Catalytic converter thefts
The first time Allison Vickery heard a bizarre roar when she turned the ignition of her Hyundai Tucson she was startled but had no clue what it was, so she drove home.
It was Feb. 7 and the day had started like any other Monday, with Vickery driving from Laval to park her car in the parking lot at the Sunnybrooke commuter train station and take the train to her downtown job at the Bank of Montreal.
When she took the SUV to get it repaired the next day, Vickery was told the vehicle had been stripped of its catalytic converter.
A catalytic converter is an emission-control device. Because the thief had to smash through the muffler to get to the converter, the repairs cost $2,500. Luckily, Vickery had insurance.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau tracked catalytic converter thefts across the United States from 2008 to 2015 with a total of 25,394 thefts during that period. That number could be on the low side, because data was gathered based on insurance claims. In 2008, the thefts began to spike in Canada and became a significant problem in big Canadian cities by 2014.
Catalytic converters contain small amounts of precious metal, including palladium, rhodium and platinum, which can make criminals a pretty penny on the black market. In 2008, when the spike in converter thefts first happened, platinum was selling for as much as $2,300 US an ounce. Last week, an ounce of platinum was selling for $938.70 US.
Closer to home, Montreal Police Constable Daniel Maheu said about 10 catalytic converters have been stolen in Station 3 territory in the month of February alone. Station 3 patrols the boroughs of Pierrefonds-Roxboro and ÎleBizardSte- Geneviève. The thefts aren’t contained to commuter parking lots. Commercial garages are also hit.
Trucks and sports utility vehicles are primary targets because they sit higher off the ground making it easier for the thief to slide underneath and remove the part. An experienced thief can strip the car in three minutes.
One month less a day later, again on a Monday, Vickery walked from the train to her Hyundai parked in the same parking lot, turned the ignition and heard the same roar.
This time she grabbed her cellphone and called the police.
“I got out of the car and heard the same noise coming from another car,” Vickery said.
She walked over to talk to the driver. As it turns out, it was the second converter theft for both of them.
By the time the police arrived a total of four cars, all the same make, were found to have been stripped of their converters.
Vickery’s SUV is in the shop for the second time and she doesn’t plan to tempt fate a third time.
“We have a second vehicle and one of my siblings is going away for a while, so I can borrow that car,” Vickery said. “I’m lucky. I have a solution. But people should be able to feel safe parking in the (Agence métropolitaine de transport) parking lots. We’re paying for our monthly passes. At least they should install cameras in the parking lots.”
Both the AMT and the police are aware of the thefts. Maheu said police will increase their patrols of parking lots and garages in the Station 3 territory.