‘How am I gonna pay?’: LA retiree gets a nasty surprise three years after her car’s catalytic converter was stolen — and experts say it’s a common scenario. How to protect yourself

Now, the retiree, who is living on a fixed income, must buy a new part to legally drive her car.

“How am I gonna pay for a catalytic converter if… it’s three and four times more than what I paid for this one?” she said in an interview with CBS News Los Angeles.

The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) says that catalytic converter theft increased by nearly 900% between 2019 and 2023.

If you were a victim of this, here’s how you can ensure that you don’t receive an unapproved replacement part — and then have to buy another one.

Check your part

NADA says that thieves take catalytic converters because they’re not easily traceable and have a high resale value, thanks to the rhodium, platinum, and palladium inside them. During the pandemic, thieves could sell catalytic converters from $20 to $350 on the black market.

Catalytic converters “reduce toxic emissions from internal combustion engine vehicles,” according to NADA. The auto part needs to be approved by California Air Resources Board (CARB) to pass muster during a smog check.

Hill had no idea that her replacement catalytic converter wasn’t CARB-approved. But now she has to buy a new one, which costs an average of $2,500, according to NADA.

Doug Shupe told CBS News Los Angeles that this is a common scenario. The AAA media and public relations manager said an auto parts store sold Hill the wrong aftermarket catalytic converter for her vehicle. It was then installed in her car by another party who didn’t know it was an unapproved part.

Shupe recommends that you make sure your new catalytic convertor is listed on CARB’s aftermarket catalytic converters database. You can search this on the Board’s website by inputting the make, model, and year of your vehicle.

“It is frustrating, it can cost money, it can cost extra time,” Shupe said. “But doing that extra research on the front end can save a lot of trouble down the road.”