This is a piece of information the wife had at work - thought it may be important to let you know, those that are running round with these on the car still.


CATalytic Burgulars

Catalytic converter theft in the U.K. is on the rise. The increase is believed to be fuelled by a difficult economy and the high price of the precious metals contained in the devices – one converter will raise at least £150. The average catalytic converter contains one to two grams of three precious metals – platinum,palladium and rhodium – and the international prices of these metals have risen 67%, 200% and 600% respectively over the past two years.

It only takes six minutes for an experienced thief to remove a catalytic converter from a vehicle. The part is then sold and often shipped off to be recycled in Poland, Canada, China and Latvia to have its precious metals extracted. Although the theft of catalytic converters should be covered under your motor insurance, any claim will be subject to the policy excess. Insurers would normally cover the cost of replacement of the catalytic converter, subject to the cost not exceeding the market value of the car, or the declared value given by the policyholder, whichever the less. Garaging your car and parking in well lit areas can help reduce the risk of theft, as will watching out for people working under cars that don’t look like they should be there. If your car is high risk, then also consider marking the device so if the
thief is caught it can be traced to you.


Regards
Jase

This problem seems to have been going on a while now, i work in parts,and the amount of cats we have sold over the last couple of years for light commercials,especially Transits/VW LT's because the original have been stolen is quite high.

Light commercial stuff is probably much more common as its easier to quickly and easily get underneath to cut it off.

This is just scaremongering. If you're worried about that you must be absolutely bricking it about :

Oil pressure
oil cooler
CHOD
Vadalism
Tyres
Oil level
Rust
Oil

etc

I really wouldn't worry, they aren't out targeting 15year old fiats

the cats got nicked off the vans next door a couple of weeks back - polcie asked to see our cctv of the car park, apparently they get £400 for them (guess a van has a bigger cat).

If anybody wants to try and get under my car though good luck to them, I'll hear them ripping the skirts off and swearing before they get the cat

I was going to say, i dont think the coupe has much to worry about, if you can get under there to get it off, then all good luck to you

More likely to be vans, and 4X4's

Not scaremongering Just giving out some info that we received. I'm sure most of you own another car/van/4x4 thats not low to the ground. I wont bother commenting again.

Although it's not the easiest of cars to get under, a heads up of being aware is always a good thing Jase.

Thanks jase, although there is snowball in hells chance of getting my coupe's cat, my van is another matter.

unless its decatted .
its like people have never heard of trolley jack.
and they arent going to care about skirts when ramming the jack under let alone is on bit that will damage floor etc

im sure the peole who steal cats have more then just a spanner.
i ve even seen car where it looks like some one took petrol disc cutter to get the bit they wanted

Things that have happened around me lately.., nothing surprises me to what lenghts they go to!
I did hear that scrap yards are going to be brought inline. Rather than turning up with a load of metal and cash handed over that there will be a registration/ id declaration setup in place.
Without taking this too far off coupe chat. One example is that the the rubbish was emptied out from our large waste bin at work. The bin then taken.
Like mentioned, wheels being stolen is common and a jack is used. It's just an evolution from that. Airbags are not uncommon too.
Unfortunately, nothing you can do unless you catch them in the act! And then you can't hurt them apparently?

well they tend to either be smackheads , or some very nasty people and if you did confront them they will leg it or fight

what you going to do against some one with say a 2ft odd half inch breaker bar who does not want to get knicked and will kick your head in quite happly if caught ?
you may be alone or GF wife kids in house they wont be alone and wont have people they care about

im just saying as it ok to say i will fight them etc.
but i think people under estimate these poeple and what lenght they go to , to make money and remain free

most of the time its best not to be a hero

The police also seem to be doing random spot checks at scrappies. Last time i was there the cops were checking people that were in private vans/cars etc. If you were in a company marked van they didn't bother. The scrappy i go to ( with cable, not with cat converters!) now logs the number plate of the vehicle you are in and you have to give a name and address although theres no checks as to whether the details are legitimate.

don't people have to account for where they got them from? you don't just get your hands on dozens of cats from nowhere

if people took the time to read the 1st post it would explain where they go . if you didnt already know

if you also think this is people doing one off batch your wrong.
this is along lines of organised crime they do it on mass scale . will go to lot of lenghts to export out the uk to less controlled places then uk .

these may be same people who break in to high voltage eletric sub stations etc

the police can only do so much , and i expect only catch a small % of what is being stolen/traded in illegal

but in other posts it refers to scrapyards being involved - were they lying?

for cats you can walk in with them they just ask for a reg, you find the people who nick them are gypo's

yeah i'd heard that - hardly an international trade is it? i'd expect it's the scrappies and their contacts who export them by container load, hence the reason they pay that money in the first place

no ,no one is lying
but what if scrap yard in on it too ,if owner whats more money turns blind eye
and what good is taking car/van reg used if isnt theirs or even stolen its self

you see people in non company logo vans picking up/stealing exhaust and cats from tyre/exhaust shops

you get honset people and unhonset people in all trades all over the world

people should stop being so naive , im not aiming this at anyone just saying

in the docks they fill containers up with loads of scrap to hide stolen cars under , as chances of customs opening and searching every container is such a small %

no not all of it is international trade , but it happens none the less

im not say the theifs fill a container them self and ship

but it all goes through some where . like a shop taking cash payment avoiding vat etc

Hey..its a fair point raised by jase..

If like me you are decatted, and my CAT is well hidden under boxes and tyres in my locked garage, then less worry all round.

capice?

I've heard they're using Whiskas and wind-up Mice now to get them