State Farm says catalytic converter theft claims are plummeting

State Farm has reported a decline in catalytic converter theft claims within the first half of 2023.

In accordance with the corporate’s newest knowledge, there have been roughly 14,500 claims associated to catalytic converter thefts throughout this era, marking a big drop from the 23,570 claims made in the identical interval final yr.

Within the first six months of 2022, State Farm mentioned it paid $50 million in catalytic converter theft claims. This yr, nonetheless, the quantity has decreased to $41.7 million.

This discount in catalytic converter theft claims marks the primary decline for State Farm since 2019, when solely 2,500 claims had been reported.

The variety of claims has steadily elevated over the previous years, reaching a peak of 45,000 in 2022.

Catalytic converters are prime targets for thieves because of the treasured metals they comprise, a report by Fox Enterprise famous. These criminals can take away them from beneath a automobile in a matter of minutes, with the stolen converters fetching a whole lot of {dollars} on the black market.

Drop in thefts brought on by various factors

State Farm attributed this yr’s drop in thefts to elevated media protection, which it mentioned helped educate shoppers about methods to guard their autos.

The insurance coverage big additionally pointed to how a number of states have launched stricter laws with harsh penalties for these convicted of catalytic converter theft.

Moreover, the declining costs of treasured metals throughout the converters have made them much less interesting to criminals.

To forestall catalytic converter theft, State Farm provided a number of suggestions to automobile homeowners, together with parking inside a storage or well-lit space, putting in a delicate alarm system, and positioning a safety digital camera towards their automobile’s typical parking spot.

It additionally steered engraving the automobile’s VIN (Automobile Identification Quantity) on the catalytic converter as a further deterrent.

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