LAKE STEVENS – Dan Mickey knew something was wrong when his truck suddenly began sounding like a World War II airplane trying to take flight.
He’d parked his 2003 Toyota Tundra at Wyatt Park two weeks ago. While he went boating on Lake Stevens, someone crawled under his truck, sawed through his exhaust pipes and stole his catalytic converter.
That may sound like an unusual item to steal, but similar thefts are happening all over the country.
“They were after a valuable item that was easy to get to underneath my truck,” Mickey said.
Thieves are stealing catalytic converters from vehicles and warehouses because of three rare metals found inside of them – platinum, rhodium and palladium, said Andy Pomeroy, regional automotive manager for AAA.
The converters help reduce the amount of raw emissions from car exhaust. They’re built into all gas-powered cars made since 1976, Pomeroy said.
Metal recycling companies will pay anywhere from $25 to $150 apiece for converters, automotive and mineral experts said.
Victims of the crime must spend $200 to $600 to install a replacement, Pomeroy said. It is illegal to drive without a catalytic converter.
If people try to drive without a converter, hot exhaust blowing from sawed-open pipes could cause fuel tanks to explode.
“It could be harmful or fatal to drive in a car with the converter removed,” Pomeroy said.
Police in Snohomish County said they haven’t noticed many catalytic converter thefts here. The theft of copper wire from businesses and construction sites is more common.
People who work in muffler shops say catalytic converter theft is still rare in Snohomish County, but appears to be on the rise.
In late June, someone stole more than 200 catalytic converters from the A-1 Muffler Service warehouse in Everett, owner Wayne Deline said. Customers have also told him about a couple of catalytic converter thefts, he said.
“There is a market out there for them,” he said.
Joey Jacobs, manager at Bucky’s Muffler Radiator &Brakes in Lynnwood, said he replaced an Isuzu Trooper’s stolen catalytic converter within the past two weeks. Two other people have called his shop and said their converters were stolen during the same period of time, he said.
Until now, Jacobs never realized there was a problem.
“On most cars, they’re pretty easy to get out, if you have a saw,” Jacobs said. “You can put an alarm on your car, but everyone is so desensitized, people hear car alarms go off all the time and just ignore it.”
The recent thefts may be fueled by the rising value of three metals used in the converters, Pomeroy said.
Platinum, worth about $900 per ounce a year ago, is now $1,250 per ounce. Palladium, $200 per ounce a year ago, now sells for $322 per ounce. The price of rhodium soared from $1,900 per ounce a year ago to about $4,000 per ounce, said David Conkle, a manufacturing gemologist in Everett.
The average converter only contains 1 to 2 grams of the metals, a maximum of about 7/100ths of an ounce.
Just like the stock market, the value of rare metal in catalytic converters rises and falls with world politics, media interest and price speculation, Conkle said.
“It will restabilize,” he said.
Crawling under a car to steal part of the exhaust system seems like a lot of trouble for modest return, Pomeroy said.
“My professional opinion is there are a lot more places where a thief could make a lot more money,” he said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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