Catalytic converter theft on new models?

[Spo2]

On 4/15/2021 at 5:25 PM, Snowstorm3611 said:

Woke up this morning to find a big hole where my cat used to be. Annoyingly it’s on the Auris that is being traded in for my new Corolla in 3 weeks time. Apparently they cut through the exhaust, cut the wires & unbolted it outside my house while I slept!!  
Now concerned about how safe the cat on my new car will be

Edited

Edited January 22, 2022 by Spo2

[Kental]

I was going to put our private plate (which is a 15 reg) on our Corolla that is on order.

Owing to it making the car look older and therefore more likely to have a less hidden catalytic converter, I think I'll stick with the 22 plate I expect it to come with.

Probably not a good idea to put it on our 71 plate Yaris either!

[TonyHSD]

57 minutes ago, Kental said:

I was going to put our private plate (which is a 15 reg) on our Corolla that is on order.

Owing to it making the car look older and therefore more likely to have a less hidden catalytic converter, I think I'll stick with the 22 plate I expect it to come with.

Probably not a good idea to put it on our 71 plate Yaris either!

I don’t think you have to worry about it and if you want a private plate you can have one. Thieves usually watch for hybrid badges, and particularly specific Toyota models that they recognise by the emblem and Badge, latest Toyota cars will come with only hybrid Badge on the rear, just remove that and add the number plate as you like. Job done ✅ 

[Kental]

1 minute ago, TonyHSD said:

I don’t think you have to worry about it and if you want a private plate you can have one. Thieves usually watch for hybrid badges, and particularly specific Toyota models that they recognise by the emblem and badge, latest Toyota cars will come with only hybrid badge on the rear, just remove that and add the number plate as you like. Job done ✅ 

I was only thinking as the news gets around that the newer ones are less valuable then 17 plate & earlier could be targeted more.

We used to have a 1999 Fiat Seicento Sporting and I found out after our car was broken into that on the Scumbag grapevine it was well known that that specific model came with a £350 face off Sony stereo.  Our passenger door skin was punched and the seats lifted to look for the face off box. They left empty handed, but we had a £500+ bill for the door repair.

They would only have got £30 or so down the pub for it.

[Parts-King]

The CAT on a new Corolla is high up on the manifold and very difficult to steal, however, that does not stop the thick s***s cutting the front pipe off "thinking" they are stealing the cat 

[RzrAzr]

I imagine thieves know exactly which car they are after and don't even pay attention to the license plate, hybrid badges etc. Even if you remove the hybrid badges, quick glance at the gearbox lever will reveal "B mode" which obviously was never on 1.2 turbo petrol Corollas. 

[Kental]

2 minutes ago, Parts-King said:

The CAT on a new Corolla is high up on the manifold and very difficult to steal, however, that does not stop the thick s***s cutting the front pipe off "thinking" they are stealing the cat 

My point, once they stop getting money for the front pipe then they may only target older vehicles.

[Kental]

1 minute ago, RzrAzr said:

I imagine thieves know exactly which car they are after and don't even pay attention to the license plate, hybrid badges etc. Even if you remove the hybrid badges, quick glance at the gearbox lever will reveal "B mode" which obviously was never on 1.2 turbo petrol Corollas. 

I think you are giving them too much intelligence. 

[TonyHSD]

Some thieves are car experts and enthusiasts, but not all. I am sure that if you remove the hybrid badges on Prius they will not touch it. My car has no badges at all including the Toyota emblems without blue tint and whenever I go garage cause confusion, what model is, even dealer wouldn’t recognise it easily, once they called Corolla , once a Yaris , 🙂✅, confusion is the best. If they so determined to cut they will look under first, and most likely run a number plate to see what engine type and size, the idea is to mask your car so they won’t stop by. 👌

[Parts-King]

These loons are thick as mince, they will know what car they are dealing with regardless of what Badge is on it

 

[RzrAzr]

4 minutes ago, Kental said:

I think you are giving them too much intelligence. 

perhaps, hopefully someone has already stolen a cat off the Corolla and didn't get paid enough for it and word got around, so even the thickest guy would know Prius - good, Corolla - not good. 

1 minute ago, TonyHSD said:

Some thieves are car experts and enthusiasts, but not all. I am sure that if you remove the hybrid badges on Prius they will not touch it. My car has no badges at all including the Toyota emblems without blue tint and whenever I go garage cause confusion, what model is, even dealer wouldn’t recognise it easily, once they called Corolla , once a Yaris , 🙂✅, confusion is the best. If they so determined to cut they will look under first, and most likely run a number plate to see what engine type and size, the idea is to mask your car so they won’t stop by. 👌

Interesting. Perhaps slapping a V6 Badge, a tuner exhaust and maybe some obnoxious decals like "STRAIGHT PIPE NATION" would deflect their attention 😃

[Kental]

30 minutes ago, RzrAzr said:

perhaps, hopefully someone has already stolen a cat off the Corolla and didn't get paid enough for it and word got around, so even the thickest guy would know Prius - good, Corolla - not good. 

 

This was the end of the pond life I was hoping to deter by keeping the current plate.

[AndrueC]

2 hours ago, Kental said:

We used to have a 1999 Fiat Seicento Sporting and I found out after our car was broken into that on the Scumbag grapevine it was well known that that specific model came with a £350 face off Sony stereo.

A ex-colleague of mine had his BL Mini broken into once and judging from what he found in it the miscreant only did it to eat some fish chips out of the rain.

He did live in Thame though.. 🙂