RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Fleet maintenance management of three U-Haul commercial truck rental yards in the city of Rancho Cordova are seeing an increase in catalytic converter thefts on and off their grounds.

Amado Hernandez manages the fleet maintenance and rental center at the U-Haul rental facility at 11351 Pyrites Way in Rancho Cordova.

He welcomes the support of local law enforcement and the general public towards the prevention and deterrence of this type of rising crime, he said.

By his estimates, the three local U-Haul rental centers may have lost over $2 million in repairs due to an increasing number of stolen catalytic converters and trucks in the greater Sacramento sales zone which his fleet maintenance center serves.

“We’re creating an incident track record,” he said. “Some 40-50 trucks have been targeted in our service zone. We’ve noticed that catalytic converter thefts which typically occur at night both on and off our premises are increasing in recent months,” Hernandez said.

The cost to replace the catalytic converter on a typical U-Haul truck can cost up to $1,500, Hernandez said. The time it takes to remove a converter for its precious metals inside can take mere minutes.

“We’re regularly filing police reports with multiple law enforcement agencies in our surrounding service area, including the City of Sacramento, and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.

In all, there are three U-Haul truck rental facilities in Rancho Cordova. Two other dealers are located at 10149 Folsom Boulevard and 10855 Folsom Boulevard which fall under the jurisdiction of the Rancho Cordova Police Department. The U-Haul facility on 11351 Pyrites Way falls under the jurisdiction of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

Hernandez said he wants to bring increased public attention to the growing problem of commercial catalytic converter theft occurring in U-Haul’s Sacramento service area. He also wants to enlist the public’s help in reporting suspected stolen U-Haul vehicles when they see them abandoned in the area.

“A commercial U-Haul customer who reports the theft of a catalytic converter during the period of a rental contract isn’t considered directly liable for the theft,” Hernandez explains.

In insurance terms, the theft of a catalytic converter is considered “an act of God” which is outside the rental customer’s immediate control,” he said.

Hernandez said his facility typically books 20-30 truck rentals per day. When multiple trucks are unavailable due to punctured fuel tanks, catalytic converter theft or other damage, it’s a significant loss of rental revenue, he said.

A crew of 25 fleet mechanics, all with different specialties, try to get vehicles back on the road within 24-48 hours, Hernandez said. The mechanics at U-Haul’s fleet maintenance center serialize replacement catalytic converters to help in their identification and recovery.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to meet the demand for rental truck reservations given the number of people who are now simply choosing to leave California,” he said.

Some truck thefts have taken place where trucks on long-term U-Haul rental contracts have been parked overnight in hotel parking lots or left unattended for prolonged periods of time.

While the added financial burden for truck or catalytic converter theft doesn’t directly fall on the local consumer, the increasing cost of truck repairs and catalytic converter replacements are likely to be passed on to the customer in the form of higher truck rental rates, as companies such as U-Haul will have to recover their own insurance premium costs, he said.

It’s not uncommon for three to four U-Haul trucks under local rental contracts to simply not return, Hernandez said.

In situations of suspected rental truck theft, a demand letter by certified mail is sent to the address of the U-Haul contract rental holder. If, or when the truck is found in-state, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is called to clear the vehicle for recovery, he said.

“If the public sees an unattended U-Haul parked for a prolonged period of time, I encourage them to take the license plate number down and call us,” he said.

Hernandez said he hopes other commercial truck rental companies and commercial fleet owners will come together to address what he describes as a collective security problem.

His local Rancho Cordova U-Haul center has taken internal measures to beef up overall physical security. The installation of a Ring camera system with motion sensors at his facility has been a deterrent, he said.

“We’ve detected people outside the gates of the facility late at night trying to get in,” he said. “They’ve taken off when the speaker system is activated. We let them know we’re watching.”