maplematters

Maple Fleet Services are delighted to announce the launch of CatSecure, a new Catalytic Converter theft prevention device, for the Mercedes Sprinter.

The theft of Catalytic Converters has risen dramatically since the beginning of 2011. With the price of precious metals increasing, the scrap value for Catalytic Converters, which contains Platinum, Rhodium and Palladium, has gone through the roof.

Thieves, are unsurprisingly, targeting vehicles that enable quick and easy access to the cat, which has meantcommercial vehicles, like the Mercedes Sprinter, one of the most popular vans on the market has become coverted prey – and the favoured hunting ground is inevitably the fleet depot.

With the latest model of Euro 5 Sprinter (from 2009 onwards) the Catalytic Converter has been moved closer to the engine at the front of the vehicle. A determined thief can remove the cat in under 5 minutes, by activating the bonnet release (usually by smashing a cab window in the process) and unbolting from the engine compartment.

Spiralling Costs

This latest ‘craze’ is causing massive headaches for fleet operators, who can very quickly see costs spiral as a result. It is not only the expense of replacing the Cat itself (up to £1,500.00) but the additional cost of repairing (the inevitable) damage caused in the removal of the cat, hire vehicle costs while repairs are completed, vehicle & driver downtime and of course the potential loss of business as a result.

Of course this is all very inconvenient if it happens to one vehicle in your fleet. Replicate this across 5, 10, 20 (less than 2 hours work) or more vehicles and this becomes less an inconvenience and more a threat to your livelihood. Dealers may hold 1 or 2 cat’s in stock but it’s unlikely they will hold anymore, meaning it could take days, even weeks before your fleet is back up to speed. And of course once your fleet has been targeted, chances are that the perpetrator(s) will return.

Protect your Vehicles

Fortunately there is now a solution to Catalytic Converter theft from your Mercedes Sprinter. Having been approached by a number of customers, who had themselves experienced repeated attacks on their Sprinter fleet, Maple Fleet Services have developed, CatSecure a bonnet lock that ensures access cannot be gained to the engine compartment.

Even in the event that cab windows are smashed and the bonnet release lever is applied, the release mechanism will not enable. The Maple Bonnet Lock can only be released with the use of a high security key, thus access to the Catalytic Converter is nigh impossible, let alone removable.

For more information and to protect your Mercedes Sprinter vehicles contact Maple Fleet Services on 0161 429 1580, or visit the website.