San Carlos & Valley Springs Auto Repair

Living in the Bay Area we all have heard about catalytic converter thefts, as the Bay Area favorite, Toyota Prius, is the prime target of the thieves. Now Carfax, a company where repair shops report auto repair data, estimated that in 2022 over 153,000 vehicles were targeted. Insurance companies reported only 52,000 claims for stolen catalytic converters – so why the discrepancy? We thought about it and looking at the data at Toole’s Garage in San Carlos, we come to the conclusion that Carfax is right. We see a lot of vehicles with stolen catalytic converters that are older vehicles, without comprehensive insurance, so the owners pay out-of-pocket for the repairs – hence there is no report to the insurance company, but Carfax gets to count such cars in their statistics. If you take into account that catalytic converters are often on back-order, meaning one has to wait for the manufacturer to deliver new ones, it makes sense that the number of catalytic converter the ... read more

  Catalytic-converter theft The catalytic converter is a component in your exhaust system that converts oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into less-polluting emissions, and they contain several valuable metals.  Toyota Prius cats have larger quantities of these metals, and pay higher prices at the metal recycler.  Thieves target these cars, in particular, for a quick “jack and hack” that’ll cost you a few thousand to repair, but nets them a couple hundred dollars or less. Every car is a potential target, and those parked unused for several days can attract the attention of the bad guys.  Your first clue is usually a car that sounds like the muffler fell off - the entire middle section of your exhaust system gets cut out with a power saw in a minute or two, often stealing or damaging the oxygen sensors, pre-cat and post-cat exhaust pipes, and sometimes even denting things with careless jack placement.  We can install catalytic-converter shields using ... read more