Catalytic converter stolen?

[Whaler27]

You’d have us believe that crackheads all over the country are hacking converters off of cars left and right but somehow it’s not prevalent in FLORIDA? C’mon man. We know Florida.


The first time I saw a video of person tripping balls on bath salts several years ago when it became a thing, guess where it was?

x2
Plus, as near as I can tell, only about 5% of the people living in Florida are Floridians. The rest are transplants from New York, New Jersey, Illinois, etc. Those places are the birthing grounds for many of our country’s most troublesome crime problems. (I recently met a twenty-something with a very distinct New York accent who claimed to have never lived anywhere but Florida. His parents, surrounding family, and most of the people he interacted with were from New York and New Jersey.)

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[falcon241073]

What’s the scrap metal value?

 

[jjvincent]

I’ve never known anyone in Florida getting converters stolen and never knew it was a thing until I started traveling for work. First I heard of it, was like why, they have no value... Then I learned about other states inspections and how strict some could be. Then I understood why poor people would steal them and how some cars would be junked early, instead of being driven into the ground.

It’s pretty common in Florida for those with older cars, to just have them cut off and a “test pipe” installed for cash. Typically these cars aren’t long before they go to the junk yard (or the local 16 year olds first car to be crashed) and owners are typically just trying to spend as little as possible to keep it going.

If someone is replacing a converter in Florida, it’s usually a newer car maintained by the dealer and it’s getting replaced under the longer emissions warranty.

The one on my RV is worth $200 scrap value. A Prius is $1200. A general CAT off of a car is about $100. For example, if you break into a storage lot that houses RV's. you will easily find 5-6 Class C's. Right there it's a minimum of $1000 for 10 minutes of work. I think they go after CATS because they already stole all of the wiring and copper downspouts years ago.

 

[Hennessey17]

This is why cannabis should be federally legal... make it easier to get than meth and these tweakers will have no motivation.

 

[Rosco P]

I’ve never known anyone in Florida getting converters stolen and never knew it was a thing until I started traveling for work. First I heard of it, was like why, they have no value... Then I learned about other states inspections and how strict some could be. Then I understood why poor people would steal them and how some cars would be junked early, instead of being driven into the ground.

It’s pretty common in Florida for those with older cars, to just have them cut off and a “test pipe” installed for cash. Typically these cars aren’t long before they go to the junk yard (or the local 16 year olds first car to be crashed) and owners are typically just trying to spend as little as possible to keep it going.

If someone is replacing a converter in Florida, it’s usually a newer car maintained by the dealer and it’s getting replaced under the longer emissions warranty.

One of our branches in FL, Tampa area, lost 9 CC in one night couple weeks ago.

 

[Charmagne]

The last thread I read about these thefts, the prevalent comment was that one would be better off spending the money on locking lug nuts for the wheels. I thought "oh my goodnees I need to get those" So I promptly bought some, installed them on all five wheels and was standing back admiring my handiness. Turned to the BF and asked "but couldn't someone just get ahold of one of these keys and be able to take off any Mopar locking lug nut?" He said "Yes. But don't worry, the biggest deterent you have is your stock tires and rims" .... Maybe I was a tad overexuberant.

 

[jjvincent]

The last thread I read about these thefts, the prevalent comment was that one would be better off spending the money on locking lug nuts for the wheels. I thought "oh my goodnees I need to get those" So I promptly bought some, installed them on all five wheels and was standing back admiring my handiness. Turned to the BF and asked "but couldn't someone just get ahold of one of these keys and be able to take off any Mopar locking lug nut?" He said "Yes. But don't worry, the biggest deterent you have is your stock tires and rims" .... Maybe I was a tad overexuberant.

The biggest problem is that if you lose the socket for them. I have the sockets that might take them off. Low and behold (McGuard, the company that makes them) decided to make an outer shell that rotates, thus making it even harder for me to get them off. As for those wheel locks, they use a number of different designs for them, so you should have got a serial number for them and thus, if the socket is lost, they can replace it. Not a great thing if you have a flat and need it fixed now.

Currently, money would be better spent on preventing CAT thefts. I do a number per week and as for stolen wheels, been about 10 years since the last one.

 

[Charmagne]

The biggest problem is that if you lose the socket for them. I have the sockets that might take them off. Low and behold (McGuard, the company that makes them) decided to make an outer shell that rotates, thus making it even harder for me to get them off. As for those wheel locks, they use a number of different designs for them, so you should have got a serial number for them and thus, if the socket is lost, they can replace it. Not a great thing if you have a flat and need it fixed now.

Currently, money would be better spent on preventing CAT thefts. I do a number per week and as for stolen wheels, been about 10 years since the last one.

Completely agree. Live and learn. Being in CA, the CAT is a concern, but with so many electric hybrids around, Jeeps haven't really been a target around here.

 

[OSCAR II]

CAT theft has been a thing for 35+ years, I can remember the scrap yards giving you $100 back then. Trucks and 4x4s were the biggest targets because the obvious... easy to get under. No idea what they getting for them now but all metals have taken off over the last 20 years.

But what has really aided in the theft is how far battery tools have come. Batteries have come a long way, jobsite tool theft has gone up and blades are everywhere and easy to come by.

I will give it to jeep though, they have tucked them up and made them hard to get to.

 

[swang]

A thief cut the catalytic converter off my gf's 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe. What a PITA! Has anyone had theirs stolen off of a Jeep Wrangler? I gotta admit I'm a little concerned. I do have the Metalcloak UnderCloak skids, but I'm not sure how much protection that offers. I wonder if aftermarket inner fender liners would also be a deterrent?

On a side note... here in Ohio a couple was just busted for stealing 1,100+ catalytic converters in 2021. They had sold them for $480,000 cash! I know what you're thinking... let's investigate who ever was buying them.

Let me tell you the rest of the story...

Took the Santa Fe to the Hyundai dealership, the repair quote was $4,500 with no ETA for the part. No kidding. Long story short, we paid insurance the $250 deductible and we've been waiting for about 4 weeks. Everyone I've told this story to told me we should have done something different, and I get it... there are several alternative solutions we could have chosen. But we had our reasons and chose accordingly. Anyways, I wanted to share because it really was a PITA to deal with. And the thieves probably got $100 or less for our troubles.

 

[MarkM]

That sucks! I haven't heard of anyone in my circle having problems with cat thefts.

The cats are pretty far up in the chassis on a JL. With the manifolds being part of the head and the cat being directly attached, there is little to no room to get in there. Even my GMC has the cats way up in the engine bay.

It's not like it was years ago with the cats under the floorboards. There are still vehicle like that, but these thieves are opportunists, if it is work, they will move on to something easier. I am pretty sure they know which vehicles are easy pickings and which are not. I suppose if you pulled a wheel and fender liner, you could get at it better, but at that point, just steal the whole damn thing!

I say everyone is culpable here!

It's not just the aforementioned "meth" heads and the people paying them, but also something in our society telling them it's ok to steal and cause thousands of dollars in damage for a few minutes of gratification.

It's like when you come out of Target and find teenagers sitting in your naked Jeep and they give you lip when you confront them about it. Where do you get off thinking such behavior is remotely OK?

 

[jjvincent]

Let me tell you the rest of the story...

Took the Santa Fe to the Hyundai dealership, the repair quote was $4,500 with no ETA for the part. No kidding. Long story short, we paid insurance the $250 deductible and we've been waiting for about 4 weeks. Everyone I've told this story to told me we should have done something different, and I get it... there are several alternative solutions we could have chosen. But we had our reasons and chose accordingly. Anyways, I wanted to share because it really was a PITA to deal with. And the thieves probably got $100 or less for our troubles.

I'd suggest a regular repair shop then. Walker will have those in stock and the price will be definitely cheaper.

 

[Heimkehr]

The cats are pretty far up in the chassis on a JL. With the manifolds being part of the head and the cat being directly attached, there is little to no room to get in there. Even my GMC has the cats way up in the engine bay.

It's not like it was years ago with the cats under the floorboards. There are still vehicle like that, but these thieves are opportunists, if it is work, they will move on to something easier. I am pretty sure they know which vehicles are easy pickings and which are not. I suppose if you pulled a wheel and fender liner, you could get at it better, but at that point, just steal the whole damn thing!

I say everyone is culpable here!

Who is the "everyone" that deserves blame here?

Or do you mean to say that the majority of law-abiding vehicle owners are the ones at risk of catalytic converter theft?

 

[JCPII]

Not to far from me in Spokane, WA, thieves actually stole the CATS from a Senior Center's transport vans. Left the seniors stranded from appointments and outings until an empathetic local shop donated their time AND parts for the needed replacements.

 

[Hogdreamer]

As for those wheel locks, they use a number of different designs for them, so you should have got a serial number for them and thus, if the socket is lost, they can replace it. Not a great thing if you have a flat and need it fixed now.

Another issue with wheel locks is; where is the socket for them usually kept?

In the glove box. Break into the jeep, grab the socket out of the glove box, take off the wheels and disappear.

Think I'll hide my socket better but even so, my jeeps window will probably be busted as the thief will want that socket.

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