Why are thieves stealing catalytic converters?
Precious metals can be more valuable than gold
Last updated 3/4/2021 at 9:32am

Brian Soergel
Annie's Kitchen vans are equipped with screens to help prevent the theft of their catalytic converters.
The average vehicle owner might not know what a catalytic converter is, much less its function.
Thieves might not know either, but what they do know is that the emissions-control device contains precious metals that can be more valuable than gold.
How valuable? One metal, palladium, can go for $2,300 an ounce. Another, rhodium, is valued at a whopping $26,000 per ounce.
Although thieves have been stealing catalytic converters for years, the Edmonds Police Department is aware of an increasing number of thefts locally, and recently issued a news release pointing out that many of the thefts ha...
For access to this article please
sign in or
subscribe.
Reader Comments(0)