The British way for catalytic converter thieves

Catalytic converters are a gluttonous morsel for thieves. Due to the presence of precious metals inside and easy disassembly they are easy money for them. Selling this element of the exhaust system in good condition means a few hundred or sometimes over a thousand zlotys of profit. Palladium and platinum continue to rise in price. For example, the former has quadrupled in price compared to five years ago.

As it turns out they steal on a massive scale, not only in Poland. It is happening on a huge scale in the USA, the police in Great Britain also have this problem.

Toyota Corporation in the UK came up with the idea of marking parts. Thanks to this, the catalytic converter will be assigned to a given model, and verification of the marking during an attempt to sell it will allow associating a given element with a possible theft. This is the result of cooperation between the Japanese brand, the British police and Smartwater, a company that produces service-approved marking kits. The action is to concern 100 thousand Toyota and Lexus cars, the originators want to focus on older cars because of the high percentage of thefts in this age range.

The idea is noble and begs to be implemented in Poland. But unfortunately not. For now, Toyota Poland marks the engine, transmission, body and interior components.

What threatens a thief caught stealing a catalytic converter?

Robbers who managed to escape with the loot can rejoice because the punishment will only be incurred by those caught red-handed – 5 to 7.5 years in prison.

What about the victims of theft?

If the robbed person does not have insurance for this type of circumstance, he must act on his own. We know that a car without a complete exhaust can not function, no vehicle inspection station will not allow such a vehicle to move. The cost of a new catalytic converter is enormous. Some people decide to install a so-called dummy. Unfortunately, this is a procedure that really only gives a visual effect, as the exhaust of such a car escapes a huge amount of toxins that pollute the environment and are harmful to health. No inspector will also give a positive assessment on the inspection.