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06-25-2008, 9:35 PM
Since I'm back in the automotive field again and manage a commercial aftermarket auto parts store/warehousing store, I am receiving more and more calls from commercial accounts wanting cat. converters. Since my location is a warehousing store, I am more or less centrally located in the KC area, meaning smack dab in the center of the city. Not an area that is geographically or demographically where I would want to reside. Well it seems that the thefts of cat converters is on the rise for the minute quantity of platinum and other precious metals that are used in the manufacture of them. On to the root of the story, I was watching out the front windows, and damned if a car didn't pull up, several suspects jumped out, and used a battery powered recip saw and cut the converter off a Ford 1/2 ton sitting in the front parking lot. This was appx 2:30 PM in broad daylight and they knew we were watching, not to speak of the noise the recip saw made. Jeez, someone blowing a moose call couldn't of made a bigger racket. Of course I called the police with license number and description, and did my duties as a good citizen.
One Monday morning alone, I had a call from a local national account needing five converters for Ford Ranger pickups. All had been stolen.
Just curious if this theft is hitting anywhere's else. I googled about purchasing salvaged cat converters and there was a place in Texas that would buy them in lots of 1000 for $245.00 each. That's almost a 1/4 mill. People stealing 3 a day for a year could theoretically hit that 1/4 mill mark. It seems pickups are the big targets as the thiefs can crawl under them easy and newer ones have multiple converters.
I'd keep a watch on your own vehicles if parking in obscure places or possibly carpool lots, etc. Cat's are not cheap to repair to factory OEM levels. What the heck's the world coming too?????
One Monday morning alone, I had a call from a local national account needing five converters for Ford Ranger pickups. All had been stolen.
Just curious if this theft is hitting anywhere's else. I googled about purchasing salvaged cat converters and there was a place in Texas that would buy them in lots of 1000 for $245.00 each. That's almost a 1/4 mill. People stealing 3 a day for a year could theoretically hit that 1/4 mill mark. It seems pickups are the big targets as the thiefs can crawl under them easy and newer ones have multiple converters.
I'd keep a watch on your own vehicles if parking in obscure places or possibly carpool lots, etc. Cat's are not cheap to repair to factory OEM levels. What the heck's the world coming too?????