A few weeks ago, my son’s car was running a bit rough, and while I had it in for an inspection, the folks at Cheriton Automotive quickly found the issue. Someone had tried to steal the catalytic converter using a Sawzall tool. They were able to weld and repair the damage and get me back on the road (great service, great price), however, catalytic converter theft is big business.
Catalytic converters have become a target for theft in large part because of the price of precious metals, like palladium and platinum, that are used in the parts.
Catalytic converter thefts have been plaguing the country since the start of the pandemic as thieves took advantage of unsuspecting car owners at never before seen levels. New data from BeenVerified, a public data company, shows that since 2019, catalytic converter thefts have skyrocketed 2492.42% in Virginia in three years.
The study, Catalytic Converter Thefts Hit New Record in 2022—But Some States See Declines includes state by state crime data from January 2019 through 2022. The study estimates that the theft of catalytic converters quadrupled across the U.S. in 2021, a 353% increase from all reported thefts of catalytic converters in 2020, a previous record year for these thefts, and is again up another 20% this year when comparing the first four months of the year.
Virginia ranks 22 for the number of catalytic converter thefts per 100k registered automobiles.
Here’s the breakdown for Virginia:
Virginia | Catalytic Theft Numbers |
Percentage change thefts 2019 vs 2022 | 2492.42% |
2019 thefts | 66 |
2020 thefts | 163 |
2021 thefts | 1122 |
2022 thefts | 1711 |
% Change Thefts YoY 2019 vs 2020 | 146.97% |
% Change Thefts YoY 2020 vs 2021 | 588.34% |
Percentage change thefts 2021 vs 2022 | 52.50% |
Thefts per 100k Automobiles 2022 | 54 |
Rank Thefts per 100k Automobiles 2022 | 22 |
Rank Total thefts | 12 |