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Old 03-19-2021, 02:35 PM   #1
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A fight to protect my catalytic converter

Last week at 9am, a chevy tahoe pulled into my driveway like they were going to turn around, pretty typical and parked on the side of the road. They sat for a minute, also pretty typical around here, people checking GPS.
After a minute or so I heard a loud noise, wasnt sure what it was, walked into gargage and opened the door. Some dude is laying under my van, I ran around the van (in sweat pants and slip on shoes, I just finished feeding our baby) and said WTF are you doing, as the converter hit the ground, I Almost ran into his girlfriend coming up to help. After slamming her to the ground as she tried to get away, he came at me saying "we are leaving, we dont want any trouble etc". She got into their vehicle, when he tried to go around me I slammed him to the ground also (glad they both had hoodies on, a lot to grab), still holding his hood. I grabbed his pants/waist and slammed him head first into the tahoe. I slipped in the wet grass (wrong shoes for wrestling), he jumped in the car. I grabbed my phone on the ground and snapped a photo of the license plate.
Probaby not the best decision, seeing that my new born son was asleep inside and I went out unarmed. But was a pretty fast ordel. Probably would do things a little different if it happened again, like grabbed one of the 100 tools in my garage, but again happened so fast. And i was kinda shocked how ballsy they were to do it broad daylight on a busy road.

Not sure what to do to protect the converter from being stolen.
Thought everyone would enjoy the story.

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Old 03-19-2021, 02:37 PM   #2
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Some of the heavy trucks have started putting a cage of steel bars around the converter. Still possible to cut, but it slows them down. The real solution would be for scrap dealers to stop accepting converters from randos who have no proof they own the vehicle they came from.
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Old 03-19-2021, 03:02 PM   #3
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Wow, That is scary, Glad no real injuries occurred.
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Old 03-19-2021, 03:03 PM   #4
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surround the cat with det cord... oh wait, that would be illegal, oh my goodness


I hate thieves
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Old 03-19-2021, 04:00 PM   #5
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Sucks, but glad you caught them and at least stopped them stealing yours. Crazy.

I’m sure lifted vehicles are more attractive.

Hate thieves as well.
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Old 03-19-2021, 04:44 PM   #6
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I wonder if its possible to adjust a vehicle insurance policy to specifically cover convertor theft? If someone swipes your convertor they will probably damage other components resulting in a thousand dollar loss and more in parts and labor. I know i priced an OEM ford convertor for my v-10 E-350 and it was over two grand just for the convertor.
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Old 03-19-2021, 04:51 PM   #7
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Just had this happen on my honda element parked on the street out front of our house in seattle. woke up to the sound of power tools, took me a second to realize what was going on. They didn't make off with the cat, but did the damage to necessitate a new one.

Everybody i spoke w/ about it said that catalytic theft is off the walls for the past year. Repair shop/insurance couldn't even buy an OEM honda cat because they are backordered from honda for 6+ months nationwide. Super annoying, because the thieves get ~$200 from a scrap yard, but the (honda) cat itself costs $1,500.
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Old 03-19-2021, 04:56 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JabberBox View Post
I wonder if its possible to adjust a vehicle insurance policy to specifically cover convertor theft? If someone swipes your convertor they will probably damage other components resulting in a thousand dollar loss and more in parts and labor. I know i priced an OEM ford convertor for my v-10 E-350 and it was over two grand just for the convertor.
Wouldn't a normal comprehensive policy cover this?
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Old 03-19-2021, 05:05 PM   #9
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Its a problem here in the PNW particularly the usual towns/cities on I5. Maybe a problem in other places as well but I know from news reports and from talking to police officers that is definitely is here. We have a high property crime rate in general anyway. My local delivery van had the CAT cut off of it about a month ago out back of my building. They cut through the chain link fence then cut the CAT out of it. Pretty discouraging....
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Old 03-19-2021, 05:13 PM   #10
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Full comprehensive does for most all policies that I've talked to people about. Of course my partner and I chose the budget route when we chose insurance, so we had a $500 deductible.
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