Catalytic converter stolen off my truck:(

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Ali27

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I went out to do the horses yesterday morning and noticed the exhaust system of my Ford Ranger was on the floor! After looking underneath and thinking there was something missing, the garage confirmed from my description that some thieving scumbags had stolen the Cat:( It is apparently becoming more common and they target 4x4s, trucks and vans as they have higher ground clearance so easier to get under and remove Cat! I have reported it to police and can hopefully claim on my insurance but for the sake of £150 they would get for scrap, it will cost me close to £700 as both front and back box have been damaged too!
Anyone else had one stolen? My husband is worried about replacing it incase that gets pinched too!
 
Ali27 said:
I went out to do the horses yesterday morning and noticed the exhaust system of my Ford Ranger was on the floor! After looking underneath and thinking there was something missing, the garage confirmed from my description that some thieving scumbags had stolen the Cat:( It is apparently becoming more common and they target 4x4s, trucks and vans as they have higher ground clearance so easier to get under and remove Cat! I have reported it to police and can hopefully claim on my insurance but for the sake of £150 they would get for scrap, it will cost me close to £700 as both front and back box have been damaged too!
Anyone else had one stolen? My husband is worried about replacing it incase that gets pinched too!
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Sadly all too common, I was at a customers and they were working there way though repairing a fleet of vans that had been robbed of the converters, if its an older vehicle without sensors in the exhaust you may be able to just put a lenght of pipe in instead...cheaper nothing to steal and maybe save your no claims....
 
Sorry to read your news. They have been steeling them on mass from this area of Lincolnshire for the last few months. I feel for those it has happened too. A real pain our local garage man said he has replaced about 20 in the last 4 months.
 
We had ours stolen from our Discovery (which was parked on our driveway). My husband was able to replace it with a DeCat pipe, which is perfectly legal and it does away with the Catalytic Converter. It only cost £25.00 and as an added bonus we now get more miles per gallon.
 
For gods sake, what the hell is wrong with people. What gives them the bloody right just to help themselves to other peoples property. You work hard and get the things you want and some low life just comes around and helps themselves. Makes me sick I hate people who steal, so sorry to hear this. Hope one day something they have will be taken by another low life !!!!
 
Apparently not selling for scrap!

There is a market for these as so costly to buy new!

So they pinch off us, and sell to a garage or put it on their own vehicles just for mot time.

I have a gentleman friend who after replacing 3 cats decided to have the cat on just for MOT and sits locked firmly away until the following year. And this was despite having cctv and got the number plate of one thieving monkey only to find it wasn't registered to anyone - no surprise there!!!!
 
Another reason they target 4x4s, vans and trucks is that these usually have diesel engines, and the catalysts contain more precious metal than their petrol counterparts, and so are more valuable.
It is becoming more common, sadly.
 
My son is a mechanic, a couple of his customers that have camper vans have asked him to weld a frame work round the CAT making it harder to get it off. Seems campers vans are popular to steal CAT's of, nothing is safe now a days. :-(
 
Adeer said:
We had ours stolen from our Discovery (which was parked on our driveway). My husband was able to replace it with a DeCat pipe, which is perfectly legal and it does away with the Catalytic Converter. It only cost £25.00 and as an added bonus we now get more miles per gallon.
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Please be careful with advising this, the legality of DeCat pipes seems to be a grey area.
If a car would not pass the emissions part of the MOT test without a catalytic convertor, then it is illegal to drive without one. If the car can still pass the emissions test then it should be legal.
You would also need to advise your insurance company of the modification to ensure you're fully covered.
 
Splish & Masons mum said:
Please be careful with advising this, the legality of DeCat pipes seems to be a grey area.
If a car would not pass the emissions part of the MOT test without a catalytic convertor, then it is illegal to drive without one. If the car can still pass the emissions test then it should be legal.
You would also need to advise your insurance company of the modification to ensure you're fully covered.
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Diesels should pass the mot but unliklely petrols will .
 
I had a similar issue with the gearbox on my horsebox which was stolen while I was shopping at tesco's. Lady loading her car up next to me told me how impressed she was that my mechanics serviced my vehicle in the car park! What they had actually done was un-bolted and dropped the gearbox, put the nuts back on the studs, tied up the prop shaft with bale twine and then wheeled my gear box away in a wheelbarrow and loaded it on the back of their pickup. (False number plates of course).
The new replacement gear box was painted purple for ease of identification purposes!
 
Sad to hear that so many people have had theirs stolen too! I am looking into getting smart water and marking new Cat with my postcode in permanent marker!
 
Splish & Masons mum said:
Please be careful with advising this, the legality of DeCat pipes seems to be a grey area.
If a car would not pass the emissions part of the MOT test without a catalytic convertor, then it is illegal to drive without one. If the car can still pass the emissions test then it should be legal.
You would also need to advise your insurance company of the modification to ensure you're fully covered.
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Yes, we have advised the insurance company and there was no problem there. Also as it is a diesel we have been told that it would pass the emission part of the MOT.
 
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