stolen catalytic converter & aftermarket replacement through insurance- some takeaways

From what I can tell the insurance company eventually tries to get out of insuring your car. One guy here who was on his third theft on a gen 1 Prius said the insurance company told him the car was totaled, to hand over the car and take some $3,000 as compensation or go fix the car himself on a salvage title, and that "by the way" the company wouldn't insure his salvage title car if he chose that option.

 

Another reason why one should go with the cheap option and never make a second claim for the same thing on the same car.

 

What was the first reason? And what do you do if you get the same thing again?

For an example, the person I was referring to went and put a cat security guard on his car to try to prevent this from happening again. It still got stolen again. How to you prevent from ever having the same claim again? Or if a tree falls on a car for the second time the owner should just give up driving?

Catalytic Convertor Stolen Even with Cat Shield | PriusChat

 

Your chances of having it stolen again is very very high should you spend the thousands of dollars for the OEM replacement.

Not likely stolen would be the $125 aftermarket converter. With a $500 deductible, it would cost less than that to replace it.

If a tree falls on your car a second time, you'd be a fool to have park under the tree. Not an equivalent analogy.

 

At least in British Columbia (Canada), the typical plan through ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, the main, quasi-governmental auto insurer) is $500 (CDN) collision and $300 comprehensive. There are lower deductibles available as well.

I could check with them, see what the policy is, if they shell out for genuine Toyota Cat. I think they dang well better, but yeah I'll try to find out.

 

Ok, for an equivalent analogy and real story the guy who had his cat stolen three times lives in California. He doesn't have the option to install an aftermarket cat.

The thing is that I see lots of pros and cons to having comprehensive (and/or collision) insurance. For me adding comprehensive and collision at a $500 deductible would increase my premium by $40 a month, or nearly $500 a year. Sure, comprehensive alone might be cheaper, but there's more of a chance of me sliding into someone or something due to the ice, snow, wildlife, narrow roads and such. Cat thefts are unheard of around here. Although hail damage is pretty common and I don't have any hope of having a garage or carport any time soon.

But what if something happens? What if by chance it happens twice? Then there's the chance that any little thing will "total" this old Prius. Even when I hit a deer last year in the Avalon I fixed it myself since it was much cheaper to do so than to pay the $1,000 deductible I have now with an OEM head lamp I found used for $200.

 

It shouldn't happen again, unless a stupid thief stole your aftermarket cat. On account that it has only a small amount of precious metals, it is worth only about $20 to recyclers,

 

I definitely understand why people don't want to change their monthly auto insurance payment by filing another claim... Of course for past 19 years I've mostly had awful experiences with my auto insurance and never once had to file a claim. So maybe you're screwed either way?

 

That's what I'm getting from this. It's sounds like every man for himself.

Having insurance is pointless if they're going to make you pay for it in the end and also weasel their way out of paying what they should.

If I want a straight pipe, aftermarket or OEM catalytic converter on my car, it sounds like I'm on my own. Unless I pay $500 more a year. Then maybe, just maybe I might get just one replacement in the event of a theft. And it'll probably be a $100 cat because I don't live in a CARB state.

 

Check this out.

Should I Replace My Toyota Prius Catalytic Converter With An Original Or Aftermarket | Torque News

Because of high interest, I also posted it in a new thread.

 

Analogous to cleaning the house before the cleaners come?

 

I tried to find a happy medium between the pricey Toyota OEM cat vs the ultra cheap-o $100 amazon special cat. As a result, I settled on the Magnaflow 49752 catalytic converter about a year ago.

At the time, I paid about $565 for it before taxes. I see that it's gone up over $100 since then.

 

After one year, no complaints. No check engine light. No noise. No drama.

It seems like it was before the turds from Frogtown came to my little suburb in order to steal it.

 

Looks like the folks at the Toyota Stealership in Seattle are dealing with the back order on replacement cats by installing non-Oem cats. Just had a nightmare day putting a cat security cover on that was rattling because the non-oem cat the stealership installed for this lady has non compatible cat and resonator that caused her engine to lose power, as well as not sound like a prius and the cat cover amplified all those sounds. So annoying... Had to pull the cat cover to eliminate the noise.

Look at this BS and notice how low the exhaust pipe between the resonator and muffler they installed is. Also they forgot to put the plastic belly pan cover back on the rear of the car. Or maybe it was already gone?

 

Autsch!

 

On the same day I get a flat tire at my gardening job and landlady texts me to say she's raising the rent... Not to mention riding around with an old lady doing the diagnostic while she was convinced I broke her car. But on the bright side, at least I didn't get ripped off as bad as she did by the stealership.