Stolen Cat - What are my options?

[indapendentlee]

Afternoon folks,

Started my E39 523i last night and it sounded like a tank - one of the neighbours popped out and told me he'd seen someone nicking the cat the night before. Said by the time he heard them and got to the window they were chucking it in the back and off. didn't get a plate

It's a bummer but living in London and having an older car it's not that surprising. Couple of thoughts that I'd be grateful for:

Can I drive the car as is the few miles to the exhaust place?

I'm not super keen to replace the cat and have it nicked again - are newer replacements as desirable to scumbags?

The car has just been MOTd and probably only has a year or so of life left (with me at least!) - are there any non-emissions reasons to get decat it?

Thanks in advance

[kambites]

Can you not claim off insurance? Or would that in practice cost you more than the cat?

[TVR1]

Must be that time of year again in London. Dark early etc.
I feel your pain, mine was nicked at 1am last Wednesday morning. Toyota Auris. Sounded like a V8 Nascar. Bit unfortunate for my neighbours at 6.30am.

Recovered into garage, insurance but a fault (vandalism claim) £200 excess.

Real pain is 6-8 weeks backorder. My lease guarantees a replacement car within 24 hours but out of pocket expenses will be around £500 due to nature of my job.

Worst thing? Toyota has know for a long time about how easy they are to nick and have done nothing (other than to sell you a cat lock shield for £250)

[untakenname]

As you've already got an MOT then if it's not a keeper and they haven't damaged it too much then a decat is the best bet as they may target it again sadly.

[bristolracer]

Many things are banned on facebook.

Maybe one of the things that is long overdue a ban is
Adverts on marketplace offering cash for Cats.
It only encourages this behaviour.

[Hoofy]

bristolracer said:

Many things are banned on facebook.

Maybe one of the things that is long overdue a ban is
Adverts on marketplace offering cash for Cats.
It only encourages this behaviour.

Forward the ads to your local police page.

[Tommo87]

Sadly, I think the older cars are more at risk, as the precious metals were cheaper and the manufacturing less efficient, so more of it was used.

Hence, they are a high value.



Echo the thoughts around Facebook.

[dhutch]

What an arse. However how much is a aftermarket cat? Should do you and MOT or two.

[ro250]

Hoofy said:

bristolracer said:

Many things are banned on facebook.

Maybe one of the things that is long overdue a ban is
Adverts on marketplace offering cash for Cats.
It only encourages this behaviour.

Forward the ads to your local police page.

Or the OP?

[Reciprocating mass]

£186 on e bay if this is correct,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313269889448

Absolute gits my condolences to the op

[Trevor555]

I nearly bought a Lexus NX recently but stopped when I read that they're one of the favourites for Cat theft.

Our local train station car park get's hit quite often.

[lee_erm]

You sure they got the cat, and not a muffler? The cats on those are built into the manifold iirc. You would struggle to get one off from underneath!

[BrundanBianchi]

Cat thefts are on the up ( again ) I’d look at breakers yards for a replacement firstly if I were you.

[anonymous-user]

I'm not going to lie, but I thought your animal cat actually got stolen.. it's been a long week

[hyphen]

The value of the Metals has shot up, so expect Cat thefts will skyrocket.

Rhodium prices: https://www.mining.com/markets/commodity/rhodium/
Palladium prices https://www.mining.com/markets/commodity/palladium...

[Psycho Warren]

TVR1 said:

Worst thing? Toyota has know for a long time about how easy they are to nick and have done nothing

Unless manufacturers put armour plating around the cats, I can't see what more they can do. You could say they move the clamps further away or weld them in place. Wouldnt make a difference as most are removed with battery power tools and they just saw through the exhaust to get them off.

[Tommo87]

AJ5641 said:

I'm not going to lie, but I thought your animal cat actually got stolen.. it's been a long week

As you admitted it first.... I have also been reading about a lot of dog/pet thefts and just assumed the same.

[samoht]

That sucks, sorry to hear.

indapendentlee said:

Can I drive the car as is the few miles to the exhaust place?

Yeah, should be fine

indapendentlee said:

I'm not super keen to replace the cat and have it nicked again - are newer replacements as desirable to scumbags?

I've heard of thieves returning to the same car/parking space to nick the replacement cat

indapendentlee said:

The car has just been MOTd and probably only has a year or so of life left (with me at least!) - are there any non-emissions reasons to get decat it?

It'll be noisier and might be slightly smellier with a decat - up to you if you enjoy the extra exhaust note or not
If you want to sell it after a year, decat could be a sticking point for the sale if a buyer's concerned it won't pass another MoT.

[dhutch]

ro250 said:

Or the OP?

Ha!

[spikeyhead]

AJ5641 said:

I'm not going to lie, but I thought your animal cat actually got stolen.. it's been a long week

I was wondering how you'd know it was stolen, and hadn't just gone for a long weekend of Ugandan negotiations with one of the local toms