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Pretty much everything you needed to know about catalytic converter thefts

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Illinois

* Stephanie Zimmermann has a fascinating story in today’s Sun-Times entitled “Chicago’s catalytic converter theft epidemic: How thieves operate, what you can do.” I learned a lot. For instance…

Catalytic converter thieves have struck more than 17,000 times in Chicago since 2019. And they almost never get caught.

Only 34 of those reported thefts — 0.2% — ended with an arrest, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found.

And…

An Illinois law enacted last year targeting scrap metal sales has barely put a dent in the illegal trade. In the months after it took effect, the number of thefts rose even higher.

And…

Some of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago for catalytic converter thefts, adjusted for population, were: West Town, Avalon Park, Irving Park, Logan Square, North Center, the Lower West Side, Lincoln Square, the Near West Side, Jefferson Park and Avondale.

* The feds need to be more involved since the thefts likely feed into interstate networks…

In its multistate case announced last November, the FBI and authorities in nine states stretching from California to New Jersey charged 21 people with operating a network of thieves, dealers and processors that pocketed $545 million from stolen converters between 2019 and 2022.

* Something to look at, perhaps…

[Lt. Adam Broshous of the Illinois secretary of state police, who heads the Illinois Statewide Auto Theft Taskforce] says some states have prohibited cash sales of catalytic converters entirely.

* In the meantime…

[Ambrosio “Red” Montaño, who manages Value Plus Mufflers at 4321 N. Western Ave. in North Center] says a better way to protect the converter is to install a large metal shield over the entire area. These are sold online for $100 and up, customized for different vehicles and installed at auto shops.

“It’s a lot more work for them to cut around,” he says. “So they’ll just go to the next car that doesn’t have a shield.”

Go read the whole thing.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 9:15 am

Comments

Our Prius has had the catalytic converter stolen twice in the past 15 months. The first time was in broad daylight, in my daughter’s school parking lot one block from the police academy. Talk about brazen! The total damage was more than $5000. The second was just a couple of weeks ago. We are not sure what we are going to do with the car now. It has nearly 300,000 miles on it.

Comment by Andrea Durbin Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 9:23 am
Andrea Durbin @ 9:23:

Our Prius was hit a couple of years ago — in a church parking lot! — after which we fought our insurance company over the repair bill (h/t to the Dept. of Insurance’s consumer complaints crew!) and bought a “Cat Shield” on Amazon. We had a Toyota dealer install it.

Well worth it for the peace of mind and Much less expensive than another incident…

Comment by Northsider Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 9:47 am
Thanks @Northsider. Will consider it!

Comment by Andrea Durbin Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 10:11 am
Learn from someone’s failure, a friend in Houston trying to avoid a second cat theft:

She had the catalytic converter itself welded to the unibody with steel rods that immobilized it.

The cat needs to move with the rest of the exhaust system, so she ended up cracking the pipes on her exhaust system and new cat.

Comment by We've never had one before Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 10:19 am
Ending cash sales seems like a good idea - until folks just drive to the next state to sell them.

Comment by Cool Papa Bell Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 1:15 pm
I purchased a 2001 Echo from a friend last summer - a 21-year-old car with less than 90,000 miles on it, and a big ol’ dent in the back bumper. I live in Lincoln Square (one of the Chicago neighborhoods with the highest rates of cat converter theft), but I guess thieves figure there’s nothing worth stealing on my little beater car because I’ve had no problems so far with anyone messing with it. *knock wood*

Comment by ??? Friday, Jun 9, 23 @ 1:27 pm

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