Recent news today about economic hard times and the rapid rise in value of precious metals has caused those with a propensity to commit crime to hone in on the market for exotic and expensive metals. Catalytic converters and exhaust parts are coated with platinum, rhodium, and palladium which are very expensive metals and fetch a high price on the open market. In an internal AutoClaims Direct study, Toyota pickups were the most common targets for these thieves resulting in 33% of the catalytic converters stolen. Second place went to Nissan trucks and vans which made up 15% of catalytic converter related claims. The reason that these vehicles are targeted is likely due to their bolted on converters along with high ground clearance.