How much does a catalytic converter cost and how do thieves steal them in the US?

When thinking about costly parts of your car to replace, the catalytic converter may not come to the top of your list. Depending on what kind you buy and the make and model of your car though it could be quite costly. According to NAPA Auto Parts the average catalytic converter will set you back around $1,500, and that doesn’t include labor.

However, they generally range from between $300 and $2,500. But keep in mind that some cars have more than one, including up to four, thus multiplying what you’ll have the shell out. Also, the bigger the car’s engine the bigger the catalytic converter and thus the price typically. There are also two types of catalytic converters, universal-fit and direct-fit, the former being generally cheaper.

Why are catalytic converters so expensive?

Catalytic converters, also known as cats, perform a valuable service by removing toxic byproducts from combustion-engine cars’ exhaust by changing them into less harmful substances. Nitrous oxide is split into nitrogen and oxygen and carbon monoxide is turned into carbon dioxide, for example.

It does this by having the hot exhaust pass through a honeycomb structure inside the catalytic converter that is composed of rare metals. Rarity though often means expensive, or valuable, and in the case of rhodium, it currently sells for around $5,000 an ounce, far more than the $1,000 a decade ago. The other two, palladium and platinum, are worth less but still can fetch $1,000 or more per ounce.

That elevated value has drawn the eye of thieves looking to make a quick buck by reselling the stolen cats for scrap metal. A multistate catalytic converter theft ring busted last year made over $500 million from reselling the precious metals contained within the standard auto part for combustion-engine cars.

How do thieves steal catalytic converters in the US?

It’s shockingly simple to steal a cat from a car. A thief could strip one from your car in less than a minute. Using a battery-powered reciprocating saw, the cat thieves slip under a car, cut through the exhaust tubes and voilà, their gone. A standard catalytic converter is roughly the size of a loaf of bread and weighs a few pounds. There are ways to prevent theft, like for example a catalytic converter lock, which is simply a series of uncuttable wires that go around the cat and secure it to the car.

Given the rise in the value of the rare metals in them over the past few years and the simplicity of snatching one, it should come as no surprise that the instances of catalytic converter theft has skyrocketed in recent years.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, in 2018 just under 1,300 Americans reported their car’s catalytic converter being stolen. Four years later, that number soared to 64,000 but that may be only a fraction of the reality. Carfax looked into the numbers of all catalytic converters replaced in the US and determined that “as many as 153,000″ were stripped illegally off cars in the US in 2022.