Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,329 Threads: 372
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has anyone else succumbed to this? We have just had forensic team out but said its a massive problem for which the insurance companies can do nothing (other than presumably put rates up) Second theft in two years from a (borrowed!) hybrid which apparently have more Titanium in than others.
Wondering about aftermarket plates to bolt over - most of the thefts are done by big criminal gangs who are well trained and take them off with rotary pipe cutters without even jacking car up.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 2,400 Threads: 33
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Location: Deepest Frogland 30960
Car type: 1933 RP Standard Saloon
Perhaps I should post this in Pedant's corner but the active elements in a catalytic converter are Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium.
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The wife of a pal of mine lost her's from a Toyota Prius in about 3 minutes (as determined from the CCTV footage) whilst parked on a hospital multi story car park as she attended an out-patient clinic. Their Insurance company wanted to scrap the car as the cost of repair was estimated at £3000. My pal eventually got it arranged privately with a mechanic that looked after the car, but it was still a £1500 repair...
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yikes. I can see that if we take on this car, the insurance is going to be massive as a result. Annoying, as after dissing the things for their complexity and lack of doing-anything-for-the-environment in real terms, their regeneration capabilities make them incredibly good cheap cars to run in physical terms of work needing doing. (ask any taxi driver)
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 2,400 Threads: 33
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Location: Deepest Frogland 30960
Car type: 1933 RP Standard Saloon
29-11-2021, 01:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 29-11-2021, 03:55 PM by Reckless Rat.)
It's terrible when you become the victim of crime, but in the grand scale of things, Cat theft is small fry. The numbers for the UK are around 18,000 for the past year. Apparently people are now forensically marking their catalysts which has reduced the levels of such crime.
As a comparison there were 267,000 burglaries in the UK in 2021.
The secret is to endeavour to encourage the thieves/burglars to go somewhere else and not to make yourself a target.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,004 Threads: 168
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Location: Sherwood Forest
Car type: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
And they are just the recorded burglaries; we have been burgled twice without the crimes being officially recorded. Both times we were told that it would be impossible to trace the culprits, and were advised to just make our property less attractive to the perpetrators than our neighbours! We are now surrounded by an eight-foot high wrought-iron fence with spikes on the top, and all means of access are kept padlocked unless we are expecting visitors - you have been warned, ring first before calling!
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,391 Threads: 106
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Location: Darkest Bedfordshire
One of the joys of driving a 20-year-old Nissan Micra is that no-one gives it a second glance.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,004 Threads: 168
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Location: Sherwood Forest
Car type: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
But if it is twenty years old it will have a catalyst, so it's certainly at risk.
Joined: May 2021 Posts: 103 Threads: 10
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Location: Leicestershire
Car type: Ulster replica lwb rod Yates
The joys of having an old 2005 mondeo estate that’s lowered to the floor and doesn’t even have a cat on it! Know of a neighbour who had his took off his drive on his hilux, it’s becoming more and more common and have seen videos online of it being done in the street in broad daylight with onlookers,
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I think I'll get some "cat-protected" stickers for the windows. And the bolt on overshield for 30 quid seems like it might be a good deterrent (just to counter the sheer hassle of how you get kids to 815am swimming lessons when it happens).
