Catalytic converter theft is a real danger that all car and truck owners need to understand and counter if possible.This crime is on the rise nationwide. Thieves can steal a vehicle’s antipollution device in a matter of minutes and sell it to scrap metal dealers for up to several hundred dollars each, for the precious metals of rhodium, palladium and platinum it contains. A stolen catalytic converter replacement can cost as much as $3,000 and many modern cars have more than one.More than 8,000 Californians have reported having their catalytic converter stolen in the first five months of 2021, according to police and auto insurance data analyzed by BeenVerified. That’s a 33% increase over 2020 and a 380% increase over 2019, when only 1,254 thefts were reported to law enforcement
