What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Senexdriver

At the beginning of the year I posted about my son finding some oik paying close attention to the underside of his Honda Jazz which was parked in the street where he lives in south London. He realised instantly what was happening and challenged the guy, who immediately ran off. After a bit of research and asking around, he had a cage welded over the catalytic converter as a deterrent measure to any further attempts to steal it. All went well until Wednesday of this week when the inevitable happened.

His insurers want to write the car off as a replacement will cost more than the value of the car. He is in two minds as the car is on a 54 plate with 38,000 miles on the clock, runs beautifully and is in excellent condition. However, fitting a replacement is merely inviting a repeat of the theft. Garaging the car is out of the question as there are no such facilities nearby.

He is therefore reluctantly considering buying another car. He would like another Honda or Toyota but they are unsuitable due to the catalytic converter issue, so he is thinking of a mk1 Focus. I know from reading on here that the early models are pretty reliable, although they will all be getting on in years by now. Also, he wants an automatic and I warned him about the Powershift gearbox, although I’m not sure mk1s had that transmission - did they? He also mentioned Kia so I told him about the 7 year warranty. He is open to Mazda too. He requires a medium hatchback to carry around the paraphernalia associated with a small baby. Does anybody have any suggestions ? You can probably deduce the kind of budget from his initial thoughts.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - gordonbennet

Has he looked for a cheap and cheeful aftermarket cat instead?, even if the thing only lasts 2 years before needing replacing again its got to be a cheaper solution overall than losing an otherwise good car...he could accept the write off value and buy the car back and do this, but i have a feeling unless the waste of space who stole the cat has caused other damage it might be cheaper overall to cancel the insurance claim and just fit a cheap cat. out of his own pocket.

Could put a sign in the window, (probably best in picture/diagram form as chances are such oiks are illiterate) advising the new cat is a mickey mouse affair worth about 15p scrap on a good day.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - elekie&a/c doctor

A Mk 1 Focus , with the 1600 petrol engine will be fitted with the Jatco auto box. Excellent power train with very few issues. If you can find one that's not rotten , especially at the rear, then you cant really go wrong . Dependable motoring for around £1k. The cats on these are close coupled ,and not underslung like the Honda and Toyota models.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - John F

A Mk 1 Focus , with the 1600 petrol engine will be fitted with the Jatco auto box.

I don't think so. Jatco is Nissan. Our Mk1 Focus has the 4F27E autobox, a Mazda Ford collaboration. It is a very reliable TC box requiring no maintenance and will take more stress than the 1.6 Zetec engine is capable of giving it.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Senexdriver

Good to know, John - thank you. As you can see from my later post, the prospects for a 1.6 petrol auto of the right vintage are good. The proof of the pudding, however....so I shall keep an open mind.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - RT

A Mk 1 Focus , with the 1600 petrol engine will be fitted with the Jatco auto box.

I don't think so. Jatco is Nissan. Our Mk1 Focus has the 4F27E autobox, a Mazda Ford collaboration. It is a very reliable TC box requiring no maintenance and will take more stress than the 1.6 Zetec engine is capable of giving it.

Jatco is Nissan, Aisin is Toyota - almost all brands around the world use one or the other of those two somewhere in their range, often renamed to look like their own - Ford certainly used Jatco on many of their FWD models before switching to Aisin

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Senexdriver

I gather other damage was incurred, so it’s not just the cat converter that needs replacing. He has considered the aftermarket option but is worried that the b@st@rds will be back. Would they believe a notice in the window? I doubt it. I feel so sick for him as it really is a lovely little car and had plenty of life left in it. It was also perfect for his little family with its versatile seating.

Not a crucial issue, but the car has certain sentimental value. It was bought by his late father-in-law for my son’s wife many years ago and she hardly drove it when she was away at Uni or living in London soon after. He had been offered the car at a knockdown price when it was only a few years old by a family who had no further use for it when the owner died. It was garaged all the time it stood idle hence the perfect condition of the paintwork. Not that any of that would mean anything to the heartless individuals who stole the cat converter.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - johncyprus

My wife’s 58 reg Jazz had its cat stolen last year in SW London.. To our surprise the insurance company decided to repair rather than write off. The repair took 10 weeks however because there was a difficulty in locating replacement lamba sensors.
I’m sure these thefts are utterly random, your son would have to be very unlikely to have a replacement stolen.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Senexdriver

I wish for his sake it were utterly random, but in his area (Crystal Palace) it’s rife. That’s what the police told him when he reported the theft to them and because of that and the lack of evidence, they said they wouldn’t be investigating it.

He has a great network of friends and a couple lent him their very nice Honda Civic to visit us for the weekend. He’s very taken with the Civic, but it is another susceptible model of course. While he was here we had a look on Autotrader for used pre-2008 Focus automatics and there are 3 low mileage, tidy looking examples within 5 miles of his home at around the £2-3K mark. 58,000 miles for a 2007 example with FSH is very respectable. I guess the autos are bought by the old guys (like me) who potter around in them and wash them every Sunday.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - expat

Sorry to hear about this sort of thing. The problem is caused by dodgy scrap metal merchants paying out good money with no questions asked. The last thing those guys want is publicity for what they are doing so that is what is needed. You and your son should consider writing letters to the papers about this. The Insurance Council or whatever their top body is could be asked to get private investigators to look into dodgy scrap dealers. If some of them were charged it would be of great benefit to the insurance companies. Your son will of course have gone to the police but he could also consider complaining to the local MP about lawlessness in the area. The VAT people and the income tax inspectors should be asked if they can look at the scrap metal merchants too. Make it too hot for them to continue to do this. It won't get your son's car back but it would be very satisfying to see some of those people in court.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Brit_in_Germany

I suspect the cats are put through compliant workshops before they are passed on to scrap dealers.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - expat

I suspect the cats are put through compliant workshops before they are passed on to scrap dealers.

That seems quite possible. In that case the authorities should be pressured to chase the dodgy workshops. Choke off the source of money going to the thieves and they will have less incentive to do that particular kind of theft. Receiving stolen goods is a crime.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - glidermania

They were well determined if he had a cat cage welded on and they still nicked it! There's a YT channel called Salvage Rebuilds UK and the guys bought an old Honda from Coparts that had been written off.

The car was in good condition overall and it turns out some scrotes had cut the cat off with the insurers deeming replacement exceeded the value of the car. They were able to fit a replacement but didnt fit any cage or anything so the car is likely to be attacked again.

With one of those jack saw thingies, they can have the cat off in 30 seconds or less. Ive read reports they've done cars in supermarket car parks with other people milling around.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - gordonbennet

They were well determined if he had a cat cage welded on and they still nicked it!

Beats the hell out of proper days work apparently, and lets be honest here who's going to stop them, and who's going to administer a suitable deterrent punishment, nothing is going to happen to these low lifes.

The victim here is double punished instead, no one in authority gives a tinkers urination that its happened, the police couldn't care less, and our victim already knows that he cannot get his car repaired and keep it because it will happen again, and again no one will care a damn, so he's the one having to find a car a bit too difficult for our underachieving worthless scrotes to do the same again next week.

Irony being i can already hear some clever dick with a guaranteed non job for life suggesting it's the victims fault in some way.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Scott Jackson

The later Jazzes have the cat fitted near the manifold (Mk2 & MK3) are these too expensive for your Son?

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Senexdriver

A later model would be unaffordable at the moment. In any case, a car isn’t that important to him and his wife all the while they are in London. They have a network of friends who live within easy travelling distance so they only need a car when they want to visit either set of parents or when they need to take their new baby for hospital visits. The Jazz is his wife’s and, as explained above, it lived at her parents’ while she was at Uni and then while she was establishing herself in London. During that time it was used by other family members who live closer to the parents and when she became pregnant it was decided that she ought to have the use of a car so it became based in London.

My son is self-employed and I suggested to him that he could get a new car and claim it as a business expense, but he doesn’t use a car in connection with his business so that wouldn’t work. Latest update is that a cheapo replacement cat is being fitted as we speak and then they propose to sell the Jazz before it can be removed and use the proceeds to buy a replacement. The garage to which he took it said that they had replaced 4 cats last week alone, so there is clearly a ready market somewhere for knocked off converters.

Honda Jazz - Catalytic converter theft - Heidfirst

for info:

www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/cat-burglers-v...t