Good Deed Goes Wrong

[headcoats]

My Missus's Mom isn't   having the best of times at the moment with her husband having to go in a home in the last few weeks with severe dementia.

She's having a clearout and we ordered a skip for her , it was coming today but last night she was a bit mithered about her car on the drive, so the Missus bought

it round ours'

In the early ours some scumbags nicked the catalytic converter off the car !

I heard a noise and when I looked out the window, it was already shooting up the road but the neighbour had been up with her baby and clocked the reg etc but we won't hold our breath

We live on a main road so traffic 24 hours a day plus we have one of those streetlights right outside that is the bright LED type, so parked under there in strong light FFS 

[chrisg]

As you say, there are some scumbags out there. I'm thinking pinching a cat from under a car is not a 5 minute job.

[Deleted]

Sept 14, 2020 10:40:45 GMT 1 chrisg said:

As you say, there are some scumbags out there. I'm thinking pinching a cat from under a car is not a 5 minute job.

Using a battery angle grinder just a few mins. if that. They only want the CAT.

Thieves love bright lights, they can see what they are doing. What they don't like is lights that flash on like security lights or dim lighting where they might need to use a torch that might alert people to their presence

Busy roads with passing traffic creates that background noise that hides what they are doing. Stick a couple of dayglow coats on and people just ignore them. Couple of hoodies is a different thing

A neighbour has a car stolen off the drive. Flatbed pulled up, guys wearing "uniforms" and dayglow vests. They winched it onto the flat bed and drove off. This was at 1pm in the afternoon.

[headcoats]

Garage just came to collect the car and he said they cut them off in seconds
There's me thinking a bright light would have kept them at bay

[mak595]

They dont give a shit, after all who except the owner is gonna collar a few guys tooled up, people would rather film it on their phone to stick on fb....

[headcoats]

Garage got back and when they cut through it , they cut into back of exhaust and also ripped the lambda sensors connectors from the wiring loom , so a bill of over £500

It's only a battered Honda Jazz so might write it off ?

[midlifecrisisrd]

Think it's the "old" cars that attract them

Are they not more valuable than the newer ones

Steve

[tipfinchy]

had the same a few years ago ,when there was some travellers in the area , i have a 4x4 so easy to roll underneath it, and where they cut it i had to have a complete exhaust from the manifold back , think it shows not all scrap dealers are honest
mart

[flames]

I read somewhere that they strip the cat down for the metals inside them. Think they contain titanium or something like that that makes good money.

[tipfinchy]

is it not platinum? not sure how easy it is to reclaim tho , i got told they get about a fiver for each them as they are
mart

[flames]

Sept 14, 2020 16:48:43 GMT 1 tipfinchy said:

is it not platinum? not sure how easy it is to reclaim tho , i got told they get about a fiver for each them as they are
mart

Platinum...that's the one.

But if they're only worth a fiver each, I doubt that's what they're nicking them for

[headcoats]

So over £500 damage for how much

Be interesting if this number plate checks out , probably cloned ...

[midlifecrisisrd]

According to this guy the Jazz cat is £100

[rich]

Sorry to hear this but it's really common on the Jazz as it has a cat under the car where most other small cars have a 'manicat' where the cat is part of the manifold and cannot be easily removed. We have bought quite a few from Copart as salvage as they get written off due to genuine Honda prices. As above, parts are about £500 from motor factors and about an hour to fit as you need both lambda sensors, cat and centre pipe. The rear lambda is a bit of a shit as the wiring goes inside the car so trim has to be removed. Worth doing though, they are really good little cars apart from the rear brake calipers have a habit of seizing at mot time.

[headcoats]

Cheers

If we had known what an easy picking it was we would have put it in front of garage and blocked it in with our car

Apparently 3 neighbours saw it !

I had heard disturbances last few years and involved thieves trying to get into neighbours cars both sides and I didn't go out but put the downstairs lights on and drawn the curtains etc and stood in doorway with my arms crossed and both times the scum sauntered off

I was too half asleep this time so they were up the road when I looked out

For what it's worth (For my Area anyway) the car was a silver Golf and KV62 EVX

Probably fake but if they use the same reg on another job then it will match up !

[Shytalk]

I sold one from my lads Civic last month, kept it after he put a de-cat on the car, didn't think much about it when he sold the car but we've been selling the odds and sods left over from it, the Cat went for nearly £600 on ebay....................

[steeley]

Sept 14, 2020 10:40:45 GMT 1 chrisg said:

As you say, there are some scumbags out there. I'm thinking pinching a cat from under a car is not a 5 minute job.

They use a hydraulic cutter ,hot knife and butter comes to mind . The cutter needs using on their thieving fingers /hands .

[avb]

we make aftermarket exhausts for the JAZZ
we sell 500 a week  all due to the thieving b*****ds

[markhoopy]

[JonW]

Reminds me of this:

[headcoats]

www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/four-men-arrested-after-cops-19116359

A dodgy scrap dealer involved !

Would be nice that the victims could get their compensation from property and belongings of these scumbags , but that's too logical