By Joe Wolfcale
NOVATO, Calif. — Mike Notter’s immaculate 1996 Toyota 4Runner rumbled like a stock car when he started it up Monday at a Novato Park-and-Ride lot after returning from his shift as a United Airlines mechanic and welder.
“I thought the muffler fell off or it came loose,” said Notter, 56, of Novato.
But the noise was a tell-tale sign thieves had looted his auto exhaust system for valuable metals that can be recycled for cash. The prices of precious metals across the nation have skyrocketed.
On Monday, his SUV was one of six vehicles targeted by thieves who removed the catalytic converters at the Alameda del Prado parking lot. All the vehicles had high clearances that allowed culprits to slip underneath, probably with battery-powered reciprocating saws, and cut off the converters.
“At this point, we have no suspect information,” California Highway Patrol spokesman Mary Ziegenbein said.
Notter, who purchased the SUV about seven months ago, was flabbergasted.
“Never in a million years did I think someone would do such a thing,” Notter said. “I’m really bummed out now. I’d expect that the radio might get ripped out. But not the catalytic converter. My daughter said the car sounded like it was at a destruction derby.”
Thefts of catalytic converters are on the rise, as thieves target the devices which have ceramic cores coated with platinum, rhodium and palladium. Thieves turn in the metals for cash at metal recycling centers.
“Platinum right now is worth more than gold,” said Hossein Arbabi, metallurgist for Testing Engineers Inc. in San Leandro.
“It all really depends on the quality of the composition and the quantity to determine the price. Mostly, they’re going for the platinum. Rhodium is used as an alloying element and palladium is used more for coating purposes.”
The value of platinum has more than doubled in recent years. A key component of vehicle emissions control systems, it’s twice as valuable as gold, which is valued at about $650 per ounce.
Platinum in a converter usually nets about $35 to $40, said Rob Johnson, owner of Johnny Franklin’s Muffler shop on Bellam Boulevard in San Rafael.
Johnson said his shop has been burglarized of catalytic converters twice in the past year. His crew happened to be working on an Audi Tuesday, and Johnson noted that a new catalytic converter for that particular year and model car costs nearly $1,000. And Audis need two, he said.
Al Brooks, owner of the Cat House in San Rafael, said catalytic converter ripoffs have become big business. So big, in fact, that his shop was broken into a few months ago and thieves loaded about 75 through a rear door. He also was ripped off in 2004.
“They didn’t even leave a fingerprint,” said Brooks, who reported the thefts to San Rafael police. “That’s all they stole. They didn’t touch the cash or a motorcycle or some tools. It’s a big trend now.
“It’s become a real problem.”
Brooks said his crew can replace a catalytic converter for about $450, depending on the make and year of the vehicle. More than 50 percent of his business is replacing catalytic converters.
Sgt. Bob O’Keefe, who supervises the Alameda County Auto Theft Task Force for the CHP, said he has seen fliers from other jurisdictions about stolen catalytic converters.
“I’ve heard it can be very expensive,” O’Keefe said. “Any theft more than $400 we’d consider the crime grand theft.”
Notter, the Novato theft victim, was told by a local auto dealer that a new exhaust system for his SUV would cost $1,600, excluding labor.
He purchased a catalytic converter online and plans to spend Saturday welding it into place. He bought it for a couple hundred dollars.
“Fortunately for me, I have the welding equipment and can put it back together,” Notter said. “I was starting to feel my car was pretty safe there.”
Copyright 2007 Marin Independent Journal