Catalytic Converter Thefts

[CleaningWoes]

So last night around 9pm my DD9 says Mum there is a man outside with a baseball bat. I quickly got her away from the window, looked out and suddenly there is an almighty grinding noise and I can see a man lying in the road drilling at a car. I immediately called 999 and the police sent out a chopper though no actual police turned up. One of my female neighbours shouted out the window at them and they threatened her by waving something at her like they were going to smash it through her window. Another neighbour approached them and they chased him with metal bats. All in all 3 cars got done in my street and a 4th one attempted. I feel so sorry for my neighbours whose cars were ruined. These people are nothing but scum. The only upside is that nobody was hurt. Hoping for a more peaceful evening tonight.

That's awful OP. Hopefully, the neighbours can claim on insurance.

My mum had hers stolen off her mitsibushi 4x4. She didn't realise until the next day as she wasn't parked outside her house. It's a small and usually very peaceful village. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the catalytic converter - it was damage to things like springs as the jack wasn't lowered carefully 😡she claimed on insurance.

My dad's got stolen too. Surrey seems to be a hotspot for it.

Sounds like Harrow ! Every day more and more cars are getting done !

There’s massive organised crime gangs, some cats are worth £100’s. It’s making some cars almost uninsurable. They target hospitals near me, so patients, staff, visitors come out and find their car fucked.

the police catch them, recover one car full of cats, but there’s so many of them out there. They just aren’t coming close to shutting it down.

theres no good way of preventing your cat going. One thing I’ve done at work is swap the original cats for after market ones (it’s the original ones with the precious metals), the owner then sells their original legitimately.
But the thieves wouldn’t necessarily spot it’s a cheap one in the rush.

It’s a countrywide problem.

Our area too plus they are spiking the fuel tanks for fuel fucking nightmare

It is constant. Police could not be less interested. It cost us £1K to repair the damage. The insurance wanted to write off the car because it is old, but it is running fine apart from the damage they did when they stole the entire exhaust in broad daylight in a NCP carpark.

DH clocked men trying to take the convertor off my car. He chased the gang away before they could access it and we've since had a cage fitted over the convertor. Its meant to make it harder to access the part so will hopefully put off thieves.

it's awful how brazen and threatening they were and how ineffective the police were.

happened to a relative as well. they stole the converters of all cars of one type in the street. however in their case no one noticed as it happened in darkness in the alley behind houses.
insurance was a nightmare as car was written off and it was taken out so brutally that repair wasn't possible.

good luck, I hope it gets sorted for you soon!

Are they a thing on all cars? I have seen so many threads about this lately!

It’s everywhere around us too, people post terrifying videos from their Ring doorbells of thugs waiting at the front door with baseball bats and smashing the front door if someone tries to come out

someone must know who these people are and covering up the scumbags for them

It's absolutely disgusting happened to dhs Honda

They even stole them from a hospital car park from staff, absolute scum

The police need to come down on them

It's rife around here (London/Surrey borders). The baseball bat stuff happens here too, and they jack up cars in station and supermarket car parks. Utter tossers.

Police won't do anything but they should! Surely some intelligence can be done to work out the heads of these gangs. Terrible, imagine what goes through the criminals minds.

Lots get stolen round here, lots from nhs staff carparks. Some cars are more likely to have them taken than others as they’re easier to reach. You can buy catalytic locks/clamps which make them much harder to steal but I assume are expensive and need to be professionally fitted.

One thing I’ve done at work is swap the original cats for after market ones (it’s the original ones with the precious metals), the owner then sells their original legitimately.
I'm afraid you've fallen for a hoax. The aftermarket ones must have exactly the same expensive catalyst in, otherwise they would not work and would be illegal.

I've just moved my car from its usual parking spot for this very reason. I used to park it to the side of my house which anyone could have taken it off without me noticing. I live in a bungalow with a huge driveway so it's positioned under the bedroom window now and people would be visible in the street in that position. I've read if you have a driveway to park it as flush against the house/garage as possible. If your driver is designed that way of course.
I appreciate not everyone has a drive.

Some cars are more likely to have theirs taken than others. Hybrids have expensive ones. Some cars are easier to access than others. My Astra apparently it’s hard to get to. Car manufacturers are beginning to take this problem into account with new car designs but it’ll be a problem for a long time.

I'm afraid you've fallen for a hoax. The aftermarket ones must have exactly the same expensive catalyst in, otherwise they would not work and would be illegal.

Im afraid you have no idea what you’re talking about. The desirable cats are mainly older ones from cars like Hondas and Toyotas, these can be worth £800 scrap. The modern aftermarket replacements and OEM fitments on modern cars contain much lower quantity of the desirable precious metals, these are much less likely to be stolen.

It is constant. Police could not be less interested

don’t be so sure. My brother is police staff- his job is collating daily/weekly/monthly crime stats.

so while individually there isn’t much they can do, the cat and thief is long gone, they do look at the broader picture, what models, any particular area, does it fit a certain known method? This is all fed back to vehicle companies, patrols in the area etc.

But for you and your personal theft, no there isn’t much to be interested in. What do you expect them to do? Track it down and return it?

Police won't do anything but they should! Surely some intelligence can be done to work out the heads of these gangs

bloody hell if only the police had thought of that? Have you considered joining up and running CID?

how do you know they don’t? Are you privy to all the intel that is processed and acted on?

fyi- they do.

fyi

What do you expect them to do? Track it down and return it?

actually come whilst the crime is being committed?

it's not 'just' the theft, that's bad enough, but also the threatening behaviour and the organised crime aspect.

I watched a TV show a few days ago that advised parking close to a wall, don't park on a kerb, etc. It makes the car less appealing to the thieves because they rely on speed.

@Reallyreallyborednow no need to be so rude.
I don't see any evidence of any action on car crime except for when it's sheer luck. Sorry if you have insight to the contrary but it's about public perception as well as behind the scenes.

its not a hoax, I give them to the scrap man and order the new ones.
otherwise all the thieves would be turning euro car parts over for all their cats not threatening people in tesco car park