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Post by gato on Mar 27, 2023 9:12:30 GMT -5
Because I don't own a Toyota Prius, I haven't been personally impacted by all the catalytic converter thefts going on here in California. Turned in at a metal collection firm, the converters are quickly turned into cash.
True, any modern vehicle with a catalytic converter is vulnerable, but thieves especially target the older Prius, maybe because it's the easiest to detach in the dead of night.
Woe to the owners who wake up to find that not only is their car now undriveable, but the replacement repair is likely to take months, due to lack of converters. These critters are complicated to manufacture, and only certain types are legal for the Prius. Thousands are on back order as demand has soared for the "cats," both for replacement and for installation in new cars. Insurance companies won't total the undriveable car but also won't cover the cost of a rental for more than 30 days or so.
Many folks who finally get a replacement cat, also pour in extra dollars to have a special anti-theft "cage" installed to make another theft more difficult. (The way a locked door on your house just slows down a determined burglar)
This all takes me back to the 1970's, when dune buggies were enormously popular and parked VW bugs were easy pickings from curbside and driveways.
In my patrol area, bug bodies could be found littering back roads and riverbeds, having been discarded in favor of the frame, ready for conversion to a dune buggy. A cottage industry of anti-theft devices mushroomed: battery cut offs, fuel cut offs, ignition cut offs, devices to lock the steering wheel to the brake pedal. I don't recall a lot of alarms ... maybe they weren't as available as today.
In any case, all of these precautions were little more than mild impediments for determined thieves.
IMHO thieves who steal from the working public really need to get "tuned up."
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Post by Larry Madsen on Mar 27, 2023 9:48:30 GMT -5
Apparently, they come off quick and easy. We have had reports of them being stolen from cars parked in our garage. Disclaimer: Don't tell my employer I posted this ... Might not go over well  |
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Post by Taildragger on Mar 27, 2023 11:54:12 GMT -5
IMHO thieves who steal from the working public really need to get "tuned up." Amen to that. Some people say, "oh it's 'just stuff'...it can be replaced". I look at it a bit differently: I worked to earn the money that paid for my "stuff" so, in a sense, I converted hours of my life into the money that bought that "stuff". I hated my job and would've much preferred to have been doing other things. I can't get those hours back, hours when I was younger, stronger, healthier and more energetic.
In addition, some of my "just stuff" is old and no longer made or has personal, sentimental value for me that is far beyond its monetary worth to anyone else. So even if it's covered by insurance, it's not really "replaceable". So when you steal my "just stuff", that's what you're stealing, not just a few objects to sell to pay for your effin' drugs.
I'll never forget the time my parent's home was burglarized. The thieves took a gold watch that had belonged to my mother's grandfather and and my dad's cameras. One of the cameras was a 4X5 bellows camera that he had scrimped and saved for while working CCC Camps jobs during the Great Depression. Another was a camera that he had carried with him all through WWII: through 5 amphibious invasions, among other things. The scumbags who took this "stuff" probably got very little money for it, but the loss was really devastating to my folks. Just the sense of "violation" was huge because they were old at the time and my dad was, by then disabled, so they never felt safe in that house again.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 27, 2023 13:05:26 GMT -5
I've heard that the best deterrent is actually a cable "cage" that goes around the cat. Apparently a sawsall is the device of choice for removing them, but reciprocating saws don't work well on things like cables because the cable just moves with the saw blade. Regarding Taildragger's comments about value, my Dad was a photographer back in the 60's and spent a fair amount of time in Vietnam. He had a Nikon camera that he took there along with a well-worn leather camera bag. Somebody broke into his vehicle and stole it. He told me the camera, though someone of an "old friend" was replaceable, but what he really wanted back was the bag. |
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Post by markfromhawaii on Mar 27, 2023 13:07:26 GMT -5
Pickup trucks and SUVs are also easy targets for these scumbags because of their high ground clearance. A couple years ago a pastor working in our church office had his cat converter stolen while he worked in the office. Toyota Tacomas seem to be especially targeted. You can buy shields on Amazon for your particular vehicle. They have more bolts, making it harder to access the converter.
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Post by tahitijack on Mar 27, 2023 14:07:19 GMT -5
In Lost Angeles most folks park their cars on the street because they use their garage as a game room, storage for surfboards/wetsuits, some for a spare bedroom, or simply storage for all the crap they have accumulated during their lives, which is worth a few hundred dollars and they don't trust in a locked and secure public storage facility. Heaven forbid they should clear out the garage and park their car in the garage with the door down. So, what happens? As the old gangster use to say ... I rob banks because that's where the money is...so the catalytic converter criminals cruise the neighborhoods seeking a fully stocked street with vehicles left there overnight just waiting for easy money as they say. And so it goes...
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Post by Opie on Mar 27, 2023 14:26:47 GMT -5
IMHO thieves who steal from the working public really need to get "tuned up." Amen to that. Some people say, "oh it's 'just stuff'...it can be replaced". I look at it a bit differently: I worked to earn the money that paid for my "stuff" so, in a sense, I converted hours of my life into the money that bought that "stuff". I hated my job and would've much preferred to have been doing other things. I can't get those hours back, hours when I was younger, stronger, healthier and more energetic.
In addition, some of my "just stuff" is old and no longer made or has personal, sentimental value for me that is far beyond its monetary worth to anyone else. So even if it's covered by insurance, it's not really "replaceable". So when you steal my "just stuff", that's what you're stealing, not just a few objects to sell to pay for your effin' drugs.
I'll never forget the time my parent's home was burglarized. The thieves took a gold watch that had belonged to my mother's grandfather and and my dad's cameras. One of the cameras was a 4X5 bellows camera that he had scrimped and saved for while working CCC Camps jobs during the Great Depression. Another was a camera that he had carried with him all through WWII: through 5 amphibious invasions, among other things. The scumbags who took this "stuff" probably got very little money for it, but the loss was really devastating to my folks. Just the sense of "violation" was huge because they were old at the time and my dad was, by then disabled, so they never felt safe in that house again.
^ This all the way. Theft is mini-murder and should be treated accordingly. |
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Post by Taildragger on Mar 27, 2023 15:20:07 GMT -5
The other thing that's infuriating about thieves, especially those that break into houses, is the fact that they care nothing about how much "collateral damage" they inflict: broken windows, smashed doors, etc.. The victim, in addition to losing valued possessions, is also left with often non-trivial the costs of repairing the damage done.
Then, as if to add insult to injury, the scumbags sometimes vandalize the premises: take a dump on the floor or pee on the walls, especially if they are dissatisfied by their "take". Or maybe they just do it out of a generalized sense of meanness and hostility.
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apple
Quarternote
Posts: 36
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Post by apple on Mar 27, 2023 15:50:19 GMT -5
I was awakened at 3:00 am one Monday morning to the sound of a vehicle outside with a loud muffler. It was out there long enough that I became suspicious, got out of bed, and looked out the window. I could see light underneath my van and realized the car was parked alongside my van right on the highway. I bounded down the stairs in my underwear and by the time my hand hit the doorknob I could hear the Sawzall going. I yelled, "Hey mother******!" at the top of my lungs and he bolted to his car which had a getaway driver. The van has two converters and he only managed damaging one which my insurance covered. I wish I had remained silent and I may have apprehended him. My wife thinks better I didn't. Ever since, the slightest sound wakes me up and it's hard to fall back asleep. My garage was built for housing a model T so the garage is out of the question. I park the van in the driveway every night and have surveillance cameras on both sides now.
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Post by Taildragger on Mar 27, 2023 16:48:54 GMT -5
I wish I had remained silent and I may have apprehended him. Yeah...no. Confronting at least some of them is not such a good idea:
Better to call 911 and write down a description of perps and their vehicle, including a license number, if possible.
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Vman
Wholenote
Posts: 194
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Post by Vman on Mar 28, 2023 4:44:40 GMT -5
The local scrap yard won't buy them anymore. It became too much of a hassle having the police there investigating all the time.
Two years ago, I had to replace one on my Tucson and purchased an aftermarket CAT from a Canadian supplier for $80 U.S. I sold the old one for $130 at said scrap yard.
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Post by rickyguitar on Mar 29, 2023 6:54:42 GMT -5
Thieves suck. Somebody broke on and stole an early 60's 330, an early 60's Epi Coronet and an SG once.
Off with a hand!
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Post by tahitijack on Mar 29, 2023 12:34:06 GMT -5
One if the things I fear is after a break in my two indoor cats will run outside and be killed by coyotes.
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