Catalytic Converter Theft Statistics The Sourced NICB and Insurer Numbers, From the 2022 Peak to the Decline Since.
Catalytic converter theft exploded between 2019 and 2022, then began falling. The most credible figures come from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which counts theft claims filed with insurers, backed by insurer datasets like State Farm's. This page lays out the verified claim counts year by year, the average cost of a claim, why the trend reversed, and the round numbers floating around that do not trace to a clean source.
How Common Is Catalytic Converter Theft?
NICB insurance claim data tells the clearest story. Catalytic converter theft claims went from 1,298 in 2018 to 3,389 in 2019, then surged to 14,433 in 2020 and 52,206 in 2021, before peaking above 64,000 in 2022. Since then the trend has reversed: State Farm, one of the largest US auto insurers, processed about 14,500 converter theft claims in the first half of 2023, down roughly 37 percent from 23,000 in the same period of 2022, the first sustained decline since the surge began.
Two things to keep straight. These are insurance claims, not every theft, since many owners with older cars or high deductibles never file. And the cost per incident is steep even as counts fall: State Farm's average converter claim runs around $2,900, up from roughly $1,900 in 2019, because a replacement plus labor and any related damage adds up well beyond the scrap value of the part. Figures you may see quoting a single precise national theft total for 2025 usually come from a different dataset and methodology, and are flagged below.
NICB claims data and State Farm insurer figures. Counts are filed insurance claims, a floor on true theft.
Catalytic Converter Theft Claims, Year by Year
| Year | NICB theft claims | Change | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1,298 | baseline | Pre-surge level |
| 2019 | 3,389 | +161% | Precious-metal prices climbing |
| 2020 | 14,433 | +325% | Pandemic-era surge begins |
| 2021 | 52,206 | +262% | Rhodium and palladium near record highs |
| 2022 | 64,000+ | peak | Highest year on record |
| 2023 onward | declining | about -37% (H1, State Farm) | First sustained drop since 2019 |
Sources: National Insurance Crime Bureau catalytic converter theft claim counts (2018 to 2022) and State Farm insurer claim data for the 2023 decline. Claims filed with insurers understate true theft, since many owners never file. The 2022 figure is reported as more than 64,000.
What These Numbers Actually Mean
The surge tracked the price of the metals inside the converter. A catalytic converter holds small amounts of platinum, palladium, and rhodium, and when rhodium and palladium spiked during 2020 and 2021, a part worth a few hundred dollars in scrap became worth stealing in bulk. A thief with a battery saw can cut one out in a couple of minutes, and until recently the parts carried no traceable markings, which made them easy to fence. That combination, high metal value and low effort, is exactly what drove claims up more than fortyfold between 2018 and 2022.
The decline since 2022 is not one single fix but several forces at once. Metal prices came off their highs, so the payoff shrank. States passed laws restricting who may buy loose converters and requiring recyclers to keep records, which raised the risk of fencing them. Police broke up several large theft rings, and more owners had their converters etched or shielded. None of these alone ended the problem, but together they pushed the reward down and the risk up.
For a business, the important nuance is where the risk still sits. Theft concentrates where many vehicles sit unattended for long stretches, dealership lots, fleet yards, apartment and commercial parking, park-and-ride lots, and repair shops holding customer cars overnight. High-clearance vehicles like trucks and vans are favored because a thief can slide underneath without a jack. A falling national trend does not help a fleet operator whose lot is an easy, well-known target.
What a Theft Actually Costs a Business
The scrap value a thief collects, often $50 to $250 per converter, is the small end of the cost. The owner or fleet faces the full replacement: a new converter, labor, and frequently collateral damage to wiring, oxygen sensors, or the exhaust that got cut. That is why the average insurance claim runs near $2,900, and why an uninsured or high-deductible loss can mean a vehicle off the road for days waiting on a back-ordered part. For a fleet, multiply that by several vehicles hit in one night, plus the lost use, and a single incident becomes a real operating expense.
The costs also arrive in a form that is easy to lose track of, spread across repair invoices, deductibles, downtime, and rental replacements. Fleet operators that keep every repair receipt and deductible categorized in one place see the true running cost of converter theft on their lot, which is usually what finally justifies the fence, lighting, and camera upgrades that stop it. The theft is a security problem and a bookkeeping one at the same time.
What Actually Reduces Converter Theft on a Lot
Physical deterrents come first. Etching the converter with the vehicle VIN, fitting a steel shield or cage, and parking high-clearance vehicles against walls or in the center of a well-lit lot all make a given car a worse target. Good lighting and a controlled, fenced perimeter matter because these thefts happen fast and at night, and a thief who has to work in the open under a light usually moves on to an easier lot.
Camera analytics catch the behavior lighting alone cannot. AI watching a parking area can flag a person moving between parked cars and stopping underneath one, or a vehicle that pulls in and parks against the flow at 3 a.m., and push that clip to a manager or monitoring service in near real time rather than surfacing it after a customer finds their car cut. Paired with license plate recognition at the entrance, the same system captures the plate of the vehicle the crew arrived in. Our parking lot security and dealership video analytics run on the cameras a lot already has, turning a nightly blind spot into an alert and a usable clip.
Numbers We Will Not Print
A few catalytic converter figures circulate without a clean source or get mixed across datasets. We leave them out on purpose, and here is why.
"Over 137,000 catalytic converters were stolen in 2025"
This figure comes from a vehicle-history dataset using a different method than NICB insurance claims, so it is not comparable to the claim counts above. Mixing the two produces a false trend. We stick to NICB and insurer claim data and label the source rather than blending incompatible numbers.
A single exact "thefts per year" national total stated as complete
NICB counts theft claims filed with insurers, not every theft. Many owners of older vehicles never file. Any figure presented as the definitive national count of converters stolen overstates how complete the data is.
"A stolen converter nets the thief thousands of dollars"
The thief typically gets $50 to $250 in scrap per converter. The thousands-of-dollars figure is what the victim pays to replace it, not what the thief earns. Conflating the two exaggerates the incentive and misstates who bears the cost.
Catalytic Converter Theft: Questions
How common is catalytic converter theft?
NICB insurance claim data shows theft claims rose from 1,298 in 2018 to 3,389 in 2019, then to 14,433 in 2020 and 52,206 in 2021, peaking above 64,000 in 2022. Since then the trend has reversed, with State Farm reporting about a 37 percent drop in the first half of 2023 versus 2022. These are filed claims, so they understate the true number of thefts.
Is catalytic converter theft going down?
Yes, after peaking in 2022. State Farm processed roughly 14,500 converter theft claims in the first half of 2023, down about 37 percent from 23,000 in the same period of 2022, the first sustained decline since the surge began in 2019. The drop is credited to lower precious-metal prices, new state recycling laws, police crackdowns, and more owners shielding or etching their converters.
How much does a stolen catalytic converter cost to replace?
The average insurance claim runs near $2,900, up from about $1,900 in 2019, according to State Farm. The cost covers a replacement converter, labor, and any collateral damage to sensors or exhaust from the cut. That is far more than the $50 to $250 in scrap value a thief typically collects, so the victim bears a much larger cost than the thief earns.
Which vehicles are targeted most for converter theft?
Thieves favor high-clearance vehicles like trucks, vans, and SUVs, because they can slide underneath without a jack, and certain hybrids whose converters carry more precious metal. Fleet vehicles, dealership inventory, and cars parked for long stretches in lots are frequent targets because they sit unattended. A converter can be cut off in a couple of minutes with a battery-powered saw.
How do businesses prevent catalytic converter theft?
Layer physical and camera controls. Etch converters with the VIN, fit steel shields or cages, and park high-clearance vehicles in well-lit, fenced areas against walls. Add camera analytics that flag someone moving between cars and stopping underneath one, or a vehicle parked against the flow overnight, and pair it with license plate recognition at the entrance to capture the crew vehicle. Most theft happens fast and at night, so real-time alerts matter more than after-the-fact review.
Where does catalytic converter theft happen most?
It concentrates where many vehicles sit unattended: dealership lots, fleet yards, apartment and commercial parking, park-and-ride lots, and repair shops holding cars overnight. California has historically led reported thefts by a wide margin, with a handful of states accounting for most incidents. A falling national trend offers little comfort to a specific lot that is a known, easy target.
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