COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Justin Urbanek, owner of JT's Garage in Cheyenne, Wyoming, has a new source of revenue: Colorado victims of theft. In the past month, he's had three different Colorado residents drive up to his shop to get a new catalytic converter installed in their vehicle.
The reason for it is twofold; in recent months there has been a rash of catalytic converter thefts across the country, and new Colorado environmental regulations are making it more expensive, and more difficult, to buy a new converter in the state.
Depending on the make of their car, Coloradans can get a new catalytic converter in Wyoming for between $300 and $900, Urbanek said. In Colorado Springs, the average price to get one installed is around $1,000.
A catalytic converter is an exhaust system component that reduces some of the harmful air pollutants, like carbon monoxide, created by a gas-powered engine. They have thief-enticing precious metals in them that help them do the job.
In a 2018 effort to improve air quality, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment adopted stricter standards that require aftermarket catalytic converters to better filter out pollutants. The new restrictions have left some Colorado Springs mechanics frustrated and losing money as they watch their customers leave the state to get their cars fixed.
The regulations were initially established in California, which has significant sway over the nation's environmental regulations because it makes up such a large part of the auto market. Many Coloradans aren't aware of the new regulations, which went into effect at the beginning of this year, until they need to get their catalytic converter replaced.
And lately, that's often been because it's been swiped by thieves.
Eric Nordlie, who lives near Memorial Park, had the catalytic converter cut off his Ford F-350 in the early morning. When a tow truck came to take his car to a shop, the pickup truck careened off of it and smashed through a fence.
Nordlie tried to track down a new converter in town, but was unsuccessful, being turned around at one shop and told there were up to 150 people ahead of him on a waiting list for the part. “I don’t have no fix," Nordlie said. "I’m stuck."
In an effort to get unstuck, Nordlie drove his other car up to Wyoming. He left Colorado Springs at 4 a.m., paid $500 for a new converter and drove back.
“I'm an old man, and I have insomnia, so it was really kind of a rough trip,” he said.
When he brought the new converter to Bud's Muffler inc. on North Circle Drive, they had to turn him away. If mechanics installed the non-compliant converter, the state could fine the shop up to $47,357 per day per violation between when they installed the converter and when the state found out about it.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson Andrew Bare said in an email that regulators base their enforcement actions on the specific facts of each particular case and wouldn't necessarily charge the maximum.
Bare said the department was aware that some Coloradans were heading out-of-state for converters.
"A non-compliant converter could result in a failed emissions test, and we know that many non-compliant converters perform worse, become ineffective in a shorter amount of time and require quicker replacement," he wrote. "It’s in everyone’s best interest for vehicle owners to follow the law."
Under law, mechanics have two options for replacement converters. They can order a dealer-made converter, even if it isn't up to California standards. But dealer-made parts are in short supply, at least in part due to disruptions caused by the pandemic that have affected a wide range of consumer goods. The other option is to find a California-compliant aftermarket product, but there are very few of those out there, said Bud's mechanic Josh Pentland. The scarcity has made the converters more expensive.
At Bud's, the catalytic converter thefts have created a cottage industry. On Tuesday morning, between five and ten people came in for new converters, with about 100 total instances of it so far this year. In the corner of the lot, white passenger vans sat idly. In the back of the shop, a large box truck was propped up on a metal platform. The exhaust system that ran from the front of the truck to the tailpipe had a foot-long gap in it. A straight, clean cut on either side of the gap was the handiwork of a thief that had used a hand tool to cut out the catalytic converter.
But although all the theft has created more potential customers, the wait-and-see game and higher prices for parts are bad for business. "Nobody is getting rich off of it," Pentland said.
The thefts come in waves, Pentland said, and they typically come overnight.
Keeping a look out for security cameras and targeting dimly lit parking lots, thieves are targeting vehicles like Nordlie's F-350 and the box truck and large vans at Bud's lot. They can easily slide under the high-clearance vehicles and access the catalytic converters. Bud's has come up with two possible solutions to the issue. One uses steel cables to better secure the converter to the rest of the vehicle. Pentland estimated the shop had installed about four of those at about $400 a piece. Mechanics have also designed a rebar cage they can attach as a type of cradle for the sought-after part. The shop has sold about 10-15 of those for $250 each.
Neither method would likely stop a would-be thief from cutting off the converter; the same tools a thief can use to cut off a converter can also cut through steel cables or the rebar. The hope is that would-be thieves will be deterred by the extra effort -- and time -- it would take to get through the defenses. If they're looking at a parking lot with a handful of targets, it's not a difficult decision to move on to the next vehicle.
Detective Dennis Mallett, Colorado Springs Police Department's one-man army for investigating metal theft, has seen evidence that the aftermarket protection methods can be effective. He's seen surveillance video of thieves moving onto a different vehicle after finding a rebar cage on their initial target. Mallett has seen on video a thief swipe a converter in under a minute. “The longer you’re under there, obviously, the bigger the risk,” he said.
If thieves can pull it off, there is a hefty payday to be made. Illicit buyers, many of them likely based outside of Colorado, will pay between $50 and $1,400 for the converters, Mallett said. The top-dollar converters don't come on vehicles with high clearance. Instead, snatchers have to jack up a smaller car to grab the payday. Even that is “a pretty good paycheck for 20 minutes of work," Mallett said. After harvesting the precious metals palladium, rhodium and platinum from the converters, buyers can make new catalytic converters and resell them, he said.
Mallett said he is conducting an investigation into the thefts. In the meantime, Nordile and others like him will have to keep waiting in line.
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