Shields, cages used to stop catalytic converter thieves: "Cheaper than $2,500 to get a new one"
With skyrocketing rates of catalytic converter thefts along the Front Range, more and more vehicle owners are taking proactive measures. They are having low-cost steel guards, shields, and cages welded onto their trucks and cars to foil the catalytic converter thieves.
"We put on shields practically every day," said Riley Meehan, owner of Intermountain Radiator and Muffler in West Denver.
He estimates in the last two years, his shop has manufactured and installed as many as 1,000 shields which shop employees make, and are then welded onto the underside of the vehicle, protecting the catalytic converter from theft. He charges $250 per shield and they usually only take about an hour to install. Meehan said installing the guards now makes up about 10 % to 15% of his business.
"If they cut a converter off a Prius, they can get between $1,300 to $1,800," said Meehan.
Thieves are interested in stealing the rare and valuable metals inside cat converters like rhodium, palladium and platinum. It usually takes them less than a minute to slice out the converter and be on their way, leaving vehicle owners without the use of their cars and trucks and scrambling to find expensive new catalytic converters.
"They really don't care about the person who owns the car," said Meehan, who said the thefts are hard on law-abiding citizens, "especially the lower-income people. They don't have a lot of disposable income and so they may be taking two to three months of disposable income out of their pockets."
On a recent day at Meehan's shop, CBS News Colorado came across a truck owner named Steve who was having the catalytic converter guards installed on his pickup truck.
"The neighbors got hit, stole their cats so I thought I better come down here. It's cheaper than paying $2500 to get a new one. It's just a shame you have to do it," he said. "It's not right. In today's society, you just don't know anymore- it's not right."
Between 2019 and 2021, the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority estimated catalytic converter theft in Colorado rose 5,091 %. Cale Gould with CATPA said that number may even be low as catalytic converter theft is an underreported crime and not all Colorado law enforcement agencies are included in the CATPA reporting system.
Another muffler shop in Englewood contacted by CBS News Colorado said they were so overwhelmed by customers having catalytic converter guards installed, they asked their name not be published for fear of even more consumers calling them seeking help.
