Start the car, press the gas, and hear a roar. That is often how a driver finds out a thief has been under the vehicle with a saw.
Catalytic converter thefts climbed sharply in 2020 and 2021, and state legislators answered with a run of new laws. The National Insurance Crime Bureau counted 3,389 claims in 2019. In 2020 the figure jumped 326% to 14,443. State Farm reported that its own converter theft claims rose nearly 293% nationwide from mid-2020 to mid-2021, and that it paid out about $34 million, up from about $9 million a year earlier.
“The crime is rampant. It has taken off dramatically in the last two years,” said Tully Lehman, a spokesperson for the bureau.
Why the thefts took off
Converters hold platinum, palladium and rhodium. Rhodium sold for $2,300 an ounce in early January 2019, according to Kitco.com. By early November 2021 it was $13,250. Thieves typically sold converters to scrapyards or internet buyers for $50 to $500, according to law enforcement and insurance fraud officials, and the job took only minutes with basic tools.
Lehman said the pandemic played a major part too: lost income, more cars parked outside as people worked from home, supply chain shortages of rare metals and stretched police resources.
Victims paid $1,000 to $4,000 for a replacement. Some did not bother with an insurance claim. School bus fleets were hit hard because buses sat unattended in yards overnight. Cherie Hime, executive director of the Wisconsin School Bus Association, told a state Senate hearing in August that the thefts had kept buses from picking up students, with replacement converters running $1,200 to $1,800 a bus.
What states did
By late 2021, at least 11 states had enacted laws on converter thefts or sales that year, according to Amanda Essex of the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 10 others had bills pending.
Texas made it a third-degree felony to buy or sell stolen converters, and sellers had to show proof of ownership. Indiana raised the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony; Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill in April. Minnesota set aside $400,000 for a pilot program to engrave or mark converters with vehicle identification numbers.
Oregon went after the market. A law taking effect in January barred scrap businesses from buying converters except from commercial sellers or the vehicle’s owner, and added recordkeeping rules. “The idea is you can’t have some guy off the street just snatching one and going to the local salvage yard,” said Democratic state Sen. Chris Gorsek, the bill’s sponsor. Prosecutors had brought the scrap industry on board, and the measure passed overwhelmingly.
Wisconsin’s Senate unanimously passed a bill requiring converter sellers to be at least 18 and to show identification and proof of ownership. Dealers would keep sales records, and first-time violators could face a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail. The bill then moved to the Assembly.
Denver widens the net
The same approach was later applied to other metals. In April 2025, Denver council members Darrell Watson and Flor Alvidrez proposed an ordinance modeled on the city’s 2022 converter law. Watson said converter thefts had dropped 95% since that law took effect, and that criminals had moved on to other valuable metals.
Under the proposal, sellers would show valid identification and junk dealers would keep detailed transaction records for at least 180 days. Walk-up sales and cash payments would be banned. Dealers would need a city “junk dealer” license from the Department of Excise and Licenses.
“Cash transactions will end once this ordinance passes,” Watson said. He pointed to $75,000 worth of copper stolen from the “I Have a Dream” statue in City Park, and to RTD’s report of more than $110,000 in copper thefts along rail lines in 2024. Committees were to review the ordinance through May, with formal readings expected that summer.
Sources
- Surging catalytic converter theft spur state crackdowns – Vermont Daily Chronicle
- Surging Catalytic Converter Thefts Spur State Crackdowns
- Denver City Council members propose new ordinance to curb scrap metal theft
