Catalytic converter nicked off my shed, Golf R left

[PostHeads123]

My tip run car a 2002 A3 1.8t had the catalytic converter stolen off it last night, at the time it was parked behind a new Golf R that they didn't touch. Why would they take it from an old car and not something newer ? The did alot of damage getting it off so going to gave to scrap the car unfortunately.

[Scrump]

I understand that cats on older cars contain more precious metals and so are worth more in scrap value. The cats on newer cars contain less of the valuable metals.
(Only what I have read so may be wrong)

[Countdown]

Maybe they actually needed a Cat for an Audi?

Anyway, bad luck OP, they're scum of the earth and need tasering in the balls.

[PostHeads123]

Scrump said:

I understand that cats on older cars contain more precious metals and so are worth more in scrap value. The cats on newer cars contain less of the valuable metals.
(Only what I have read so may be wrong)

Oh right that ties in with the fact I've since found out that another 2 cars so a total of 3 had them taken last night from the same road all are older cars.

[rigga]

Or the position of the cat on the golf makes it too difficult to remove quickly? On my mini its attached to the Turbo downpipe, not underneath the car where its accessible, no idea where the cat is on a Golf, but maybe similar.

[PostHeads123]

They made a real mess of mine, if it was just the converter I might of replaced it on ebay not too pricey but its all the other damage, cut sensor wires, damaged front right suspension I guess by raising / lowering the car some how.

[A1VDY]

As mentioned, older (pre 2010) cars have more precious metals in the cat plus they're generally larger that's why the scumbags go for them..

[Brett748]

A bit of pipe welded in and a map will be cheaper than a new cat. More power and better sound, winner.

[PostHeads123]

Brett748 said:

A bit of pipe welded in and a map will be cheaper than a new cat. More power and better sound, winner.

Would a garage do that for me? MOT is due Feb next year and it will fail as needs new windscreen, I was going to scrap it / ebay it towards end of year.

[oldaudi]

It’s a ridiculous crime. Most Cats only contain between 3 to 7g of platinum at £21 per g at its current price. Take into account the chances of being caught, recovery of the metal and putting into a form of any value to be resold it’s seems like crazy way to make a living. I guess if they do several per night and know which models have more precious metal they could get a decent return! Just seems like a lot of effort for a few £. The recovery of rhodium and palladium from them is almost impossible

[l354uge]

Prius and mk2.5 mx5 cats are especially valuable (£500+) so be careful if you own one!

Op, if you can get someone to weld in some pipe cheap then you could keep it going. You can get replacement cats cheap on eBay but they only last 12-24 months

Edited by l354uge on Thursday 9th July 18:27

[untakenname]

It's the Palladium that's valuable, you can get £500 for weighing in certain CAT's so it's no surprise that there's a criminal element stealing them.

They chose the older car as they generally have one CAT in an easy to access place underneath, more modern cars have the main cats high up near the manifold making it harder to access.
Hybrids are targeted as they need larger additional ones under the chassis as well as the precat in the engine bay to comply with emissions due to the stop start nature meaning they work at a lower temperature where the chemical reaction is less efficient.

[PostHeads123]

Thanks for replies, I've learnt alot catalytic converters today, I didnt even realise until today a car as old as mine had one lol. Will see if my local garage can weld something in so I can get a few more months out of it.

[Taylor James]

I was astonished when someone paid me £400 for two old Jag cats recently. Clearly the buyer saw a profit in them too.

[bristolracer]

There's a few adverts on the sewer that is Facebook marketplace offering to buy them, scrap (or not) batteries are also wanted.
If there's a bit of folding on offer for their next score......

[vaud]

Probably a gang/individual only geared up for catalyst thefts.

Storing and breaking a Golf R needs more resources.

[Mikedknight]

PostHeads123 said:

My tip run car a 2002 A3 1.8t had the catalytic converter stolen off it last night, at the time it was parked behind a new Golf R that they didn't touch. Why would they take it from an old car and not something newer ? The did alot of damage getting it off so going to gave to scrap the car unfortunately.

Where are you? I was dropping some legitimate cats off on Friday morning in Brum and some likely lads had a set of cats for an Audi. Long shot but I didn’t like the look of em.

[Pinger23]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1qQ1VYnNgM

Video from Salvage Rebuilds on YouTube, explains how much you can get for them.

[Chris32345]

Brett748 said:

A bit of pipe welded in and a map will be cheaper than a new cat. More power and better sound, winner.

Also a mot fail if spotted

[93DW]

oldaudi said:

It’s a ridiculous crime. Most Cats only contain between 3 to 7g of platinum at £21 per g at its current price. Take into account the chances of being caught, recovery of the metal and putting into a form of any value to be resold it’s seems like crazy way to make a living. I guess if they do several per night and know which models have more precious metal they could get a decent return! Just seems like a lot of effort for a few £. The recovery of rhodium and palladium from them is almost impossible

Lets say an average of 5g of platinum per cat thats £105 per car, do 3 a night (probs an hours work) 5 nights a week. Thats just over £1500 per week for not a lot of work.