Rant: Stolen catalytic converter

[Mikedknight]

I could tell in 20 seconds on most cars by lying down on the floor with a phone torch. These guys will be more experienced than me I’m sure. No offence has been committed at that point either. I wonder if they send spotters out to do this before the actual cutting takes place.

[Whataguy]

You have to beware that if you fit a replacement cat after one is stolen, they might just come back and steal that too

The comments on the official Toyota cat theft web page are pretty depressing, as it has happened to people there:

https://mag.toyota.co.uk/catalytic-converter-theft...

When they steal the cat they usually take sensors/pipe either side, so what might be a £1k cat turns into a £2k repair.

What's really frustrating is that when your cat is stolen, the breakdown services won't transport your car to a garage to have it repaired. They say it's theft not breakdown so won't come out.

You then have to either try and arrange your own transporter, or go through your insurance to have them transport it.

[InitialDave]

Mikedknight said:

I could tell in 20 seconds on most cars by lying down on the floor with a phone torch.

Maybe on some cars, but I fitted a replacement aftermarket cat to one of mine, and it looked externally identical to the one I took off.

[Whataguy]

Pothole said:

Do you have a practical, viable suggestion as to what they should do?

I suggested several options to the PCC a couple of years ago... yet nothing was done at all until very recently.

So, I've voted for a new PCC in the elections next week.

They shouldn't have let things go this far.

[LunarOne]

Whataguy said:

You have to beware that if you fit a replacement cat after one is stolen, they might just come back and steal that too

The comments on the official Toyota cat theft web page are pretty depressing, as it has happened to people there:

https://mag.toyota.co.uk/catalytic-converter-theft...

When they steal the cat they usually take sensors/pipe either side, so what might be a £1k cat turns into a £2k repair.

What's really frustrating is that when your cat is stolen, the breakdown services won't transport your car to a garage to have it repaired. They say it's theft not breakdown so won't come out.

You then have to either try and arrange your own transporter, or go through your insurance to have them transport it.

Why wouldn't you just drive it to the garage? What's the worst that would happen? If you were stopped by the police, I'm sure they would let you continue if you could prove you were taking it to be repaired.

I remember when the silencer became detached on mum's W123 Mercedes 230e. She asked me to take it to be repaired for her, something like a 10-mile drive. I actually did get stopped thanks to the unholy noise, the fact that it was 1994 and there were police back then. They did let me continue, but escorted me the entire way - possibly because I was only 20 at the time. I probably should have been aggrieved by the lack of trust they had in me, but I loved it and felt like a VIP at the time!

[Chris32345]

JLGsDad said:

But Surrey Police trumpet success:
"The CPS hate crime annual report, published today (Friday 25 October), shows that the conviction rate for hate crimes rose from 84.7% in 2017/18 to 85.4% in 2018/19.
In total, 164 hate crimes were prosecuted in Surrey in 2018/19, a slight fall from 189 the previous year. Hate crimes are where either hostility is demonstrated at the time of the offence or where the crime is motivated ‘wholly or partly’ by hostility based on perceived religion, race, sexual orientation or disability. The figures also show that the volume of homophobic and transphobic hate crime dealt with by prosecutors in Surrey fell from 20 in 2017/18 to 15 in 2018/19. Disability hostility crime still remains low, with just six cases dealt with by the CPS in Sussex in 2018/19. "
Clearly those 164 crimes are far more important than the 000s of crimes affecting people like me. My mate's firm has got so fed up with the Police just letting shoplifters go that they've started private prosecutions. Don't expect the promised rising police numbers to make a difference; they'll probably be PCSOs, who aren't even allowed to ticket illegally parked cars and lie to avoid doing work (I stopped several cyclist cycling far too fast on my town's pedestrian precinct and when I later grabbed 2 PCSOs they lied that they had no powers; they don't have many, so knowing that they can stop, demand the details and issue a fixed penalty notice for cyclists on pavements shouldn't be hard).
Grrr. Second rant over.

People saying anything against gay's and other different groups it's treated as a higher priority then most other stuff these days especially theft and robberys

[Whataguy]

Mikedknight said:

I could tell in 20 seconds on most cars by lying down on the floor with a phone torch. These guys will be more experienced than me I’m sure. No offence has been committed at that point either. I wonder if they send spotters out to do this before the actual cutting takes place.

Sadly the criminals aren't that clever - the latest thing is they are also stealing petrol particulate filters/etc off the bottom of some cars... because they are mistaking them for a cat.

[Whataguy]

LunarOne said:

Why wouldn't you just drive it to the garage? What's the worst that would happen? If you were stopped by the police, I'm sure they would let you continue if you could prove you were taking it to be repaired.

In the past, maybe so but I'd fully expect to be stopped & ticketed now! Despite being a victim of crime that has just happened.

[irocfan]

Mikedknight said:

Unless they are completely stupid the return of £2 for an aftermarket cat won’t be worth the risk.

And there's your problem right there

[LunarOne]

Whataguy said:

LunarOne said:

Why wouldn't you just drive it to the garage? What's the worst that would happen? If you were stopped by the police, I'm sure they would let you continue if you could prove you were taking it to be repaired.

In the past, maybe so but I'd fully expect to be stopped & ticketed now! Despite being a victim of crime that has just happened.

I don't believe that any police officer is so anal that they would do that. If there was a safety problem due to hanging pipes or broken brake lines then fair enough, but as long as you were only doing a few miles I'm sure they would be quite pragmatic about it. Plenty of serving and ex-traffic officers about on PH - let's ask them!

[CoolHands]

InitialDave said:

They don't know it's an aftermarket cat until after they've smashed up your sills/floorpan jacking the car up.

Still worth it though as that way they don’t get paid. Otherwise they fk your car up and do get paid. I know what I’d prefer

My elderly mother’s got a 2008 jazz so the perfect target. I may have to change the cat now.

[LunarOne]

CoolHands said:

InitialDave said:

They don't know it's an aftermarket cat until after they've smashed up your sills/floorpan jacking the car up.

Still worth it though as that way they don’t get paid. Otherwise they fk your car up and do get paid. I know what I’d prefer

My elderly mother’s got a 2008 jazz so the perfect target. I may have to change the cat now.

You misspelled "car". Get her a Mustang GT.

[YorkshirePudding]

J4CKO said:

I wonder if anyone has decatted their car themselves, remove the cat and put it somewhere for safekeeping and MOTs, rest of the time run round without one.

Not very eco friendly but better than coming out to a blowing exhaust an a big bill, a bill that with a lot of older cars will write the car off effectively.

Not quite, but used it as an excuse to put a 200 cell sports cat on my MR2,

[Mikedknight]

I try and do my part. When I’m weighing my cats in if any swarthy looking characters ask what car they are off. (This happens when they see you getting good prices) I tell them it’s from an Austin allegro. Some of these gents aren’t originally from the Uk and seem quite pleased with the information.

[DodgyGeezer]

well if it makes people feel better (it doesn't me) SFPD have just had cats stolen off some of their cars...

https://www.thedrive.com/news/thieves-steal-sfpds-...

[Hoofy]

DodgyGeezer said:

well if it makes people feel better (it doesn't me) SFPD have just had cats stolen off some of their cars...

https://www.thedrive.com/news/thieves-steal-sfpds-...

Doubt they'll care about having them replaced under insurance and just won't care about the increase in insurance premiums as it's tax payer money not their own person money.

[LunarOne]

Hoofy said:

Doubt they'll care about having them replaced under insurance and just won't care about the increase in insurance premiums as it's tax payer money not their own person money.

It's got to be galling, from a professional point of view.

[Hoofy]

LunarOne said:

Hoofy said:

Doubt they'll care about having them replaced under insurance and just won't care about the increase in insurance premiums as it's tax payer money not their own person money.

It's got to be galling, from a professional point of view.

Maybe, and embarrassing. Enough to bother doing something about it?

[oldagepensioner]

AJB88 said:

They target older cars because they are easier to access...


Morale of the story, decat your car yourself.

For easy access think mercedes sprinter chassis cab waiting to have its body fitted.Company in Tonbridge a few years ago had a fleet of 31
new vehicles waiting to have freezer bodies fitted.All 31 exhausts were stolen in 1night at a cost of about £30,000 plus V.A.T.

[oldagepensioner]

EyeHeartSpellin said:

There is a clever chap in East Manchester making these now.

Mercedes have been supplying these for the sprinter and vito for years they call them catloc.