In N.KY and have a truck? Keep an eye on your cat

[HDmstng]

I'm in N.Ky and earlier this week my catalytic converter was cut out of my toyota tacoma in the middle of the night. Insurance will cover it, but still have to shell out for the deductible. I just called the muffler shop to get an update, and the guy asked me to hold and he set the phone down. I hear the following conversation...

Woman customer: "I need an estimate on getting a new muffler for my 94 4Runner, my catalytic converter was cut out of it.

Shop guy: "You are the third one today."

Woman customer: "How much do you think it'll run."

Shop guy: "We'll have to take a look first, any idea where they cut it out at?"

Woman customer: "Ummm, they told me,...ummm, from the header all the way back...,oh and I was told he had a yellow saw, the paint was scraped off it."

If that's the case, both her 02 sensors are gone, those are $100 to $150 each, plus the cat, $700 toyota oem (~$200 non-oem), not to mention the muffler, and piping...

If this keeps up, the Stang may have to come out of the garage for the truck!


Tacoma's and 4runners seem to be the most popular for this, but any suv or 4x4 can be a target, High off the ground, they slide under with a battery powered reciprocating saw and make two cuts and are gone. Car dealers are having this problem with the SUV's on their lots. And a ring was broken up a bit farther south in Ky going after cars too. There were 3 of them, one was the driver, the other would jack up the car, and the third did the cutting...

[facemelter71]

The toyotas are the easiest to get to and cut off.I used to work for midas when they hit all the U-HAUL trucks that are toyotas in there lot.They usually cut it off before the crossmember and after the crossmember.If your lucky they will leave the rear O2 sensor in,but rarely do.If you have a fresh sawzall blade in there,it takes about 3 seconds to cut through the pipe,and another 3 to cut the rear and your gone.I replaced about 35 exhaust systems on toyotas because of that.Usually they would hit the same truck twice the week after i replaced it with the new system.Talk about money.

[HDmstng]

That is insane!

In doing some more research into this, I found this company that makes a catalytic converter theft deterrent system. They use aircraft cable to make a cage around the CC...the $300 bucks might be worth it.

[67Terror]

watch your gas tank too!

Wednesday night somebody got enterprise rent a car in newport. they drilled holes in the gas tanks and stole all the gas. I work right next door at executive transportation. We've also had problems with people trying to cut off the cats. we have several 1 ton chevy vans that sit on the back of the lot, i'm suprised they havent been hit yet. needless to say by thursday afternoon we were installing camera's all over the lot.

[MADMOD]

At the KIA dealership I work at part time we had about 25-30 cats stolen a while back. It cost the company a sheet load of money:rolleyes: I can't stand theifs

[ewalt]

My mom owns a florist, she has two vehicles, one stays there all night, and the cat got stolen off of it. This was in Hamilton, so apparently it's not localized to NKY.

Damn low rents.

[ponymom05]

And yet we're not allowed to shoot the bastards???

[99Slobra]

Who has cats anymore?

[bobtsgt]

Thats why everyone should lower their cars and trucks :D makes them work for it more. You could also run a transformer to your exhaust to where it turns on when the car is off. That way if they lay a hand on it they get a surprise. Especially if they are laying in a puddle.

[wolverine8490]

I would love to see someone try to get the cats off my stang.. Oh wait, I beat them to it and got 165.00 at the scrap yard for them.. I got more than I paid for my BBK X pipe :).

Either way, I cant believe the balls some people have. I read the other day a dad took his son out to help watch out for cops while he stole some some cats. When the cops came, the dad took off and left his son behind :eek:. And people wonder why some kids are so f'ed up in this world today.

http://www.wcpo.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=1b2fafa6-beec-4cfc-b30b-27225432a4d6

[DeckerEnt]

If I go out to my truck and a guy slides out from under it with a sawzall in his hand, he is getting 2 in the chest and 1 in the head. That is a deadly weapon in his hand and I was in fear for my life. No jury in the USA would convict me.
Keith

[Katmandu]

Times are getting harder and people are becoming MORE desparate to survive.

Converters are bringing BIG $$$ for their platinum content these days.

The Law is getting a lot tougher on scrap dealers because of all the theft going on. Folks are going to have to buy Licenses to sell scrap to the dealers.

[praterjack]

i work at the toyota in northern ky and there was a few rust frame trucks toyota was buying back that had the cats stolen off of them. Though it kills me they broke some windows on the trucks but didnt take anything of value out of the cabs,and some of them had nice cd players:confused:

[Blackpony]

I had two people come into auto zone last week and say there cats were stolen off there car

[cobrajoe]

And yet we're not allowed to shoot the bastards???

That's what having a spare little .22 with the numbers removed comes in handy, shoot the bastard and then put the .22 in their damn hand. :lol: "Hey that sorry bastard was gonna shoot me!"

[BIGRED Z]

And yet we're not allowed to shoot the bastards???

A little tap on the foot, a gun to the balls till they slide out from under the truck, a friendly walk inside the house where he will suddenly be in possession of something deadly and I was in fear of my life and viola...no burglar left. Well, no LIVE thief...

But the saws-all would be a deadly weapon too....as mentioned above, and I would have no mess to clean up in the house. Just a simple hosing off the driveway. :bigthumb