Manitobans whose catalytic converters have been stolen are warning of a surge in thefts and a surprise Manitoba Public Insurance charge they believe should be thrown out for older cars.
Employees working at Winnipeg’s Loveday Mushroom Farms have gotten visits from a grinch ahead of Christmas.
In the last five weeks, someone nicked six catalytic converters from personal SUVs and trucks parked outside the farm’s front doors between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., in broad daylight, the farm’s operations director Dennis Danz told 680 CJOB on Thursday.
Police believe thieves are after these pricey exhaust system parts that contain rare metals like palladium, platinum and rhodium so they can be traded in for hundreds of dollars at scrap metal dealers.
Danz said the farm’s security cameras detected a suspect this week, which they’ll have police review.
“But the other five, we weren’t able to spot anybody. That’s how fast things go for them,” he said.
Farm staff are being caught off guard by not only the loss of the part at the end of a work day but also an added MPI “betterment fee” that can cost them several hundred dollars on top of their deductible, Danz said.
“It’s devastating. We hire a lot of new immigrants, so they don’t have $200 deductibles, or $500, and with the betterment fee, it’s another $500. You’re looking at a $1,000 bill,” Danz said. “It’s shocking to them. All the employees are nervous. They don’t want to park anywhere.”
“It’s appalling it’s happening on Christmas, too, the way things, prices are going and everything else.”
Betterment fees apply when new parts are used to replace a used part, MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley 680 CJOB on Thursday. For catalytic converters, it’s a charge that kicks in on cars with over 80,000 kilometres.
The cost runs on a sliding scale up to 20 per cent of the value of a new catalytic converter, he said, a cap that dropped this past summer.
“In response to this alarming rise of catalytic converter thefts, we adjusted our betterment fee, capping at 20 per cent compared to the previous 60 per cent, realizing there was some financial stress on our customers,” Smiley said.
“I know some people aren’t happy with that.”
Manitoba’s Scrap Metal Sales Accountability Act introduced in early December looks to crack down on scrap metal theft and resale.
If the bill passes, it would ban cash transactions on highly vulnerable items and require sellers to provide identification and proof of ownership for catalytic converters, among other things.
Winnipeg police data suggests catalytic converter thefts are up 415 per cent over last year, coming out at 1,464 in 2021 as of Tuesday. That number jumps to 1,620 when attempted thefts and break and enters are included. Winnipeg police wasn’t available for an interview Friday.
Manitoba RCMP are also reporting spikes in other parts of the province, such as Dauphin receiving 10 complaints of theft over the last three weeks.
Mounties recommend engraving your vehicle ID number on the converter, parking in well-lit areas that ideally have video surveillance and setting your car alarm to go off if there’s any kind of vibration.