When thieves see your ride — whether it’s the latest model or a holdover from bygone times — all they see are dollar signs.
Hundreds of dollar signs.
But relax. Just a smidgeon of prevention, can save you thousands of dollars and a world of trouble later.
Next Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor, you can get your vehicle identification number etched onto your catalytic converter to deter those with sticky fingers.
“Catalytic converters are targeted by thieves because they are easily accessible and fairly easy to remove,” Derek F. Dinsmore, director of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ Enforcement Services Division, said Thursday morning. “Marking their vehicle’s catalytic converters is an easy and cost-effective way for consumers to deter thefts.”
A single catalytic converter can net thieves tidy sums totaling hundreds of dollars. That’s because they contain precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium, and are relatively easy to remove, according to the Maine secretary of state’s office, which oversees the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Thieves have become exceptionally active in recent years. Between 2019 and 2023, there was a 900 percent increase in catalytic converter thefts nationwide, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
While thieves get a payday, the victims can be left with repair bills up to $2,500, plus the temporary loss of a vehicle.
A 2022 state law designed to reduce catalytic converter theft requires car dealers to engrave vehicle identification numbers on vehicles and requires recyclers to add the identification number or a license and stock number to converters.
At the Tuesday event, students from the college’s criminal justice and automotive technology programs will assist with marking catalytic converters.
You can register for a preferred time slot by emailing [email protected]. Otherwise, the event at the college off Hogan Road will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
