CATALYTIC CONVERTER STOLEN LAST NIGHT

[twowheeladdict]

  What type of animals? I live in a agricultural area of small farms for dozens of miles in every direction.. Electric fences are used to contain beef cows and usually rail fences for horses...Our chickens have a fenced pen but are often let out to forage...Other than this, there are no fences for the purpose of keeping people in or out...People keep their dogs on their property because loose dogs annoying livestock might be shot...My neighbors mind their own business, but they and us are not afraid to offer or ask for help if needed...

Horses, cows, dogs, etc.  We are 1/2 mile from a crossroad that has a service station, tire shop, post office, and restaurant.  The service station got broken into last weekend and scratch-off lottery tickets were stolen.  Idiots got busted when they tried to cash in winning tickets.  LOL! 

[Lannis]

There are  extremes on every end of the spectrum on the subject of thief here and all have their  validity. The bottom line is regardless of where one lives, keeps their belongings or has insurance or not, all of us are subject to bad things happen to us. Hopefully we learn from those negative experiences and will lead us to improving our defense systems to prevent future inconveniences of these Type Evelin our lives.

That's all true.

But there is a distinct quality-of-life difference between living in a place where you don't even have to lock your doors or lock up your equipment or take the key out of your ignition and nothing gets stolen in 40 years ...

... and living in a place where you have to lock everything up behind theft proof fences, locks, and alarms or it will literally be gone in 3 days if it's sitting out unlocked.

It's so different that it's not really the same sort of life.   Certainly anything can happen anywhere, but it's the difference between No Man's Land and the rear garrison in a battle zone.   Not comparable.

Lannis

[kirby1923]

If you have a decent vehicle,you really need to look into getting it covered by a comprehensive insurance policy that covers things of this nature.

No matter where you live, you would be covered.

I self insure because I own all my machines w/o any of them leveraged however  I take the risk if things go bad. Only liability coverage and I am very careful about where I park, just like traveling by moto.

IMHO

:-)

[Lumpy Idle]

If you have a decent vehicle,you really need to look into getting it covered by a comprehensive insurance policy that covers things of this nature.

...

i was going to let this pass but since you bring it up a second time i feel the need to mention that i wrote that in my initial post that i have insurance for this and i have a $500 deductible.

" it is going to cost me $500 out of pocket for the insurance deductible and it will again if they decide they want to go for my shiny, newly installed unit."

 there are too many things that can happen to you if you have a reasonably decent car and do not have it.

as far as moving out of here goes - well, yeah we have been tossing it around for a while. but it is a complicated thing and hinges upon jobs as well.  i live in oakland, ca.  and the city is changing really fast. a travel magazine not all that long ago put oakland into its top 10 list of cities to visit.  housing prices are skyrocketing, rents are going through the roof and the homeless problem is exacerbated by all of it. real estate consortiums have descended upon this area and are exploiting the east bay for all they wring can wring out of it.

sideshow:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/04/14/oakland-sideshow-ends-with-ac-transit-bus-set-on-fire/

warehouse fire started (allegedly) by homeless guy in adjacent ally:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/04/01/2-alarm-fire-erupts-in-oakland-neighborhood/

large homeless camp shut down:

https://abc7news.com/society/city-crews-clear-big-oakland-homeless-encampment/5115527/

while annoying to me my loss of a $500 insurance deductible does not compare with some of the other stuff going on around me in this city.  still and all we get the feeling it is time to leave. the confluence of sleazy real estate consortiums and the resulting homeless pandemic has mad the city nearly unlivable except in certain enclaves.

[kirby1923]

Quite right, you  have decided to except the risk of a high deductible. I only carry liability so I except the risk of losing the whole car w/o compensation. (50+ years and I haven't lost one yet for any reason.)

I guess I have never heard of a CAT theft so I am naïve about this type of occurrence.

When in CA I am in a rural area so not much theft of any kind. Down here in some of the orchards that have big electric water pumps for irrigation, thieves would tear into them for the copper and ruin the motor (for about $40 worth of copper).

So the big farmers started taping an envelope to the pump motor with a $100 bill and a note "take the money and please leave the motor alone"

You might try that method...don't know what the value of a used CAT is?

:-)

[Rick in WNY]

A quick Google search tells me that a cat contains between 3-7 grams of platinum and other precious metals, let's say the average is 5 grams.

Current spot price of platinum is $903 per ounce and there's 28.3 grams per ounce so $32 per gram so $160 of platinum in that "average" cat.

Yeah... I'm seeing why they do it...

[kirby1923]

Curious as to how they extract this metal, seems like that would be a chore no?

[LowRyter]

I would guess they are selling the cats whole as replacements whether the originals were failed and plugged up or stolen.

[kirby1923]

I think your right. If your in the black market parts business you take an order for a CAT of a certain make and model car and go out and find one and steal it and sell for 1/2 the price of a new one.

I think they work for Many miles so for a late model car its going to work. CA is very hard on the smog performance.

The precious metals is probably not the driver of this caper.

:-)

[Perazzimx14]

For those talking about replacing with a straight pipe years ago my wife had a Dodge Daytona that the cat went bad. I fab'ed up a straight pipe and it ran terribly with no low end power. Not sure if it needed the back pressures or what but as soon as I bough a NAPA direct replacment cat and installed it the car ran like new.

So a straight pipe might not be the answer.

[Lannis]

So the big farmers started taping an envelope to the pump motor with a $100 bill and a note "take the money and please leave the motor alone"


:-)

I think that if you read up on the history and results of the "Danegeld", you'll find that that method never works .... !

Lannis

[LowRyter]

I think that if you read up on the history and results of the "Danegeld", you'll find that that method never works .... !

Lannis

after my travel trailer was broken into twice, I just leave it unlocked.  I see no reason for them to break the door again.  I keep the generator at the house now, so if they want $100 kenwood radio, lawn chairs and portable bbq grill, power to them.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I think your right. If your in the black market parts business you take an order for a CAT of a certain make and model car and go out and find one and steal it and sell for 1/2 the price of a new one.

I think they work for Many miles so for a late model car its going to work. CA is very hard on the smog performance.

The precious metals is probably not the driver of this caper.

:-)

Yep. That's how it works. 

[kirby1923]

I think that if you read up on the history and results of the "Danegeld", you'll find that that method never works .... !

Lannis

I read about this in the Bakersfield news paper (a few years ago)  and it was never followed up..so ??

Now days they have other ways to monitor the big pumps?? maybe drones or small cameras or some wireless sensors to alert the farm of a molestation going on...??

I  meant it as kind of a tongue in cheek thing...but I 'm pretty sure it was tried on one of the big farms 'cause they were loosing pump motors and expensive to replace and time consuming..

Desperation for something...anythin g...

BTW, I learned a long time ago...never say never!

:-)

[Tom]

Danegeld aka protection.

[Lannis]

BTW, I learned a long time ago...never say never!

:-)

You're right about "never", so I'll change it to "hasn't ever"!

Lannis