There’s a very old saying – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
That’s a good guiding principle for the provincial government as it seeks advice to end the annoying and costly thefts of catalytic converters from around the Lower Mainland.
For years, drivers have gone out to their driveways or returned to parking lots to find that their car is making horrible noises. Someone has slipped under the vehicle with a hacksaw and made off with the converter.
That particular part contains some valuable metals. Thefts rise every time the price of those metals spikes.
The unlucky drivers are facing the cost of their insurance deductible, and ICBC – which means every driver in the province – is on the hook for the rest of the costs.
There were 6,143 catalytic converter thefts in B.C. in 2022, and 2,931 in the first seven months of 2023. The ICBC claims in those seven months last year totalled $8.2 million.
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The B.C. government has announced it is asking, via an online survey, about five possible actions to address the thefts, including enhanced reporting and info sharing with police, and reforming the ways in which metal dealers can buy old catalytic converters.
As we’ve argued before, there are two ends to each transaction involving a stolen catalytic converter.
On one end is the thief – usually someone with a desperate need for money. They’re not getting very much out of the actual heist, just pennies on the dollar for what it costs to replace the part. They’re numerous, poor, and it would be impossible to catch them all.
On the other end are the folks buying those converters, and moving them up through the chain of scrap dealers and metal recyclers. They’re the ones making the real money, and there are a lot fewer of them.
Whatever measures the province takes, those people are where enforcement and prevention measures have to hit first. Removing the people making the money from the equation – whether it’s by arresting them, or just making it harder for them to move their stolen goods – is what will stop the low-level thieves from continuing to wreck people’s cars.
Jailing individual thieves might feel like justice, but it’s less effective than stopping the thefts before they happen.
– M.C.