Are The Recent New Legislations Enough to Stop Catalytic Converter Theft?

Ironically, thieves selling these parts are only making on average $60-1100 per unit, while the victims will have to pay up to $3000-5000 for replacement parts plus labour charges on top of that. While you can claim insurance to get the cost partially reimbursed, the NAIC announced that roughly 21% of car owners in America don’t have comprehensive coverage (additional insurance coverage that covers loss or damage to your vehicle from theft, vandalism, and nature; e.g earthquake, weather, falling tree) and 13% of this percentage are either driving uninsured or living in a part of America that doesn’t require car insurance.

But the truth of the matter is that thieves don’t discriminate in terms of which cars they are targeting, whether it’s the newest Lamborghini on the street or a roughed-up 2006 SUV with 200km mileage, it’s all fair game when it comes to making a quick buck for thieves. So here is a wake-up call: You’re not immune to thieves stealing your catalytic converter just because you have an “ancient machine” for a car. However, what you can control is first and foremost reinforcing the first line of defense (e.g remote security, surveillance cameras) for your car and then choosing the correct auto insurance to make sure you aren’t bearing the full cost yourself when these unfortunate circumstances arise.

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but the immense cost (especially for car owners who don’t have coverage) that comes from replacing the catalytic converter often might not make sense from a cost perspective and come to be more than the car is valued at market price. These scenarios and a bunch of other factors at play have attracted the attention of lawmakers from around the world to come together to combat this chronic problem by enacting new bills that specifically target the supply chain within the automobile industry. This includes implementing much stricter requirements such as requiring mandatory records for all catalytic-converter-related transactions and registering them through serial numbers, enabling more transparent trackability capabilities, among many others. To learn more about the details of ongoing bills, visit: Catalytic Converter Theft Bills 2022.