What are old catalytic converters going for?

Curious to see what you guys say about how much they are selling for, in the past week I saw an Amazon driver using their personal Toyota Camry that I suspect had the cat cut out since it was too new to think that it had a completely disintegrated muffler. And my wife has a coworker that had a cat stolen.
 
At our work, we haven’t taken in many old catalytic converters. Friend had a bad converter; took it to metals recycler and got $200.
Kind of figured the going price was high to drive someone with bad intentions with a saws all to crawl underneath, cut, steal and cash in at the scrapper.
 
probably drug addicts will know best, for how much....;)
thankfully some new cars have cat between engine and radiator or firewall.
 
Got curious a while back and called some scrap yards around me. Highest offer I got for the cat from my Prius was $620.

OEM replacement cats for a Prius are around $2000 and several months on a waiting list right now.
 
Got curious a while back and called some scrap yards around me. Highest offer I got for the cat from my Prius was $620.

OEM replacement cats for a Prius are around $2000 and several months on a waiting list right now.

Sell it on Craigs get $1500 (but only works on Prius)

Part of the issue is OEM CATs for many Prius are discontinued making California residents thirsty to keep their otherwise good car on the road
 
I think it depends on the car and how much platinum the automaker used in their cats.

Sell it on Craigs get $1500 (but only works on Prius)

Part of the issue is OEM CATs for many Prius are discontinued making California residents thirsty to keep their otherwise good car on the road
Not sure that's legal. Probably good way would be to say muffler and throw in the cats.
 
Not true, they are available.
FALSE, unless you import one from overseas

2001-2003 Prius are definitely DOA
Up through 2006 are also listed discontinued but possibly on a shelf somewhere and there is an Aftermarket working on certification for G2

Key word
WORKING
does not mean widely available

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FALSE, unless you import one from overseas

2001-2003 Prius are definitely DOA
Up through 2006 are also listed discontinued but possibly on a shelf somewhere and there is an Aftermarket working on certification for G2

Key word
WORKING
does not mean widely available

View attachment 59177
Can't speak for the 01-03's, haven't seen one on the road in years.

But the 04-09's are definitely still available according to my catalog. In fact, my local dealer has one in-stock right now.

1622650938850.webp
 
Depends, if not in CA then it'd be a terrible value to pay OEM price for a now low value '01-'03 prius, considering something is wrong with the vehicle and it's going to wear out the new cat sooner too. $265 rear, $185 front. Again not CARB. Maybe I'm not following the conversation closely enough, but I never buy OEM cats. When the day comes that I needed one to pass emissions in xyz state, time to part out a 20 year old vehicle or sell to someone in a state with less stringent testing... I mean before you take it to get tested and it fails since it is illegal to sell one that fails in some areas.


 
When the day comes that I needed one to pass emissions in xyz state, time to part out a 20 year old vehicle or sell to someone in a state with less stringent testing... I mean before you take it to get tested and it fails since it is illegal to sell one that fails in some areas.
It's illegal to sell a used one anywhere, not that it stops most people, as stupid as that law is.
 
It's illegal to sell a used one anywhere, not that it stops most people, as stupid as that law is.
No, I don't mean sell the used cat for reuse, rather sell the entire vehicle if it won't pass in your (CA, etc) state (before it fails an emissions test), to a buyer in a state where an aftermarket non-CARB cat is legal to use.

Used cat you can sell for scrap rather than as a cat. As someone already mentioned, what you can get for it depends on the vehicle, larger older vehicles had more precious metal so can fetch $300 or more.
 
Sell your first-gen Prius to someone outside California, where they don't have to deal with the cat rules :sneaky:

Since cars don't rust in CA, you can weld on a universal cat with no problem
 
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