A few days ago the local tv news reported the death of a cat thief. He was found crushed under a car after his cheap jack failed.

They just found a guy squashed to death under a car here in Va.Beach.. His car had about 10 converters in it.

Where I live, Danbury, Connecticut, the scrap yards around here are fighting catcon theft very well by asking anyone who wants to sell a catcon for ID like a driver's license & getting the seller on video. If that were done all over the US, catcon theft would disappear almost immediately

The thefts of catalytics has been on the rise like crazy in my little neighborhood in OKC. It's ridiculous! The thefts of these catalytics are what got us to this video because we didn't know what catalytics was or why they're being stolen.

Was a problem here in Maryland a decade ago. It stopped pretty quickly after scrapyards were ordered to collect identification from everyone.

My father's neighbor had a converter stolen on his car. So he got a converter cage lock thing. I laughed my ass off and told him that was the dumbest thing I ever saw. About 3 months later, they tried to steal his converter. Broke his O2 sensor, beat the cage up, and broke 4 of his windows in retaliation. But he still had his converter.

I work directly with cat convs and we're pretty sure we're seeing theft at the distribution level somewhere after shipping. We KNOW the parts we ship, yet every day we have shortage claims. It's theft. Whether from people along the chain or the customers themselves trying to pocket extra money. It's insane right now.

Assign theft detectives at the places that buy these metals, this is ridiculous, people need to be prosecuted.

What’s the bigger crime? Stealing cats or charging $500 for O2 sensors? Wow!

When the EPA starts cracking down on people who mod, this is the video you show them in court. "My cats were stolen your honor, but they were kind enough to weld a straight pipe in it's place.. I don't know why sir, crazy criminals..."

I'm sure all the mechanics are just heartbroken about these thefts.

Id like to read a headline where a thief gets beaten within an inch of his life by the car owner.

We submitted to our local Sheriff video of theives, stealing Cats from our fleet. We have face, and lic plate video. Turns out the sheriff knows an aweful lot of who they are, but the DA refuses to sign off on the arrest. California sucks.

Mine was stolen yesterday so my 2002 Toyota avalon sounds like a beast (edit) to anyone interested in hearing it i will be posting a video of it on july 17th

My car needed a catalytic converter to pass smog here in Cali and the cheapest quote I got was $900 for the job or $500 just for the part. Looked up online and they were $125 but they won't deliver to CA or NY. I ordered it and had it shipped to a friend who lives in Reno and he sent it to me. Looked up on KZfaq how to install it and it was surprisingly a very easy job! I had to buy a gasket from the dealer though for $25 so the whole thing cost me $150....and since then I do the fixing myself the latest was replacing a thermostat in my radiator which cost me 6 bucks when mechanics were asking $150...All without any mechanical training thanks to KZfaq and some forums online where mechanic are there just to help folks like me out of the goodness of their hearts 💚

thief arrives at scrap yard: Scrap yard guy: "hello what've you got?" thief: "some aluminum cans, some glass bottles, a couple ounces of palladium...oh and some steel tubing." scrap yard guy: "wait a minute....WE DON'T TAKE GLASS HERE!!"

A local muffler shop in California near me was caught with 1,000s of stolen catalytic converters. My cat had been stolen as well from my used car, which I didn't have for very long. It was my first car, and I got quoted up to $1,800 - $2,400 to repair it. Also, it is California so there are super strict EPA laws, and we use a special CARB catalytic converter which makes it that much more expensive. No aftermarket replacements and you can only get the cat from a dealer. And, my specific year and model did not have any cats registered that fit my car. 2003 Honda Accord LX, 4 cylinders. Thank you very much, cat thieves. Had to sell the car for a HUGE loss. Of course, I didn't expect to make money from the car, but I only drove the car around 7,000 miles since I had bought it. Did a ton of maintenance and repairs on the car just to have it all screwed by some low-life thief. It sucks.

This is a tip for the homeowners. Clean up the crap from the garage, and park your car inside the garage.

So, from this video, you've told the thieves how to cut them off and what vehicles to get them from. Niiiiiice...

I like how he casually mentions the precious metals, and how much they cost.

Such a joy to hear and see Brian Cooley again.

When it costs 2000$ in CA but 250$ in NV, it’s now wonder they get stolen

I forgot about detachable audio plates!!! Man, that brings me back to the 90s and Crutchfield magazine.

This video was so informative that I think it may actually increase cat thefts.

I remember living in asia that they used to steal manhole covers for the steel. Bloody scary at night riding my motorbike.

I'm disappointed that they arent refered to as cat burglars.

A teacher at my school (circa 2014) had her CAT stolen. Caught on camera. She took it as a teaching lesson as to why they were invented. Love you Ms. Aloucie!

Make the metal recyclers who buy them pay for new replacements and installation costs!

Man. Folks who been straight piping their Hellcats have been waaaay ahead of us all!

A few weeks ago I made a screen protecting the CC and muffler on my sons Prius made from materials I bought from Home Depot for about $40. The basic screen is made from material used to reinforce concrete walkways. Two layers covering the length from the CC to the end of the muffler and still having some left over material an additional layer over the CC. I don't have a welder, so to attach to the frame, I used Simpson straps and 25 screws. After installing I used epoxy to cover the screw heads. It is not fancy, but does allow visual check of the CC for the smog check. To get to the CC, either a bolt cutter or power saw is required to cut through all of the layers, it can be done but it will take time, make more noise, and the car needs to be jacked up higher to get additional clearance. When seeing the screen the crook will probably look elsewhere for a easier target. Three hours and $40 in a effort to save a thousand or more.

I’d love to see a thief’s face when he tries to steal my catalytic converter and realizes it’s just a 3 inch pipe all the way back

It looks like more people know someone that got their cat stolen versus having Covid.

The penalty for this needs to be severe enough to deter it from happening.

Also these scumbags are unlikely to jack up your car from the exact jacking point so can likely do more damage..

I got stolen from my RV a few days ago, it was parked inside of storage parking lot and I could not believe it. Now, my insurance is not happy, and fix it cost a lot of money. I bought it a couple of weeks ago. Be careful.

"How to get 'em to take someone else's". You speak the truth! Respect.

If you see someone doing this, Kick Out The Jack.

I lived in Berkeley and San fran for a couple years. I was always happy without a car in SF. So much theft, broken windows and outrageous parking costs.

Great video. Just got my 2005 Honda Accord cat stolen in Foster City CA. Repair cost estimate was 3.5K, and no parts in stock.

In the 70's and 80's, the target was Rally Wheel centers and rings that came on everything from a Camaro to a Corvette. I had a set stolen and was insured by Allstate at the time. They had a guy out of Atlanta that supplied replacements for ones that were stolen, call me. He told me that at that time he was doing $250,000 a month in insurance claim replacements.

So what are we paying the police and the FBI for? They can't work down the supply list of these precious metals!?

O caught a thieve doing it to my neighbor car I remembered he tried getting out we lowered the jack just enough the he got stuck waited for the cops got there it was an old Honda civic cops took him they said he had 9 of them in his truck

if it’s palladium, they’re probably making ironman’s energy core LOL

This is only continually happening because they are not going after the salvage yards who buy them

They’re gonna be pissed if they steal mine off my Jeep and realize it’s empty

I wonder if these thefts have anything to do with a revolving door release program for criminals at least here in Los Angeles County.

I had mine stolen, recently. Was not too concerned when my check engine light went on because it has done that before and it was my gas cap that I did not put on correctly. But this time, a short while after my light started coming on my engine started roaring when I tried to drive. A man purchasing it got under the car and showed me his photo of my converter being stolen. I ended up giving him the car because it was old and I had already purchased another car. Needless to say, I park my new car in the garage where there are cameras.

Thanks for showing me how easy it is to steal this, and how valuable this part is worth. I promise I might... Ugh won't steal! Yes won't steal one of these now.. let me watch this again btw.. take notes. 😎

Plot twist: it was the guy running the muffler shop having the cats stolen thus becoming the most successful man in the city.

Simple explanation is that they are too expensive to replace and police/judges need to keep these criminals off the streets

These thefts are everywhere , a small town close to me was freaking out due to the loss of converters and said they could not solve the crimes. I advised one cop I knew to have someone cut off an extra say 1/2 inch of pipe from the missing location and when they found the sellers with the stolen converters they could prove it came off the unit.

Someone stole my CAT. All I heard was ""Meow"" outside the door. I go to look and she's gone.

Catalytic converter thefts come and go. It was a big trend a few years ago.

The fix is at the recycling centers that give cash for these converters. A friend told me between 2 people recycling converters the total payout was like 20 grand with no questions asked. While another place wanted to finger print you. The secret for the theif is finding the no questions asked place which I'm pretty sure isn't very hard as word spreads quickly.

the question is who is buying them from the thieves…..

Inventing a alarm system specific for your converter plus adding the heavy duty metal plate

I just sold my Prius cats to the recycling center for $1400. If you own a gen 2 Prius, take off your cats and sell them, then install after market ones for $100. Easy money

Us and Uk mainly, no proper laws to ban trade with scrap metals from car parts . It will get worse. Btw in Uk been reported number of cases of stolen charger cables from ev cars while on charge. This is the next. Just watch

mine was stolen today welcome to the club!!

If you are adding a cage, make it thick stainless or titanium steel, no hand held sawzaw is going to cut through it without spending hours and destroying many blades in the attempt. Bolt them on with non standard bolts, thieves will not be carrying around an array of specialty sockets. Beyond this, an alert pair of eyes from neighbours or just people frequenting any area is great theft deterrent.

The hot lead from a fence zapper to the car frame gets their attention every time.. :D

I live in Austin, my roomate had his cat stolen, my work truck and another company truck, the shop had at least 10 trucks in for the same thing. This is ridiculous.

Tell the world how valuble the precious metals are media...that should solve the problem and scare thieves away...good job!!

Cody lab once showed that you can harvest those metals from the highways were it deposits from all of the cars on the road.

I remember 20ish years ago it was airbags out of Mustangs. Good info sir! Many thanks.

This crime would stop immediately if scrap recycle yards/purchasers were REQUIRED to collect identification and personal data of anyone selling a catalytic converter. Please! A thief comes into your business with a catalytic converter, freshly cut off on both ends, you know damned well it's recently stolen but buy it anyway? That's Receiving Stolen Property! Pure and simple. Prosecute some of these jerks and the word gets around quickly. Just pass a law, and ENFORCE it, making it illegal to buy a Cat without complete documentation from the seller and part identifiers. This crap will stop tomorrow. The scrap-recycle buyers are creating a market. Copper theft has been stopped in most jurisdictions using this same procedure.

500 for a sensor damn, and he said it with a straight face too lol.🤣🤣🤣🤣

Dude is killing it ,charging $500 for an oxygen sensor!,

I work at a dealership and we had 5 catalytic converters stolen from our customers vehicles. They tried to take one off a f250 6.7 diesel but gave up on it. They damaged it so bad we had to replace it. Cost about $7k to replace that one.

There’s an easy way to prevent converter theft. Install a motion sensing lift kit on your car, thief goes to cut, sensor is triggered,and BAM! Heard of Venus fly trap? Yeah buddy!!! You can accessorize by installing an automatic dispenser that will unleash whatever liquid/chemical on said thief once sensor is tripped. Phosphoric acid, sodium hydroxide, 90 weight gear oil, Raid, essence of skunk. You name it!

anyone else told about recent catalytic converter thefts in their area and now came across this video?

Mine was stolen in this January. Workshop quoted me $2800. My car value is less than $3000. I ended up getting all parts from Ebay for 150 and hired a mechanic from craigslist for $300. It passed the inspection without a trouble.

Just as a sidenote creating an under body plate for your car actually helps the aerodynamics under the car flow smoother so this is something you would kind of want to do anyway but you also need to think about cooling these parts as well

Nice of you to show people how to remove one.

please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENTS and share with your friends. We will have alot of great videos coming soon. thank you.

That dude that runs the muffler shop should be suspect #1, he seemed real nervous during the interview... I'm on to him

I live in a small town in Mexico I tought this was a local problem, but obviosly there must be a big business behind it.

Deputy in Houston got killed from confronting 2 cat converter thieves in the act at a supermarket last week. Tragic.

love that they show you how to do it

I remember back when glass shops where going around breaking windshields. 😂

Thank you Roadshow! A new career for all the unemployed people. You taught them why and how and showed how low risk of a crime it is to steal converters. Great work. I'll send them your address.

I’m here because I got my catalytic converter stolen last night

Just release the jack if you see this happening. Call the cops. "Yeah I found him like this..."

Ima UPS driver and remember 5yrs ago when this started. A recycle co. would buy these from people no questions asked, some cats were still warm! Where there's a market, there's a thief.

Turns out all the stole cats end up in.... you guessed it, the muffler shop. “ Hey Mike! Get me cat for that silver Prius from 3rd street, he’s here!”

I wouldn’t install a guard plate under my CAT. Catalytic converters put out a tremendous amount of heat. A guard would trap all that heat and direct it up through the floor of the car.

This is a massive crime in the UK too

Wow, I remember Brian from CNET, brings me back sooo many amazing memories of my early 20s hearing his voice omg. But I can't believe he still looks the same!

The first wave of this back in 2010- we just cut them off ourselves because some crack head was going to do it anyway lmfao

To those wondering. No, it is not financially viable to chemically scrap out cats for money - even free stolen cats. Even if you are a fully trained chemist with access to a good lab, it still isnt. The problem is rhodium - there is no current method in existence to separate rhodium in a lab, you need a specialist multi billion dollar chemical plant to do this. And scrapping a cat in a normal lab means you get the platinum and palladium, but the rhodium is still in the slag - and is pretty much worthless at that point, while an intact cat with rhodium in is still extremely valuable. The money you can get from selling the refined platinum and palladium from a cat, especially once you factor in refining costs, is less than you could get simply selling the intact cats in bulk to an Indian megarefinery. Remember KZfaqrs make their money through KZfaq and related sites (patreon etc), not through selling refined goods.

Unfortunately, the protective plates or cages aren't thief-proof either. The most they do is make it more difficult and time-consuming for the thief, which may or may not make them move on to another car -- but not always. And be very careful about confronting a thief -- in Chicago, they are often armed. There are reports of theives going after people with knives or even taking shots at them. If you confront them, just make sure you are very careful and know what you're doing.

Happened to my Gen 2 2008 Prius in London TWICE recently.

They cut off mine in less than 30 seconds. Happened around 2 am while I was asleep in 2016. Car was parked right out my bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Loud grinding noise from the saw woke me up but I couldn't see what was going on because a large tree blocked my view of the car. I also saw the getaway car pulling away from my parking spot. It's a dark color sedan. I found out the next morning when I cranked the engine.

What I don't understand is how come the vibration from doing all that fiddling doesn't set the car alarm off ??

1974 to be exact. These muffler shops many are crooks, like this guy, 3000 for a converter and O2 sensor? He's insane. O2 sensors aren't necessary, mine hasn't worked in many years. You can buy a old one and have it installed for half the price

Around 2 weeks ago in California, they busted a guy's house who had $42,000 worth of catalytic converters in his home, and found another $70,000 worth in another house.

This is why I just got a catless downpipe lol

Just had my stolen like 3 hours ago. I'm pissed off and that's why I am here Rhodium explanation says it all.

Tilt sensor on car, triggers a text to your phone, send welcoming party. :)

The real problem is the justice system will just let them go on probation and then call you a racist for calling 911 when all the thug was doing was expressing himself.