Utah
Gephardt reveals top ten vehicles hit by catalytic converter thieves in Utah
“You may’t see beneath there,” Karrie Smith advised KSL again in October. She had no thought thieves had hit her Toyota till she tried to start out it the subsequent morning. “It’s so loud, it’s so loud,” she stated of the extremely loud noises her automobile was making with out the catalytic converter.
Hers was one of many 153,000 catalytic converters stolen within the U.S. final 12 months, in line with a brand new report by Carfax that it shared with the KSL Investigators.
“We undoubtedly have seen that thieves are very brazen,” stated Patrick Olsen, an government editor at Carfax.
Olsen says the crime is under-reported as a result of numbers are largely primarily based on insurance coverage claims. Numbers from the Nationwide Insurance coverage Crime Bureau confirmed roughly 42,000 catalytic converters had been stolen final 12 months. Many victims don’t file claims as a result of they don’t seem to be carrying full protection on older automobiles.
“Homeowners of automobiles who’ve solely legal responsibility insurance coverage fairly often, this type of theft isn’t lined,” Olsen stated. As an alternative, Carfax checked out tens of millions of service information.
“We additionally thought-about catalytic converters that may have been changed as a result of they had been too previous or had been recalled. Whenever you toss these out and also you’re left with 150,000. That may be a ton of theft.”
The deep dive has additionally allowed Carfax to share with us probably the most focused automobiles in Utah. The Toyota Camry takes the third spot, whereas the Honda Accord is second, and the Ford F-series of pickup vans tops the record.
“That’s straightforward to slip beneath, they get it, they usually go,” Olsen defined.
The Toyota Prius ranked seventh amongst Utah’s most focused automobiles. Hybrids just like the Prius usually use extra valuable metals of their catalytic converters, making them particularly profitable for thieves.
To be clear, no automobile is protected from catalytic converter thieves. They even took a chew out of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile when it was in Vegas for the Tremendous Bowl.
There are methods you may deter thieves.
“Park in a well-lit space, park in a spot the place there’s lots of people round,” Olsen stated.
Once we examined three anti-theft merchandise – a $30 movement sensor alarm, a $130 strap that attaches to the catalytic converter and exhaust, and a $210 stainless-steel cable that cages it to your automobile’s body – we discovered any of the three can be higher than nothing.
Catalytic Converter Theft: 10 Most Focused Autos in Utah (Source: Carfax)
- Ford F-Sequence Truck
- Honda Accord
- Toyota Camry
- Ford Econoline
- Chevrolet Silverado
- Chevrolet Equinox
- Toyota Prius
- Chevrolet Cruze
- Subaru Outback
- Ford Explorer