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Car Thieves Are Increasingly Looting for Oddball Parts

Airbags and catalytic converters containing precious metals are all the rage on the automotive black market.

By Claire_Martin May 29, 2012 10:52AM
Honda Civic photo by HondaIn the dark of night a few weeks ago in Santa Monica, Calif., thieves made off with so many parts -- including the airbags -- from a 9-year-old Honda Accord that the car was declared totaled. In Detroit, there's been a spike in the number of catalytic-converter thefts of late; looters are lured by the precious metals contained in the parts, which can fetch as much as $150 from scrap yards, according to the Detroit News. 

Along with catalytic converters and airbags, thieves have recently begun coveting auto parts such as tires, rims and navigation systems and hawking them on the black market. According to Detroit's CBS affiliate, the culprits responsible for stealing these oddball car parts are increasingly turning to Craigslist and other online sales outlets to unload them. 

One possible reason for this burst in car-part-stealing creativity is that technology has made it more difficult to make off with an entire car. So, instead, thieves simply target individual parts. A catalytic converter, for instance, can be jacked in a few minutes by thieves who roll beneath a vehicle with a battery-powered saw and make a few cuts. 

"You get under there, zip-zip and take it off," Jeff Prior, manager of Michigan's J.B. DLCO and Multistate Transmissions told the Detroit News. Two cars on Prior's lot were relieved of their converters in just this way. 

Law enforcement is already on the case in Dearborn, Mich., where police recently arrested two people who allegedly stole upward of 100 catalytic converters. Parking lots at senior-citizen homes were this particular duo's crime scene of choice, police said.

"The economy just drives a lot of different property crimes," Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad told the Detroit Press, by way of explanation. "It's not an excuse, but it is a cause."

Owners of some scrap yards in Michigan reportedly attempt to verify and record the identities of those selling them catalytic converters, which contain metals such as platinum and palladium, but there's no way for them to know where the parts are coming from. 

It's a trend with no end in sight. "Until there's no dollar value on them … a guy can work three minutes on a Chevy converter when it's dark," Sgt. Stephen Mills of the Warren, Mich., Police Department told the Detroit Press. "The next thing you know, he's got $100."

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2Comments
LS1 Bird
May 29, 2012 11:00AM
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This is news?? Cats and nav's get stolen? Wow, welcome to five years ago.  And people have been stealing airbags since the 90's, and wheels/tires since, well, forever.
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