Catalytic Converter Theft Warning

This holiday season has seen an explosion in thefts of expensive, platinum-laced catalytic converters from parked cars, and authorities report that high-clearance sport utility vehicles are the targets of choice for thieves.

With a common socket wrench and 90 seconds, they leave drivers stuck with cars that sound like Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and facing repair bills topping $1,000.

“It’s an epidemic. It’s everywhere,” said Lt. Bob Turnbull of the El Segundo Police Department.

Thefts of catalytic converters have been logged in the last month in Los Angeles, Pasadena, the Bay Area and Sacramento. Arrests have been reported from Seattle to Virginia, near Pittsburgh, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and in Tennessee, where the Highway Patrol busted a thief cutting converters from cars impounded in one of its own lots.

“We’ve had them all over the place; we’ve had them in broad daylight in a Vons parking lot,” said Det. Jason Knickerbocker of the Manhattan Beach Police Department. “Most of them are at night. A lot of times, we never find the victim.”

The prize is a catalytic converter, a device used to reduce emissions. Platinum is more valuable than gold, and the contents of a typical converter are worth $40 to $50 to scrap-metal dealers.

Some thieves use saws, but the preferred weapon in Southern California is a ratchet with a 14-millimeter socket. The thief crawls under the car and unfastens the bolts holding the converter, a process that accomplished crooks can complete in 90 seconds.

What's the one thing you'd expect car thieves to take besides your vehicle itself?

A stereo system, your cell phone, maybe something out of your glove compartment.

But your catalytic converter?

Chances are most drivers don't even know where the device, which helps control emissions, is on their automobiles.

But crooks do.

It
turns out the piece of equipment that sits out of sight on your car
contains ingredients that are becoming increasingly valuable on the
black market. And it's incredibly easy to steal.

"All it takes
is a sawzall with a metal blade, a couple of quick cuts and it's out,"
explains Cam Young, a mechanic at Cam's Auto Service. "Less than two
minutes."

And it's a growing crime. One Brampton auto shop recently lost $1 million worth of catalytic converters.

What's the big attraction? It's what inside that counts.

Catalytic
converters contain expensive precious metals like platinum - which is
worth up to $1,200 an ounce; palladium, which can fetch $320 an ounce
and rhodium, the biggest prize of all. It goes for up to $6,000 an
ounce on the market.

The fact so many are disappearing doesn't
shock Young. "With the price of the scrap, the value of the part, how
easy it is to steal, I'm not surprised at all."

Ironically, replacing a converter will only run you about $300. But to a thief, all those separate parts are as good as gold.

"It's
not just warehouse thefts we're hearing about," relates P.C. Sean Piper
of Peel Regional Police. "We're actually having small cases of public
parking lots, vehicles that are being left in GO stations."

You
can't lock them down and you can't really stop a determined thief from
making off with it. So what can you do to protect yourself?

Try
to park in a safe and secure place, where a stranger with a saw would
be instantly suspect. And when possible, keep your car in your garage
instead of on your driveway.