'08 Stolen Catalytic :/

Welp.
It only took six days for my original catalytic converter to be stolen off my just-bought-last-week 2008, 2nd Gen Prius (AKA the most sought-after one on the market right now with the highest value), right on the corner with security cameras, in a "good" neighborhood (Williamsburg BK).

I'm in NYC. Any suggestions? Is it safe to drive or should I have it towed? I haven't spoken to Geico yet to see if this is covered but I do have comp/collision.... hopefully this will be covered?

I didn't even get a chance to make a happy post about my new (to me) car to share with ya'll
It has 206k miles so I'm comforting myself by saying that it probably needed replaced soon anyway, I do not know. Argh.

 

I spoke with my insurance (Geico) who said it WOULD be covered, AND there is no immediate rate increase/surcharge because obvs I wasn't "at fault". However, every 6 months they review policies and while they can't assure me that this wouldn't factor in to their decision on rate increase/decrease, I am gonna go through them anyway because it is gonna be much cheaper than paying out of pocket right now.

The only "issue" if you can call it that, is that they replace with OEM or comparable parts, which means I'll be right back to square one at risk, ugh... but of course I am expediting all of the measures I've been wanting to take anyway (just literally didn't have time since I've had the car here for less than a damn week). So... parking garage, cat shield ordered, yadda yadda.

NY is apparently a CARB state, *however* only for 2009 and newer - mine is a 2008, small miracle... so if I wanted to do a cheaper aftermarket on it that would be fine, but I'm gonna let insurance deal with it...

 

I have a $100 deductible lol, not a bad deal for a "new" OEM cat/comparable...

 

Oh yeah, I brought that up several times actually, because I don't want to just keep resetting myself back to square one of being a damn target :/ They didn't seem to care. I'm about to take it to an independent shop that's closer than the nearest stealership... wish me luck!

 

Thanks! Yup, Geico said "OEM or comparable", so, whatever, as long as it's fixed properly I don't really care (and my mpg doesn't take a hit, etc).... gonna be doing the shielding and paying for parking, ugh ugh ugh. NY Law follows CA's strict CARB protocols but only for 2009 and newer, so my 2008 would be ok with an aftermarket vs OEM (a small blessing if I were paying for this out of pocket :/ )

 

I don't think the thieves are really going the honest reselling route... and in NY it's actually illegal to resell, so they're taking them out of state. RE dashcam discount, I asked my insurance and they said they only discount whatever comes up from the VIN#, so anything aftermarket I add (cameras, alarms, shields, etc) is an out-of-pocket expense that isn't covered by my insurance nor is it taken into consideration for a rate discount.

 

Thanks, I do see one wire hanging down, I'll try to get some electrical tape over it before trundling over to the mechanic tomorrow morning. I found a shop ~2miles away so hopefully that's not too far, they install the shields so now I just have to wait for one to arrive in the mail, which it should do by the time they get stuff sorted with insurance RE repairs. probably gonna be without my new love for at least a week or so :/

 

The mechanic I'm taking it to said they will "use whatever insurance covers", which tells me that since Geico claims to use "OEM or comparable" it will at least be a MagnaFlow or Walker quality, both of which are 3x more expensive than the least expensive one suggested on this forum... that plus the sensors/labor/etc means it'd still be $1-2k out of pocket, so I'll stick with the $100 deductible for now and if my rates explode in 6 months come renewal time, well, that's an issue for future Tasha to deal with :/