WASHINGTON, USA — While car thefts are up, a new report shows that in Washington, thefts of one valuable car part are significantly down.
New data on catalytic converter thefts may be surprising: BeenVerified says when comparing 2022 to the first six months of 2023, Washington saw a 77% decline in catalytic converter thefts. This was the biggest dip of all states in the nation.
Why? One auto and insurance expert said it could be partly due to action by the legislature.
"The Washington legislature joined a number of other states in the last year or so to enact new laws that are intended to make people provide more information when they're selling a catalytic converter to a metal dealer," said Kenton Brine, president of the Northwest Insurance Council, a nonprofit organization that provides information about the insurance industry.
In July of last year, one Washington law placed restrictions on how scrapyards and metal dealers do business.
"If you're selling something that you've just stolen off a vehicle, it's going to be a lot harder," said Brine.
Bellevue police also told KING 5 in a phone call that the decrease could be because of a few "high-profile arrests." That's something Brine reiterated.
"They've made some dramatic arrests, of, you know, sort of theft rings and people who are buying those catalytic converters in large amounts to move them to other states," he said.
Then, he said, there is the fluctuating value of the minerals found in a converter: platinum and palladium.
"We've heard, anecdotally, that prices for the minerals that are in catalytic converters have also come down a bit, making them somewhat less valuable," said Brine.
He added, "It's been a serious problem. And for those people who are still seeing this stuff to occur, it's still a big problem for those folks."
Steep repair bills are still just as painful for the victims this crime is happening to. That includes Schevonne Vercueil from Redmond.
"They jacked my car back up. And it happened so fast," she said. "Just the brazenness of the whole thing.”
Vercueil was working at her second job as a massage therapist in Bellevue when her converter was stolen from her car.
She said somebody jacked her car in their commercial lot at 7:30 p.m. Friday and got away with her converter.
She now faces a $2,000 repair bill and described how overwhelming the situation is.
"I'm a single mom. So I've been taking on a lot by myself. And then my mom has been struggling with cancer," she said. "I work two jobs, seven days a week, just to keep up, you know, and just so that my daughter can have a better life than I had... and that my mom can live a little bit longer."
Anyone who knows anything that can help police in their investigation is urged to contact Bellevue Police Department.
Meanwhile, Vercueil wants to share an affordable way to deter thieves away from catalytic converters: by applying high-temperature neon spray paint to it, and by etching a serial number.