What is the best catalytic converter theft deterrent?

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Quick_Lavishness_689@reddit

I saw this pic of a dude who welded steel plates all over his cat lol

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jlhawaii808@reddit

I seen some welding thick rebars makes it impossible to cut thet will be busting saw blades. Another option is deflate your times completely makes it harder for them to crawl underneath

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rellett@reddit

have a alarm that goes off when the car is tilted

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Emotional-Ad7294@reddit

Take them off and put them back on when you need to pass another emissions check lol

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Adventurous-Depth984@reddit

Claymore mine hooked up to a nanny cam. Only instead of shrapnel it’s bank dye, glitter, and cow shit.

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Cost_Additional@reddit

Vote for people that will hold criminals accountable in ways that may get you banned on Reddit

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The_Real_Undertoad@reddit

Vote for a city council that actually cares about crime.

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ingodwetryst@reddit

Yeah, I'm not drawing my gun to shoot somebody over a catalytic converter. Especially when there may be two other people with bigger guns in the shadows waiting for me to do exactly that.

I'd assume most people don't want to shoot someone over a car part, or don't want to risk their life being ambushed shooting somebody over a car part.

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atlgeo@reddit

Ah...the old 'we wait in the shadows with huge guns while our partner steals the catalytic converter to draw him out' trick. I know it well.

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It's just not a risk I personally want to take. And second, I...don't want to end someone's life over a car part. I'm sorry, but that's just not why I have a gun. It's a car part, I have another car to drive in the meantime, and my insurance will make me whole for the theft. I hope that person gets help for whatever it is that drove them down that path whether it's drugs, debt, or just not knowing what else to do with their life.

Now, try that shit a second time and we might have a different story.

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muscle_car_fan34@reddit

I wish to one day have your levels of inner piece

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atlgeo@reddit

Yeah I'm just messing with you. I don't disagree.

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uber_poutine@reddit

We don't question the meth logic

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cheeseypoofs85@reddit

Test pipe

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cty_hntr@reddit

VIN etched on cat, with warning asking for proof of ownership. Many states are passing or have pending legislation asking for proof of ownership when disposing at junk and salvage yards.

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jabroni4545@reddit

Nah it'll still get stolen, they can gut the innards and toss the shell. Or they get stored till they have enough of a supply and then go across state lines to more lenient states.

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ingodwetryst@reddit

interesting how the demographic that will hurt the most is homeless people and underemployed scrappers rather than the thieves it's targeted at.

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Micromashington@reddit

What are you talking about

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ingodwetryst@reddit

If we require ID or "proof of ownership" for *ALL* junk taken to a scrapyard, we aren't hurting cat thieves. We're hurting poor people.

Requiring proof that someone owns a cat before they scrap it? Amazing.

Requiring proof someone owns a shopping cart full of odds and ends? Let's not.

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Micromashington@reddit

I understand, but I doubt proof of ownership for anything will ever get passed house or senate.

It’d be impossible to enforce. Imagine trying to scrap some copper pipe. No way to tell who cut it out of an old house they were redoing the plumbing in, and who stole it off a job site. Not gonna happen.

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SmoothSlavperator@reddit

Build a box out of 4x4" pressure treated (or some other appropriate sized lumber depending on the clearance of your vehicle. drill some holes through the box and into the ground and drop in some rebar so it can't be slid around. Then park over it. Easy, cheap, passive, you don't really need to think about it. They can't steal your cat if they can't get under your car. They'll move along to an easier target.

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pm-me-racecars@reddit

Straight pipe

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Equivalent-Carry-419@reddit

You’re playing 3D chess. Now you just need to find a way to pass emissions without codes.

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nostalia-nse7@reddit

Emissions checks were cancelled in 2013 in Canada. It’s believed every new vehicle sold comes with Cats and OBDII and O2s, and you’ll get the CEL looked at. Anything old was mostly traded in and scrapped in the Scrap It program, so too expensive to force everyone to go in. For the small % of old vehicles still on the road, it’s not long that non-classics would be maintained. Classics of course aren’t driven enough to be a concern to pollution in grand scheme of things.

Now your only worry is the local 5-0 hearing it when already pulling you over for speeding or tint, and sending you for a VI. Or driving into California.

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STERFRY333@reddit

Where do you live where everyone scrapped their old cars? It's like 40% 90s cars where I live.

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nostalia-nse7@reddit

Vancouver / Lower Mainland. By old, I’m talking the guzzlers that the emissions control was worried about. Pretty rare here to see much older than 2005 nowadays. Mostly Teslas, BMW, Mercedes, lot of 2010+ Toyota/Honda / 2016+ Mazda, and newish Hyundai / Kia. Then there’s the odd Polestar, Rivian, Rolls, Lambos, and Porsches.

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STERFRY333@reddit

Oh yeah makes sense, Every time I go through hope it's like a switch with all these fancy cars

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nabob1978@reddit

Unless you live in a province that has inspections, then you gotta have them if they came with them.

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never0101@reddit

Depending on the year, it's absolutely possible to program a vehicle to still run all of the emissions monitors and just not report pass/fail into. At least in my state all the emissions part of our inspection looks for is all but 1 or 2 monitors have run (depends on year of vehicle) and no codes are active. My 02 gtp back in the day had no cat, egr removed, cam and all sorts of bullshit and it "passed" emissions every time. Now if you have a sniff test all this is irrelevant.

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Expert_Security3636@reddit

L Ean ut out si far it won't run and pourr the alcohol in thrme tank get out of the parking pot as best yku can because your car won't be running real. Good and put everything back.like it was

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reTheyReal@reddit

be like me and live in a county with no emissions check

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YouWillHaveThat@reddit

Turbo dumps out the fender.

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STERFRY333@reddit

I was offroading in my 740 turbo a few weeks ago and knocked the mid pipe off. Couldn't fix it till home so I drove through town at 11:30PM with it straight pipes and holy shit that turbo screams.

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no_user_selected@reddit

What is it's mid engine? Do you need to run the dump pipe to the front of the car so the cat thieves don't steal your cat?

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WorkingDogAddict1@reddit

There's no cat to steal lol

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no_user_selected@reddit

I know, I have a mid engine turbo car with a dump pipe. I was just joking about running it up to the fender.

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WalterMelons@reddit

This is why I need to learn to weld. The cat on my obs f150 has the manifolds going into the cat and also there’s a spot for the o2 sensor as well. Kinda makes an H into a Y into the cat. Whoever thought that was good can f right off.

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Pimp_Daddy_Patty@reddit

Bluetooth cat is where it's at!

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Khal_flatlander@reddit

Dammit you beat me.

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Senior_Ad282@reddit

Cut them off

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danr2604@reddit

Can’t steal something that isn’t there

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elmwoodblues@reddit

I threw hi-temp orange paint on it and etched "STOLEN" onto it. You don't really 'prevent' as much as say, "Hey, tweeker: the next car over is gonna be easier."

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revocer@reddit (OP)

Hair did you do the etching? What kind of tool did you use? Stencil?

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elmwoodblues@reddit

HF knock-off Dremel tool

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revocer@reddit (OP)

Nice.

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sysop042@reddit

Straight pipe.

But then you'll end with a big ol' pile of catalytic and no way to convert it.

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STERFRY333@reddit

Just run it back through the engine! It'll convert eventually

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Jojothereader@reddit

Garage

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PL-Felix@reddit

I’m gonna go with parking your car in a garage attached to your home.

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MeepleMerson@reddit

EV - there is no catalytic converter (or exhaust system at all, for that matter).

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NetDork@reddit

Park next to a Toyota Tacoma.

(Where I live, every parking lot will have at least two or three to choose from.)

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Kayakboy6969@reddit

California logic , ban all batery tools .....

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Cyber_Blue2@reddit

I've seen trucks cage their cats with rebar

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chumlySparkFire@reddit

A locked garage

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TJK915@reddit

ill-tempered see bass!

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BeginningAwareness74@reddit

Shotgun

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Erkmergerk@reddit

Car mounted anti-theft civil war cannons. /s

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eatsrottenflesh@reddit

Park next to an easier one to steal.

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Protholl@reddit

Never live in the nicest house on the block. Strive for mediocrity.

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Responsible-Shoe7258@reddit

Just drive the vehicle with the theif underneath. Lady in an Excursion did, killed the scrote dead right there...

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CHISOXTMR@reddit

Garage

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MourningWood1942@reddit

Smear poo all over the converter. If I was a thief and came across a poo covered converter I probably wouldn’t want to touch it

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DadWatchesWrestling@reddit

But then it would just cook the poo. Your car will smell like hot shit so nobody will go near it. Even OP

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12345tommy@reddit

But you will still have your cat.

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ElectricianMatt@reddit

I would not want to be the one smearing poo on my catalytic converter. awe hell no

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Pimp_Daddy_Patty@reddit

Ifni was the owner of that vehicle, I wouldn't want to smell shit being roasted at 600 deg F

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PraetorianHawke@reddit

A lowered vehicle that needs a special jack to get under lol Or a straight pipe/no-cat system.

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Buick1-7@reddit

Armed neighborhoods. A thief gets shot at and all thieves steer clear

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in-okc@reddit

12ga Pump Action Shotgun with Buckshot

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syhr_ryhs@reddit

They can steal them so quickly now. The videos are insane.

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in-okc@reddit

Better run, better run. Out run my gun.

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Equivalent-Carry-419@reddit

The sound of racking the first one is enough to scare the shit out of them. An auto doesn’t give you that

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Micromashington@reddit

A cordless hole puncher

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SkylineFTW97@reddit

Having a cheap aftermarket cat on there because someone already stole the OEM one. The aftermarket ones are generally left alone due to not being nearly as lucrative. I work at a Honda dealership and have replaced numerous Accord and Element cats due to theft and before I worked here, I worked at a chain garage where I replaced a lot of Prius cats due to theft, including on 2 2nd gens belonging to friends of mine. Buying the cheapest cats on Rockauto seemed to keep the crooks from coming back for round 2. Also it's 1/5 the cost, which is huge when you're delivering pizzas and can't afford to drop $2k on an OEM car from Toyota (that also doesn't include the oxygen sensor you'll need and the fact that the resonator pipe was also damaged and needs replacing (that's how the thieves here in and around DC do it).

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VariousClaim3610@reddit

Park in a garage or fenced yard with guard dogs

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PckMan@reddit

Anything that makes you a worse target than everyone else is typically ok. If your car is the only one around for miles and they can work unbothered they'll still just cut out yours. If there are easier targets around they'll always go to them instead. Having a closed garage is arguably the best option but that's not always available.

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Additional_Toe_8135@reddit

Find a homeless person that resides nearby and pay him generously to defend and chase off would-be thieves. Eventually develop a friendship with him and help him get back on his feet and get a job and an apartment. Then you find out he was in league with the would-be thieves and was splitting the money you gave him with them and exploiting your good nature to help himself. Then he steals your catalytic converter himself.

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87eebboo1@reddit

Airbags, then set the car on the ground every night

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longhairedcountryboy@reddit

German Shepherd backed up by Smith and Wesson.

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Hot_Holiday8526@reddit

Not having one

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NinjaBilly55@reddit

My company was hit often so we tried several and they all seem effective.. We've never had one stolen from a vehicle that had a theft deterrent device installed.. The Cat strap is the worst of the bunch because it uses a heat set glue and the awful smell never goes away.. Amazon sells one called Fomiusy for around 75 bucks that seems like it would be nearly impossible to defeat but truthfully the ones we made using a birds nest of steel cable and muffler clamps seems just as effective.. We've watched camera footage of thieves peeking under the trucks and immediately walking away because they want quick and easy so we know deterrents do work..

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Concrete_Grapes@reddit

Get your state legislators to give a shit, and make it illegal to turn in cats for recycling without ALSO turning in your registration or title copy, along with a copy of your ID.

Have them have the checks mailed to a address, instead of paying cash, and that they have to record every sale, in a ledger, that they have to keep for 7 years, and can be audited at any time.

Slams the brakes on this sort of theft, HARD. It used to be a super common thing here, and the laws here changed, and it vanished within 3 months. They tried to send that shit to the next state over with more lax laws, and then a lot of those companies, still wanting to accept contracts in the other state, started upholding the rules of the other state, and thiefs were out of options, short of driving 500+ miles to get the damned things sold.

So--best deterrent? Competent legislators.

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Specimen_E-351@reddit

make it illegal to turn in cats for recycling without ALSO turning in your registration or title copy, along with a copy of your ID.

This is the law for all metal recycling in the UK including catalytic converters.

Cheques in general are rarely used here, so it is mandatory that scrap payments be made electronically via bank transfer or to a debit card so that there is a paper trail.

It helps, but unfortunately has not eradicated these thefts. Thieves take them to scrap metal dealers or vehicle dismantlers who pay far lower prices in cash and then scrap them "legitimately" and keep the difference.

It's definitely a step in the right direction though.

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stuff4down@reddit

EV

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benmarvin@reddit

What if your cats like to warm up near the batteries?

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stuff4down@reddit

Set the conditioning schedule every hour

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TheTrampIt@reddit

It will keep the rats away from the wiring

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Briggs281707@reddit

No cat

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boba-fetts-nemisis@reddit

Buy an older car that doesn’t need one

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Bleades@reddit

We would put steel cable tacked to the frame and muffler. It works pretty well since the cable bounces with the saw. Can be cut with a grinder though.

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Dumb_Beard@reddit

Sleeping in your vehicle with a sawed off in your lap does the trick.

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Montreal_Ballsdeep@reddit

Shotgun with a glass of whiskey. On the porch. With most likely a dog named "rusty" "bamshackles" "Rufus" or "General Reginald Von Wolfestein".

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AnotherIronicPenguin@reddit

Parking indoors.

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Peterthinking@reddit

Weld old files onto it. Sawzall can't cut thru a file.

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soundeng@reddit

Bees

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Dr_StrangeloveGA@reddit

Quarter pound of C-4 with a proximity switch. Once they get 100yds away from the car BOOM they won't be stealing anymore anything.

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Rick-powerfu@reddit

Hide the real exhaust behind an already cut but fake exhaust

=====Real cat====== ---- -heat shielding ---- ======. .==========

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Hyperspec42@reddit

Bomb

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External-Reaction804@reddit

.45

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z9vown@reddit

locked garages

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Intelligent-Guide696@reddit

Honestly locks only keep the less talented ones out

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Pawngeethree@reddit

Can’t steal it if it ain’t there

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No-Session5955@reddit

We need to bring back Trunk Monkey!!

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tblazertn@reddit

What about the Denver jockstrap?

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stupidfock@reddit

Relocate it to a hard to get to spot is a pretty simple way

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SokkaHaikuBot@reddit

^Sokka-Haiku ^by ^stupidfock:

Relocate it to

A hard to get to spot is

A pretty simple way

^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.

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Specialist-Way-648@reddit

A shotgun and loud dog.

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Duukt@reddit

Glock

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RayRayGooo@reddit

12 gauge shotgun

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see_recursion@reddit

My skid plates cover mine.

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32lib@reddit

The car is a EV.

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ramdmc@reddit

Trunk Monkey ™

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collie2024@reddit

Aftermarket one that has no scrap value.

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vladhed@reddit

Bicycle

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Woodstock0311@reddit

At this point I think these meth heads will steal em no matter what. Our shop is catty-corner from a police station so cops around 24/7. Did some work on CR-V about 2 weeks ago. Guy paid over the phone and was gonna get it after hours so it was parked out front in view of the police station with the paperwork and keys locked inside. For whatever reason it took him till Monday to pick it up. He pops in to say thanks and ask a couple questions. Starts his car and it's loud as all fuck. So at some point they cut this thing off after hours basically in front of a police station. Good thing they didn't have the balls to bust the window.

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TheTrampIt@reddit

Not having one —> EV.

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Expert_Security3636@reddit

Replace the converter with a test pipe

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DudeWhereIsMyDuduk@reddit

A long secluded driveway.

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OUonlyfearsGod@reddit

And a backhoe. Allegedly.

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Equivalent-Carry-419@reddit

That won’t help. It just means that fewer people will see them taking your cat.

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no_user_selected@reddit

15' lift kit, I've never seen a car thief with a ladder.

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myownbeer@reddit

Ev

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cheeseandzakaroni@reddit

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place your exhaust system on the top rack for 17-23 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly on top. Let cool and reinstall using new hangers and bushings etc... After reinstalling the exhaust system, park in a safe location and always get the most expensive car wash you can find.

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EVVVV vehicle?

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