Over the past months we have been buoyed by the decreasing case counts of COVID. We have been able to end our masking restrictions even as we continue to monitor the CDC website to ensure there is no resurgence. Having been able to turn our attention away from the pandemic a bit we now find ourselves battling a new epidemic that is impacting our community – the theft of catalytic converters.
As many of you know catalytic converters convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide, and water and nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen. This is done through the use of ceramic beads coated in precious metals including rhodium, palladium and platinum. Unfortunately there has been a massive increase in the number of catalytic converter thefts over the past few years and that increase has impacted ASPIRO. The thefts began at our Dousman Street location where, over the course of several months, we lost three converters. This caused us to relocate our vehicles into a fenced area with video surveillance. A few weeks ago we found the fence cut and two more converters removed. We are now upgrading lighting, looking at more surveillance options, and installing cages around the converters but these thefts are difficult to stop. Converters can be cut out in under two minutes and the value of the metals has spiked since the beginning of the pandemic.
Sadly, while most converters only fetch between $20 and $70 it is costing ASPIRO $1500 per theft. Our insurance is covering some of these losses but the cost, combined with the vehicles being our of commission for days at a time, is frustrating to say the least. While we don’t have the luxury of parking our fleet indoors I would certainly encourage anyone who can park in a locked garage to do so. Vehicles that are higher off the ground are more tempting to thieves who may find it more difficult to fit under passenger cars. We will continue to search for solutions and hopefully this new epidemic ends soon.
Lincoln Burr
President
