Catalytic converter theft

[notsofast]

There was an item on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show today about catalytic converter theft, which has apparently increased significantly over the last year or so, particularly around London, but also elsewhere.  Apparently criminals steal them for the precious metals they contain. They jack up cars and use battery operated saws to cut the cats out of the exhaust. Apparently they do this quite brazenly both at night and in daylight, on streets and car parks. The police aren't really interested. The item said that some vehicles are targeted more than others - hybrids are particularly favoured apparently. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on this? Are Berlingos particularly vulnerable e.g. are their cats easy to remove?  Do even the oldest M49s have cats? Is there any way of deterring or preventing a cat from being removed by saw?

[Sol]

The cat is integral to the DPF on the later vehicles (B9 2009 on). Not sure if an M49 had one. The 1.6 HDi DPF is a big drum right below the turbo, not accessible from under the vehicle at all.

K9, no idea.

[oilyrag]

The cat is integral to the DPF on the later vehicles (B9 2009 on). Not sure if an M49 had one. The 1.6 HDi DPF is a big drum right below the turbo, not accessible from under the vehicle at all.

K9, no idea.

M49  does have one, but next to manifold, and later ones are part of the front down-pipe, so not easy to get at. Hardly worth the effort but you never know. My wife hasn't taken kindly to having to sleep under the car, but needs must.

[notsofast]

Just had a search through the Haynes manual for models from 2010 and earlier - seems that all petrol models have cats, but with diesels it depends (only the XUDs and some other models with 2-section exhausts don't have them).

[Postscript edit: I hadn't seen oilyrag's comment when writing this post]

[Multispacer]

There was an item on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show today about catalytic converter theft, which has apparently increased significantly over the last year or so, particularly around London, but also elsewhere.  Apparently criminals steal them for the precious metals they contain. They jack up cars and use battery operated saws to cut the cats out of the exhaust. Apparently they do this quite brazenly both at night and in daylight, on streets and car parks. The police aren't really interested. The item said that some vehicles are targeted more than others - hybrids are particularly favoured apparently. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on this? Are Berlingos particularly vulnerable e.g. are their cats easy to remove?  Do even the oldest M49s have cats? Is there any way of deterring or preventing a cat from being removed by saw?

They tend to target older cars, as older cars with the original catalytic converters have a larger amount of precious metals in them. Old Japanese cars are a favourite target, a couple of my work colleagues have had this happen to them. One, his car was parked on his driveway in a South Coast town and the other had his stolen from the IKEA car park in Brent Park, North London while he was in the store! Both of these were on older Japanese cars and both cost hundreds of pounds to replace. 

Another work colleague had a catalytic converter stolen from their hybrid SUV in the long term car park at Gatwick whilst on holiday a few years back and that cost a large sum of money to replace.  

Quite what you can do, I'm not sure. You could I suppose install a "pendulum type" alarm, so when armed and the car is jacked up  to gain access it goes off but in a lot of places people ignore car alarms anyway.

[Sol]

Cats actually aren't a legal requirement on a diesel which is probably why some have them and some don't.

[oilyrag]

Here in the Republic of Ireland we have an MoT test, called the NCT.  We also have a site called Done Deal where you can sell just about anything (once saw a sheep with a kitchen seat strapped to its back, advertised as a ride on mower). Saw an advert today - where you can RENT a catalytic convertor to get your car through the test, then go back to what you had (or hadn't got) before.
Incredible....
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.75)]Catalytic Converters for rent
Sr20det cat
Rb25det cat
Altezza 3sge cat
Cats in mint condition
Recently passing NCT no issues

€200 up front and €150 back when cat is returned[/color]