In Gig Harbor, thieves with saws want your car’s catalytic converter
In early February, a woman who had been walking on the Cushman trail returned to the trailhead parking lot at Borgen Boulevard to find her car up on jacks and a man under it with a cutting tool.
Confronted, the man said he though it was his girlfriend’s car, and quickly left.
What the roadside mechanic was after, it turned out, was the car’s catalytic converter.
Thefts of the pricey anti-pollution devices have surged nationwide, driven by the rising prices of the precious metals they contain.
According to Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey, thefts of catalytic converters on the Peninsula have risen from “maybe two per year,” to several a month.
In 2020, there were seven stolen converters and one attempted theft. In the first three months of 2021, there have already been seven stolen and two attempted — include the brazen attempt, in broad daylight, at the Cushman trailhead.
Pipes full of money
The reason for the thefts: catalytic converters contain rare earths such as palladium and rhodium. The part reduces pollutants in vehicle exhaust and can cost upwards of $2,000 to replace.
Converters are hard to reach — most are under the engine — and have to be sawed out with a power tool. But they can bring up to $800 on the black market. Particularly valued targets are Toyota Prius and Honda Accords.
Stricter car emissions rules around the world — particularly in China, which has scrambled in recent years to get its dire air pollution problem under control — have sent demand for the precious metals in catalytic converters surging, the New York Times reported. That has pushed up the asking price for some of the precious metals used in the device — like palladium and rhodium — to record highs.
Catalytic converters work by pumping exhaust emissions through a honeycomb of palladium and rhodium. When heated, those metals act as catalysts — thus the name — for a chemical reaction that breaks down harmful nitrogen dioxide into eco-friendly nitrogen and oxygen.
For thieves, worth the effort
From about $500 an ounce five years ago, the price of palladium quintupled to hit a record of $2,875 an ounce last year, and is now hovering between $2,000 and $2,500 an ounce, above the price of gold, The Times reported. Rhodium prices have skyrocketed more than 3,000 percent from about $640 an ounce five years ago to a record $21,900 an ounce this year, roughly 12 times the price of gold.
The metals prices, in turn, are fueling a black market in stolen catalytic converters, which can be sawed off from the belly of a car in minutes, and fetch several hundred dollars at a scrapyard, which then sells them to recyclers who extract the metals.
The most thefts, according to Gig Harbor police, occurred on Wagner Way, Canterwood Boulevard, Soundview Drive, Harborview Drive, Point Fosdick Drive, Wollochet Drive, and Hollycroft Street. Thieves target cars parked on lots, left on the street, or in driveways.
In Tacoma, there have been 112 thefts over January and February, The News Tribune reported. About 75 percent were from Toyota Prius models, according to the Tacoma Police Department.
One shop, 5 repairs a week
Deven Peterson, manager of Bucky’s Complete Auto Repair off Sprague in Tacoma, said he’s noticed the uptick in customers needing repairs due to catalytic converter thefts. His shop alone deals with around five repairs a week, usually costing between $1,500 and $2,000.
Catalytic converters can be sawed off vehicles quickly, Peterson said.
“It only takes maybe five minutes, especially if they’ve done it before,” he said.
Police are finding it difficult to patrol for the thefts, TPD spokesperson Wendy Haddow told The News Tribune, because they don’t all into an easy pattern
“The thefts are occurring all across the city during all hours of the day and night with no clear pattern of repeated occurrences at one particular location,” Haddow said.
What to do
In Gig Harbor, Chief Busey recommends parking cars in garages if possible, especially one of the sought-after Toyota or Honda models.
“We would want people to not leave their cars unattended especially in remote places,” Busey said. “If they’re a victim of these thefts, report it. We’re going to track the crimes even if we aren’t necessarily able to solve them.”
Actually, Gig Harbor police eventually caught the guy they think was responsible for the Feb. 4 attempt in the Cushman Trail parking. They used video surveillance footage to track his vehicle to a residence in Tacoma, where he was arrested.
“We learned, too, that he was responsible for at least one in Tacoma and probably more,” Busey said. “All of those charges are being aggregated and being charged as a felony in superior court.”
Allison Needles of The News Tribune contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 9:20 AM.
