Catalytic converter theft seems to be plummeting in California

For about two years, San Francisco auto mechanic John Rodriguez saw at least one customer a day with a stolen catalytic converter. Some customers at his body shop, Precision Auto Repair, were replacing their fourth or fifth catalytic converter, as theft of the emissions device in California and across the country was rampant.

“Now, I haven’t had to replace one in the last 30 days,” Rodriguez, a co-owner in the 61-year-old family business, told SFGATE in October. “It’s a good thing.”

New data on catalytic converter thefts shows just how good it is. Theft spiked during the heart of the pandemic, according to claims data released last month by State Farm, the largest auto insurer in California. In 2021, there were 32,000 claims for stolen catalytic converters nationwide; in 2022, there were 45,000. In the first six months of this year, however, there have been just 14,500, compared to 23,000 in the same period last year. In California specifically, there have been 5,400 claims from January to June of this year, State Farm said. KTLA reported, citing State Farm, that there were 11,900 in California in 2022 and 9,200 in 2021, putting 2023 on pace to be better than last year. 

Catalytic converters, often called cats, control a vehicle’s emissions and are installed between a vehicle’s engine and muffler. They contain precious metals — specifically, rhodium, palladium and platinum — that convert toxic gases in a vehicle’s exhaust system into less harmful substances before they shoot out the tailpipe. It’s those metals that thieves are after because they can be extracted from the converters and sold. A thief can squeeze under a car, saw off the cat, and sell it to a scrapyard for anywhere from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars. 

In 2021 and 2022, the values of the metals skyrocketed, fueling the black market for catalytic converters. The high reward for thefts also fueled a part shortage that led to monthslong delays for car owners seeking replacement catalytic converters. But this year, the price started coming down, and quite dramatically so. Coupled with other factors like stepped-up law enforcement and a pile of new laws aimed at curbing theft, more cats are staying in more cars.

“There’s a nationwide downward trend at the moment. It’s almost across the board in almost all the states,” said Tamar Tokat, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who helped pass a bill aimed at curbing catalytic converter theft. “We’re not out of the woods yet. We still have a huge problem nationwide, and California still leads the nation in those thefts, but the downward trend is incredibly encouraging.”

Rhodium is a little-known and relatively scarce metal. While a catalytic converter may only contain a gram or two of it, that tiny amount is worth thousands of dollars. Rhodium was trading nearly as high as $30,000 per ounce in 2021, but in recent months the price has fallen to less than $5,000 an ounce, according to Kitco, an online precious metals dealer.  

Palladium and platinum have also seen declines in value, though not nearly as steep as rhodium’s. In March 2022, the price per ounce of palladium hit an all-time high of $3,380, Jim Wyckoff, a Kitco senior market analyst, told SFGATE. In recent days it has traded just above $1,000. Platinum traded as high as $1,348 in February 2021 and is now trading for around $900 an ounce, Wyckoff said.

A main reason for the drop in values, Wyckoff said, is worries about a global economic slowdown reducing demand for products such as cars that are equipped with catalytic converters made with these metals. “Slowing global economic growth means less consumer and commercial demand for raw commodities, including the metals,” he said.

While metal prices dropping is certainly making catalytic converters less appealing to thieves, it’s not a long-term fix to the problem, as their value can easily rebound. Tokat, with the LA County DA’s Office, pointed to several new laws, some that are already in effect and another that goes into effect next year, that have the potential to more permanently stomp out theft.

As a legislative advocate for the LA County DA’s Office, Tokat worked on Senate Bill 55, which requires that dealers of both new and used cars etch the vehicle identification number onto the catalytic converter before a car is sold. Stolen catalytic converters have been difficult to trace, Tokat said, but if each one is branded with a specific VIN, they should be easier to locate and identify. That law will go into effect in January 2024.

The new law will add to two others that already went into effect in January 2023. SB 1087 allows the sales of used catalytic converters from only certain specified sellers, including licensed auto dismantlers and repair dealers and anyone who can prove they own the cat. AB 1740 requires businesses such as recyclers buying used catalytic converters to document the purchase by recording the year, make, model and VIN of the car that the converter was removed from. 

Kathryn Winters, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, said the department doesn’t track catalytic converter theft in the city but presumes the laws will have an impact.

“Anecdotally, I would say state laws that make selling the converters harder would disincentivize their theft and ultimately lead to a downturn on incidents of occurrence,” Winters wrote in an email to SFGATE.

The Oakland Police Department could not say whether the 2023 laws have helped, but said thefts have gone down. There were 1,026 reported thefts between Jan. 1 and Oct. 15 in 2022, and 564 in the same time frame this year, according to Officer Darryl Rodgers, a spokesperson with the department. 

Law enforcement agencies have also generally stepped up their efforts prevent catalytic converter theft. 

“Local law agencies and federal agencies have been engaging in some big busts on core recyclers. There have been some core recyclers who have been turning a blind eye and purchasing cats knowing they were stolen,” Tokat said. 

Five people were arrested in Oakland in June on suspicion of being involved in what the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office called a “well-organized” catalytic converter theft operation. That was after a massive nationwide catalytic converter theft operation that pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars was knocked down in a federal investigation in November 2022. Twenty-one people suspected of being part of the crime ring, including three individuals who allegedly bought and sold stolen parts in Sacramento, were arrested, the United States Department of Justice said in a news release at the time. 

Tokat believes increased public awareness has also helped cut back thefts, as more people are paying for shields to protect their converters as well as having their VINs etched onto them. 

“Law enforcement has been holding free etching events. The LA Sheriff’s Office and LAPD have both held these free etching events where members of the public can bring their car and they etch the VIN number onto your catalytic converter,” Tokat said. “When thieves pull up to your car, they’re going to see the VIN number.”

Over at Precision Auto in SF, Rodriguez is helping stop thieves with another fix: installing a protective plate over the converters. It costs about $400 on average, he said, but that’s much less than the several thousand dollars it can cost to replace the part itself. 

“I’ve been hearing the chatter in the neighborhood, and they’re just not talking about stolen cats anymore,” he said. “I just keep saying that’s a good thing that we’re not hearing those cars with stolen cats rumble from two blocks away. It’s really going in the right direction.”