Catalytic Converter Theft — Growing & Costly to Insurers
State Farm just released a report on the recent, and dramatic rise, of the theft of catalytic converters. It’s not just a big concern to State Farm. The rise in thefts affects all auto insurers and consumers.
The huge increase in the thefts also impacts agents selling auto policies that are rising considerably these days because of inflation and increasing claims costs.
Catalytic converters — if you’re not up to speed on them — contain rare metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium and they cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.
How bad are things? State Farm said in 2019 it paid of $9,900 for catalytic converter thefts. In 2021 that figure jumped to $1.4 million.
The percentage of increase is off the charts.
However, State Farm did try to put some numbers to help express its concern. The insurer found between July 2021 and June of 2022 catalytic converter theft grew 109%. In that year, 43,219 converters were stolen. That’s more than double the 20,600 stolen in the 12 months between July of 2020 and June of 2021.
To no one’s surprise, the PIA Western Alliance state of California had more catalytic converter thefts than any state in the union. Thefts in the Golden State totaled 10,577. Texas was a distant second at 5,867. Illinois was third with 3,299 thefts.
The PIA Western Alliance state of Washington was fourth on the list with 2,390 thefts.
Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3Ukevyp |
