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Catalytic converter theft from hybrids

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  • 14-10-2020 10:34am
    #1
    LimerickCity
    Registered Users Posts: 549 ✭✭✭


    Good morning folks,

    Word of warning to any Toyota Prius hybrid owners. My neighbours catalytic converter was cut out of her car on Sunday night. Two guys in a BMW got out, jacked up the car and cut out the cat with an angle grinder in less than 10 minutes.

    It was reported to the Gardai who arrived and took statements, they said that it was the fourth such incident they have dealt with personally during the last 3 weeks in the city.

    If you drive an hybrid please be careful, try to park with driver side to a wall or towards the kerb to make it more difficult for them.

    There are precious metals in the cat especially on older model hybrids and these guys are extremely brazen.

    Please be alert.


«1

Comments

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    #2
    bazz26
    Registered Users Posts: 51,114 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    This is happening everywhere now, easy money for scum. Plenty of cctv videos on youtube of how quickly these scumbags can cut them off the be gone in 5 mins.


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    #3
    mgbgt1978
    Registered Users Posts: 4,227 ✭✭✭mgbgt1978


    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058024963


    Happens all the time.


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    #4
    LimerickCity
    Registered Users Posts: 549 ✭✭✭LimerickCity


    mgbgt1978 wrote: »
    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058024963


    Happens all the time.

    Yes of course it does. Most Prius owners are aware of this however the Prius owners club have not reported any incidents in Limerick since 2017.

    The post above is to advise hybrid owners that this is now happening locally.

    I don't see the point in your post. What value does it have?

    You might as well have said the sky was blue.


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    #5
    masterboy123
    Registered Users Posts: 5,716 ✭✭✭masterboy123


    Is it valid for Toyota hybrids only?


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    #6
    ejmaztec
    Registered Users Posts: 23,974 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    masterboy123 wrote: »
    Is it valid for Toyota hybrids only?

    I think all catalytic converters matter.


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  • Options
    #7
    bazz26
    Registered Users Posts: 51,114 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    Anything that is a hybrid, not just Toyotas.


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    #8
    patsat
    Registered Users Posts: 1,185 ✭✭✭patsat


    Another robbed Tuesday night in East Limerick


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    #9
    Cookiemunster
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 11,805 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cookiemunster


    What's the story with just hybrids being targeted? All ICE vehicles have cats installed. Are they more accessible in hybrids?


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    #10
    bazz26
    Registered Users Posts: 51,114 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    Hybrid catalytic converters have a higher percentage of valuable metals in them such as rhodium and palladium.


  • Options
    #11
    mgbgt1978
    Registered Users Posts: 4,227 ✭✭✭mgbgt1978


    It's not just Hybrids Bazz.
    Yes, a Prius Gen 2 has a valuable Cat. So too does a Jap import Gen 7 Celica, just for example. It's quite simple to look up the value of any Cat using the code stamped on it.

    The Prius's main issues are that it has a valuable Cat, and as a Hybrid the Cat hasn't had the same usage as an ordinary non-hybrid which helps it hold it's value.

    For years these "people" (apparently if I use any other words on boards I'm a racist ;)) were cutting the Cats from Transits, as they were easy to crawl under...now they have moved to the high value Cats only, and will literally tie a chain around one and rip it off if that suits them.


    I sell about 10 Cats a year (all stripped from Motorsport donor Cars before I weigh them in for scrap) and the value ranges from €30 to €450.


    @LimerickCity. You are simply posting about an issue which has been ongoing for years.
    In your 1st post you are warning all Prius Owners about Cat Theft.
    In your 2nd post you claim that most Prius Owners are aware of this anyway ???? Yet they still need to be warned :confused:.
    As for parking with the driver's side facing a wall. Total nonsense



    BTW, which Prius Owners Club are you referring to ?


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  • Options
    #12
    airnwater
    Registered Users Posts: 124 ✭✭airnwater


    Not just Toyota hybrids... friend had the cat taken from a '02 Yaris in Rhebogue area last night . A few days previously a red 08TS reg Peugeot 207 was seen acting very suspiciously , checking out the Yaris.


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    #13
    bigpink
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,552 ✭✭✭bigpink


    You will get banned if you say Travellers here
    The new legal PC word is Mincéir thats whats the leaders from the community use no

    Again screenshotting for fair play


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    #14
    MarkR
    Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators Posts: 11,054 Mod ✭✭✭✭MarkR


    Done. Already one libelous statement deleted. If someone has proof of that vehicle being owned by who they said it was, I'll reopen.


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    #15
    MarkR
    Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators Posts: 11,054 Mod ✭✭✭✭MarkR


    After speaking to airnwater, I've opened the thread. It seems a member of the gardai told a friend of theirs whose cat was stolen about the registered address of the owner of the vehicle.

    While I accept that is probably true, we can't verify that, so I don't want specific vehicles nominated as participating in a crime.

    Saying that, there may be a benefit to the "keep a lookout for" post, which I often see on Garda Twitter accounts. General make and model only, I don't want to get into the identifying specific vehicles.


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    #16
    airnwater
    Registered Users Posts: 124 ✭✭airnwater


    airnwater wrote: »
    Not just Toyota hybrids... friend had the cat taken from a '02 Yaris in Rhebogue area last night . A few days previously a red 08TS reg Peugeot 207 was seen acting very suspiciously , checking out the Yaris.



    Part of the deleted post mentioned that it cost 300 euro to sort the Yaris exhaust. The scumbags had nicked more than just the cat converter , there was pipework & sensors ripped out too.

    Emerald exhausts sorted it , it was far from the first one they had to fix following such thievery. Interestingly they have had group of lads in , eyeing up their stock of replacement cats.......


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    #17
    User1998
    Registered Users Posts: 5,831 ✭✭✭User1998


    This might be of interest to people:

    Prius catalytic converter protection plate

    https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/402030937662293/


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    #18
    airnwater
    Registered Users Posts: 124 ✭✭airnwater


    https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/garda-investigations-focus-on-the-master-smelter-as-300catalytic-converters-seized-in-dublin-raid-40317220.html


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    #19
    washman3
    Registered Users Posts: 3,646 ✭✭✭washman3


    airnwater wrote: »
    https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/garda-investigations-focus-on-the-master-smelter-as-300catalytic-converters-seized-in-dublin-raid-40317220.html


    The 'Smelter' is some man for one man....:p
    Seems like half the country have known about him for yonks yet he was left untouched. Some high ranking member of A.G.S. must have his c.a.t. stolen from outside his leafy suburban Dublin home...;)


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    #20
    Jofspring
    Registered Users Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Jofspring


    Converter stolen off neighbours 99 Yaris Thursday night. Out past Ballyneety. We have a camera that just about picks up the road so you can see car lights arriving and leaving again. It's pitch dark so can't make out the car but they had it done in under 4 minutes.

    Another neighbour had the windows stolen from his mobile home.


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    #21
    LimerickCity
    Registered Users Posts: 549 ✭✭✭LimerickCity


    Jofspring wrote: »
    Converter stolen off neighbours 99 Yaris Thursday night. Out past Ballyneety. We have a camera that just about picks up the road so you can see car lights arriving and leaving again. It's pitch dark so can't make out the car but they had it done in under 4 minutes.

    Another neighbour had the windows stolen from his mobile home.

    Thanks for the heads up.


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    #22
    adaminho
    Registered Users Posts: 2,566 ✭✭✭adaminho


    https://twitter.com/gardainfo/status/1385309415302107139


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    #23
    Widescreen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,096 ✭✭✭Widescreen


    So if i buy a hybrid car it suddenly becomes a target for thieves?!

    I won't buy one, I will run my six year old low mileage toyota petrol into the ground until proper priced decent leccy vehicles that can go from Limerick to Dublin and back on one full charge are available!

    Hybrids aren't even recognised by government in the form of any discount, although I stand to be corrected on that one so why bother!


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    #24
    Jofspring
    Registered Users Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Jofspring


    Widescreen wrote: »
    So if i buy a hybrid car it suddenly becomes a target for thieves?!

    I won't buy one, I will run my six year old low mileage toyota petrol into the ground until proper priced decent leccy vehicles that can go from Limerick to Dublin and back on one full charge are available!

    Hybrids aren't even recognised by government in the form of any discount, although I stand to be corrected on that one so why bother!

    My neighbours car was an older petrol and had it stolen off his so not as simple as, if I buy a hybrid I'm a target, but if I stick with ICE I'm not.

    Buying a car comes down to needs. By 2030 there should be plenty of second hand electrics that will do that trip and be reasonably priced. New hybrids will start to disappear over the next ten years.


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    #25
    airnwater
    Registered Users Posts: 124 ✭✭airnwater


    https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/crime-and-courts/633417/three-men-charged-following-attempted-theft-of-catalytic-converter-in-limerick-village.html

    A few days ago encountered another unfortunate mk1 Yaris owner near the Parkway who had their exhaust nicked.


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    #26
    phog
    Registered Users Posts: 23,713 ✭✭✭✭phog


    There has to be a clamp down on the scrap merchants, cut out that option and the scrap copper and catalytic converters become less attractive for theft.


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    #27
    LimerickCity
    Registered Users Posts: 549 ✭✭✭LimerickCity


    phog wrote: »
    There has to be a clamp down on the scrap merchants, cut out that option and the scrap copper and catalytic converters become less attractive for theft.

    AFAIK the catalytic converters are being exported.

    There was an arrest made in Limerick last week and it was reported on by the media.

    https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40289312.html


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    #28
    phog
    Registered Users Posts: 23,713 ✭✭✭✭phog


    LimerickCity wrote: »
    AFAIK the catalytic converters are being exported.

    There was an arrest made in Limerick last week and it was reported on by the media.

    https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40289312.html

    I doubt they all exported are but even if they are clamp down on as many scrap merchants as is possible and you reduce the attractiveness of the metal.

    We can sit on our hands and moan or we can try prevent theft like this. Currently it's just too easy for people to sell on stolen copper, the converters, aluminium, etc.


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    #29
    Chavways
    Registered Users Posts: 1,905 ✭✭✭Chavways


    Neighbour of mine had the cat cut out of her in Bridgetown, Co. Clare last week.


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    #30
    YFlyer
    Registered Users Posts: 9,717 ✭✭✭YFlyer


    Who buys them? Hegarty?


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    #31
    Jofspring
    Registered Users Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Jofspring


    YFlyer wrote: »
    Who buys them? Hegarty?

    There are guys smelting them for the precious metal inside and selling them off abroad by the barrell load. Thought with the seizures recently it would have died down. The guy caught was the fella doing most of it by all accounts.


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