Thieves are on the hunt for something that's in your car.  It's called a catalytic converter. 

Every car has one and it helps filter out harmful emissions.

Kiffer Slate says crooks hit his shop twice and it cost him a lot of money.

"Probably about 4,000 dollars each time," said auto shop employee Kiffer Slate. 

Thieves are after the three expensive metals found inside catalytic converters.

Palladium, which is worth more 400 dollars an ounce, platinum worth nearly 2,000 dollars an ounce and rhodium worth more than 9,000 dollars an ounce.

However, Slate's case might be an isolated one.

Boone County deputies say they haven't investigated any problems with stolen catalytic converters.

"There hasn't been a single reported theft in this office," Maj. Tom Reddin of the Boone County Sheriff's department said. 

Other shops we talked with in Columbia said they haven't had any stolen either.

But deputies in eastern Missouri's Pike county are investigating how thieves took off with dozens of catalytic converters Sunday night.

Catalytic converters can fetch up to 100 dollars on the market.  Auto body shops say thieves target them because they're easy to remove.