About 80 percent of demand for palladium and rhodium now comes from the automotive sector. At the same time, the effects of the pandemic on mining in South Africa, a major producer of rhodium, has kept supply limited. “This is why you’ve seen this very dramatic rise” in demand and prices, she said.
For automakers, the metals boom has jacked up the cost of producing gasoline vehicles. Max Layton, a London-based commodity analyst at Citi, estimates that soaring metal prices added $18 billion to the global auto industry’s production costs in 2019, gobbling up 15 percent of their total cash flow, and that those costs surged further in 2020.
At current prices, he said, the industry as a whole was set to spend more than $40 billion this year just on metals for converters unlimited . The escalating costs, Mr. Layton said, were “putting pressure on automakers to shift to battery electric vehicles as quickly as possible.”
Some owners are going to extremes to protect their vehicles.
After being hit with three converter thefts in quick succession last year, Jerry Turriff, proprietor of Jerry’s Certified Service and Towing in Milwaukee, has resorted to deflating the tires of some of his customers’ most at-risk vehicles to deter thieves from crawling underneath.
“It’s unbelievable,” Mr. Turriff said. “Now if I have a vehicle I think’s going to be targeted, I take the air out the tires, so they can’t slither underneath.”
He’s spotted the thieves on his security-camera footage — usually alone, entering his property in the dead of night, with “a big duffel bag carrying all his junk,” he said. (Stealing the converters can be treacherous for the thieves, too. Last year, a Kansas City man died after the Prius he was stealing the converters unlimited from crushed him to de
The last vehicle targeted, in November, was a Toyota Tundra pickup truck. Mr. Turriff replaced the stolen part, but the owner had the part stolen again several weeks later, he said.
Some states have started to require scrapyards and other recyclers to check photo IDs before buying used converters unlimited . California even requires businesses to take a photograph or video clip of the seller, and retain those records for two years. But different rules between states makes tracking and enforcement almost impossible, law enforcement officials say.
Online, ads abound of scrapyards willing to pay quick cash for catalytic converters. One site advertised payouts of up to $500 for certain foreign models. Older foreign models tend to contain more of the precious metals than newer ones.
Toyota Prius converters also fetch a higher price because their gasoline engines aren’t in as much use, and so it can take longer for the car to burn out the precious metals.
Some Toyota owners, in fact, are demanding that the automaker add anti-theft protections like metal shields to converters to make stealing them more difficult.
Ed Hellwig, a spokesman for Toyota, called converters unlimited theft “an industry-wide challenge” and said the Prius was no more at risk than any other vehicle. He urged owners to “follow the basics to protect their vehicles,” including parking in well-lit areas.
Many buyers accept old converters unlimited by mail, with free shipping. And YouTube tutorials are available for would-be sellers.
J. C. Fontanive, a sculptor in Brooklyn, bought a used 2008 Prius in the summer, spurred by concerns over taking public transportation during the pandemic. Then last month, he went to drive it to a friend’s, and “it sounds like NASCAR,” he said.
Mr. Fontanive didn’t have full auto insurance coverage, so he had to pay $3,200 out of pocket for a replacement and repairs — half the price he’d paid for the car itself.
Determined to deter future thieves, Mr. Fontanive, who often uses metal in his artworks, drew on his metalworking skills. He bought an aftermarket metal guard for his catalytic converter, then made his own modifications, with security screws and hardened steel bell pins that would be hard to saw through.
“I really went overboard,” he said. “If they look under my Prius now, they’re just going to be like: ‘No way.’”
For car owners who aren’t trained in metalworking, or don’t want to dole out money for a metal guard, the police advise parking in secure garages or well-lit areas. Etching a vehicle identification number or license plate ID on the converter could also help track it down if it does get stolen.
The Kevanes are still dealing with the aftermath. The younger Mr. Kevane, who works at a Whole Foods and at an immigration law firm, recently had to drive his Prius — its exhaust blaring — to a nearby
“God, it’s embarrassing,” he said. “People probably will think I tricked out my Prius.”
He brought the car to Tony Nguyen at Bayshore Automotive. It was the second catalytic converter theft that day Mr. Nguyen had gotten a call about — a first in his 25 years in business. A used car lot across the street had eight converters stolen last week, he said.
Reached by phone, an exasperated Mr. Nguyen asked a reporter optimistically, “Are you going to try to solve it?” He sounded disappointed when the reporter said that only a news article would ensue.
“It’s getting worse every day,” Mr. Nguyen said. “Someone has to do something.”