My colleague, who like me owns a Qashqai, returned to her car from a meeting last week. When she fired it up she couldn't believe that the exhaust seemed to be blowing badly on a brand new car.
Took it to the local Nissan dealer only to find that someone has taken the time to lie under the vehicle and saw off the part of the exhaust that contains the cat converter.
Apparently they are after the precious metal (platinum?) that lies within. I assume the QQ was fair game because it was relatively easy to lie under. £500 to put right including a damaged manifold repair caused when they bent the exhaust over, presumably to muffle the noise as much as possible.
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Apparently they are after the precious metal (platinum?) that lies within.
It's not worth very much as scrap, compared to the cost of the part.
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Maybe they wanted the part itself, though unlikely that a cat would have failed already on such a recent car.
Reminds me of the gradually disappearing road signs on the the A19 Southwards as you cross the River Wear at Sunderland. They must be pretty broke or stupid to risk dismantling these signs on such a busy road.
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They didn't want the platinum. They wanted the catalyser to cobble into the exhaust system of, what, one wonders? Something more or less compatible anyway.
The horrible grotty simian energy and moral vacuity of certain elements are strangely dispiriting. But these things are all very traditional, in all parts of the world and throughout history.
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Unbelievable, now someone will have to come up with a "cat lock" design.
I guess I'm lucky cos my Panda 4x4 has a sump guard in the way but how many other vehicles are vulnerable?
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"Cat burglars" ?
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Whatever they get for it could go into the christmas kitty.
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On a recent visit to a London Road Kia dealer the salesman told me that a couple of weeks back all the 4x4s on the forecourts had the cats removed. For those who know London road in Romford/London there are loads of car dealers along there and apparently many of them were hit.
They reckoned that 4x4s were targetted purely because they were easier to crawl under.
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Apparently they are after the precious metal (platinum?) that lies within
Yes, it is a growing problem - along with theft of Lead from church foofs [rooves?] and Cast Iron drain covers.
The sale value of the metal is a tiny fraction of the cost to the owners of replacing the stolen items.
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The car was parked in full view on a station car park. The audacity of some people! She's trying to get hold of cctv etc but as always it's never straightforward.
It was gone in a whisker.
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When questioned the suspect replied
Me? How?
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www.norwichportal.co.uk/search.php?term=thieves
Thieves target Gorleston theatre roof
Brazen thieves tried to steal the whole roof of the historic Pavilion Theatre in Gorleston ..
Thieves steal drain covers
Thieves stole 30 drain covers from Fenland roads at the weekend
Precious metal taken in £25k raid
Thieves have stolen £25,000 of catalytic converters which contain the precious metal platinum. From: BBC News 28/11/2007 3:34 pm
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7393712.stm
Thieves take catalytic converters
Thieves have stolen six catalytic converters from business vans in Kendal.
Edited by jbif on 23/05/2008 at 17:37
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As well as jbif's links:-
archive.oxfordmail.net/2008/5/9/243909.html
METAL thieves are targeting car owners and stealing catalytic converters for the platinum inside.
There have already been at least six thefts in Oxfordshire in the past three months, but others may have gone unreported.
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Cat...astrophic effect on the emissions I should think.........
Sorry......feeling a bit frivolous today ! ( I live in Nantwich y'see ) We have cars in Nantwich. Many cars. Some of them have cats.
;-)))))
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We have cats in Sunderland, lots of cats. I suspect some of them have cars!
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An OE cat weighs in at around £50, so all the little scroats have cottoned-on to pussy-whipping as yet another nice little earner - a couple of hours driving around, a bit of hacksawing and there's £300 for the drugs kitty...
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Do you mean that the cats are being recycled at a big profit through none-too-scrupulous garages, Screwloose?
Pussy-whipping indeed! LOL
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It's the scrapyards that happily pay-out for them - obviously no questions asked....
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obviously no questions asked....
Cat laundering...
'I could try and source you a secondhand one from, er, a low-mileage crashed car if you give me a couple of days sir... Quite a substantial saving I should think, they were going for about £500 last time I asked...'
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It's the scrapyards
Some do not accept "loose" catalytic converters, for reasons which should be obvious.
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I blame these thefts on the demise of Rover!
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Barking up the wrong tree there Chris.
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I always thought cats had 9 lives, maybe they do and the thieves are just repeatedly recycling them.
Message to mods, don't ban this thread cos it's the funniest we've had for a long time and it is a bank holiday weekend anyway.
Happy holiday to all on this site.
By the way, we in the North are going to get all the sun and the South is going to be dull and miserable, as always.
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Just got my sleeping bag out.
I'm sleeping under mine in the drive tonight just in case.
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This sort of thing has been going on for years. I know folk who have had prop shafts and windscreens stolen.
Vehicle hire companies have a similar problem. It's not unusual for a vehicle to be returned with a set of cheap tyres in place of the original premium tyres.
I've heard of vehicles being hired for a couple of days - and being returned with faulty major components.
Your guess is as good as mine !
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the South is going to be dull and miserable as always.
That has nothing at all to do with the weather Chris! ;-)
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>>This sort of thing has been going on for years. I know folk who have had prop shafts and windscreens stolen. <<
Typical Southern Softies!! - up here the REAL HARD Tealeaves knick the WHOLE car in one go!! ;-)
Billy
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This infomation comes via a very reliable source i.e. my Sisters s-i-l who owns a garage in North Wales ... apparantly, thieves are stealing catalytic converters from cars to get the scrap value of the Platinum content.
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Things are getting like Mad Max, Max Headroom and 1984. Filmy, very filmy.
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Been going on for a while. Along with aluminium road signs and manhole covers.
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This infomation comes via a very reliable source i.e. my Sisters s-i-l
Old news!
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=63520&...e
{Two threads now merged}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 08/07/2008 at 14:49
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If they are prepared to take live electrical cable this doesn't suprise me at all. If you have gold fillings, don't smile or you could be in trouble.
Edited by krs one on 08/07/2008 at 08:44
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A report on Radio 4 this morning stated that even railway lines are being stolen due to the high price of metal ... swmbo sez its probably men doing it, as they have a one track mind.
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tinyurl.com/62b5gq
I saw such activity as described in this article today outside of a metal recycling plant in Hull - any vehicle entering the estate it was on - was pulled and it and the occupants were searched.
ANPRS van was there too along with its 'buddy' * ;)
The Police/VOSA/DOT (fuel & mechanical checks being done too) had low loaders there as well as a large mobile multiple prison cell van.
'We have already filled one low loader today and taken one lot to the cells' I was informed as they searched my vehicle. That was at 11amish!
This is a very clear message and is really driving the message home to the few in the area that they mean business.
If you are in the Yorkshire region there was a film crew there from the BBC so it could be on tonight?s local and possibly even the national news.
* ANPRS's buddy? -----> Mitsubishi Evo 8 marked car 'ANPR Intercept Team' just waiting for the Muppet (Hull has more than it's share of these....) to 'try' and outrun it!
Edited by Tron on 08/07/2008 at 14:12
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Mitsubishi Evo 8 marked car 'ANPR Intercept Team'
The nightmare future from Mad Max has arrived.
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They also had an unmarked Subaru WRX (black) too.
Both were double manned vehicles and by some pretty 'hefty and handy looking' police uniformed geezers (door bouncers on steroids spring to mind here!) too.
Does anyone know if these are just for Humberside police or are they 'generic' vehicles to Yorkshire?
Edited by Tron on 08/07/2008 at 14:43
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Wow! That wasn't a "crackdown" that you saw - it's a "blitz!"
[What happened to Donner - and summer?]
uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL083686282...8
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stealing cats to make money is on the increase does that mean its the purrrrfect crime!!!!!
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