Catalytic converters make easy targets for auto thieves. Vehicular thieves are always on the lookout for easy money and stealing your catalytic converter or cat con as it is popularly known is an ideal choice. A cat con can be stolen in under two minutes and is as easy as easy money gets for a car thief; needless to say the number of cat con burglaries is on the rise as it always has been.
Background of the cat con
The cat con was introduced in the United States by a government passing in 1975. The purpose of the cat con is to convert harmful exhaust fumes into less harmful substances before they are passed out from the exhaust system enter the environment. A cat con is mandatory in all vehicles in the Unites States and failure to have one can easily be noticed by the police due to the distinct roar the vehicles exhaust gives out when its cat con has been stolen.
Financial importance
The cat con uses expensive and rare metals such as rhodium, platinum, gold or palladium. The usage of such metals is dependant on the type of the cat con and the role the material plays; the usage of such metals also means the cat con is an expensive piece of equipment. A new cat con for your vehicle costs about $1000 on an average. Thieves sell cat cons for any price they can get between the $50 and $250 mark, the expensive metal is either extracted and sold for up to $6000 an ounce or the whole cat con makes its way into a second hand market where it is bought and fitted onto another vehicle that has had its cat con stolen or damaged.
The ease of stealing a cat con
A cat con is very easily stolen by an experiences thief; it requires no specialized equipment nor does it require a lot of time. All the thief needs is about two minutes of time and a wrench; two bolts need to be opened and viola the cat cone is up for grabs. Trucks make popular targets due to their higher ground clearance which makes it considerably easy for the thief to slide under the vehicle and extract the cat con from the vehicle. Many thieves are also known to use mechanics creepers to slide under the vehicle.
Prevention is always better than a cure
Some car manufacturers now weld the cat con on instead of bolting it, but this too is vulnerable as thieves simply cut through the weld with a saw and steal the cat con anyway. While most people just get a replacement cat con for their vehicles there is something that you can do to protect your cat con. As a citizen of the most powerful country in the world you have access and protection from almost all forms of theft; there are engineers working on newer technologies to make a thief’s job more difficult in the hope to stop them. There are products which weld onto the vehicle thus encasing the cat con making it impossible to steal. Many safety equipments come with a money back guarantee and can cost up to $150 at times. The initial cost might sound like a lot but its money well spent and will protect you and your cat con from theft. The bolts of the cat con are welded over so as to make it impossible to steal.
