took state highway signs and other obviously stolen items to a recycling agent. There were several that bought the items and they were arrested.</p>
<p>There needs to be a joint effort between police and recycling businesses not to accept stolen items. In our area the thieves have been going after wiring in outdoor school facilities - lights for tracks and tennis courts. Replacement costs for items like those are not in school budgets.</p>
<p>What about the cemetery vases and ornamental fencing that is being stolen from cemeteries? That is also a big problem.</p>
<p>Something needs to be done and that rests with the recycling businesses - so long as they buy - no questions asked - the thieves will keep at it.</p>
<p>The police here did set up a sting operation at a metal recycler. One of the “flowers” of Southern womanhood they detained just “didn’t understand why here boyfriend put 250 pounds of copper piping in the back of her truck, and he just found it” - as interviewed on TV. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Well, I guess we are going to get to keep the old junker car after all. The insurance company figured out a way to fix it for only a couple of thousand, my husband tells me. Still waiting for a part, though. What a pain!</p>
<p>“So, anyone know which cars are less likely to be targets of this? Don’t want to buy a new car and have the same thing happen again, if it can be helped.”</p>
<p>The thieves are after platinum or palladium in the converters. Stuff like that happened around Seattle, and the easies targets are cars with high ground clearance (SUVs, vans and trucks).</p>