Theft of catalytic converters from the exhaust system of vehicles has become a growing problem in Canada.
It's not a new issue, says Bryan Gast, the national director of investigative services at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, but as the price of certain metals has risen, so have thefts.
"Catalytic converters have been stolen for years," he said.
"The difference lately is the price of precious metals, and obviously it's the precious metals inside those catalytic converters that they're looking to steal and then sell on the black market," he said.
A catalytic converter is part of a vehicle's exhaust system. It converts pollutants to less toxic material.
New cars, used cars — nearly any vehicle with a catalytic converter can be a target, Gast says. The exception is electric vehicles, which don't have them, because they don't produce any emissions.
Metals precious
The thefts have been happening across the country for the last year and thieves appear to be after three precious metals inside the converter: platinum, rhodium and palladium.
"That's really what the rise is about," said Gast. Those metals are "more valuable than gold right now."
According to the website for Montreal-based Kitco Metals, which buys and sells metals and also reports on market trends, palladium is currently selling for just over $2,800 Cdn an ounce, although the Kitco 2021 outlook says it could rise to $3,000 by the end of the year.
Platinum was selling for $1,500 an ounce on Monday, while rhodium was going for about $30,000 US an ounce at the end of February.
An example of a catalytic converter. Thieves typically crawl under vehicles to cut them out. (Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press)
By comparison, an ounce of gold is currently selling for about $2,200.
One reason for the rising value of platinum, rhodium and palladium is that as automakers make vehicles to meet tightening emission standards, manufacturers need more of those metals inside the new catalytic converter to do that work.
In Waterloo region, police say there have been 131 reports of catalytic converter thefts since the start this year, most of them happening in Kitchener, Ont.
"We are asking the community to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to police immediately," Const. Andre Johnson of the Waterloo Regional Police Service told CBC.
"We are also asking anyone who may have been a victim of a converter theft, who has not yet reported it to police, to please do so," he said.
Stolen from mechanic shops, dealerships
Nearby in Guelph, Ont., there have been at least 20 reports of catalytic converters being stolen from vehicles since Christmas.
Scott Tracey, a spokesperson for the Guelph Police Service, says thieves will crawl under a vehicle and cut out the tubular catalytic converter at both ends, leaving a missing section of the exhaust pipe.
The most recent theft in that city was from a group of vans parked together, but Tracey says they've seen thefts reported from vehicles parked overnight at mechanic shops, sometimes at private residences and also at vehicle dealerships.
Tracey says after the catalytic converter has been stolen, "[drivers] come in the morning and start warming the vehicles up and it makes a terrible noise because there's essentially no exhaust system on the vehicle."
National rash of thefts
RCMP in
New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have warned people this year about a rash of thefts. In P.E.I. last month,
five people were charged in a string of thefts that police estimate caused damages of more than $100,000.
Last June,
20 Canada Post vehicles were targeted by thieves in Ottawa. In July,
27 people were arrested and 68 criminal charges were laid in Hamilton following a two-week project by police targeting catalytic converter thefts.
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