Armed with little more than a wrench or a hacksaw, a thief can slither under a vehicle and remove a converter in just a few minutes. Pickups and SUVs like Cobb’s Element are popular targets because they sit higher off the ground, making it easier for thieves to get to the converter.
Scrapyards typically pay a couple of hundred dollars or more for converters. Some converters from hybrid vehicles can fetch as much as $1,400 because they contain more precious metals and they degrade less because the hybrid’s gasoline engine doesn’t run continuously. In turn, scrapyards sell converters to recyclers, which extract the metals.
Catalytic converter replacement has generated a lot of business for repair shops. Replacing a converter isn’t cheap, running anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the vehicle and on how much damage a thief inflicts on the exhaust system’s pipes and sensors.
About half of U.S. states have proposed or enacted legislation, in more than 150 separate bills, to address catalytic converter theft. A federal bill, too—the bipartisan Preventing Auto Recycling Theft (PART) Act is being considered by Congress.
In September 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two pieces of legislation making it illegal for recyclers to buy a catalytic converter from anyone other than a vehicle’s legal owner or a licensed dealer.
“You take away the market for stolen goods, you can help cut down on stealing,” Newsom said.
The legislation also increases penalties for buyers who fail to certify that a catalytic converter was obtained legally. Metal recyclers and junk dealers will be required to document their methods for buying catalytic converters and keep records of who they buy them from; this will help ensure they’re doing business only with vehicle owners and qualified sellers.