Why are catalytic converters so expensive?

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Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
I have a cat from a 2001 superchanged bonneville that had gone bad. It rattled upon acceleration, and once removed from the vehicle, it's clear the ceramic cone stuff is loose inside.

I wanted to toss it in the garbage for the longest time. I replaced it with a $50 high-flow cat (I was suping the car up then), but am left with the old one. I know it's worth money, now what to do with it and how much? I am seriously considering just giving it to a coworker of mine that routinely has scrap metal in the back of his truck when he parks at work (there's several scrap yards in the area.) and asking him to get whatever he can for it, and give me a 12 pack or something for the favor... It was literally saw-zalled off (my own car), but that car I sold in 2013. Not sure I can get proof of ownership for the car. I'm simply tired of it bouncing around the back of my pickup, and I'll throw it in the trash if it's too much headache to get a bit of money out of.


Call a few local junkyards and metal salvage places. A few years back I got over $200 for the cat off an older generation full sized GM with the 3800 engine, but GM may have economized them since then. You will probably need a photo ID to make the sale. Here's what the one I sold looked like:

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Originally Posted By: Dave9
$600 is high. A shop could do this for around $300 converter and $100 labor.

It may have a shorter warranty than the factory but that's not proof of anything, so long as it's stainless. Lots of car parts don't have long warranties even though just as good/long-lived as OEM factory parts. I expect a large part of why the warranty is short is the risk exposure level, that they're selling it to be put on a vehicle that already damaged the original and will probably have more and more oil, coolant, fuel finding its way out the exhaust over the coming years compared to the first cat's tour of duty.

Why is any OEM part typically 200%+ the price of an aftermarket? There's definitely not > $100 more precious metal in an alternator for example...
That's just how the market is set up.


Those $300 specials perform as well new as the OEM ones do at end of life. They are literally just active enough to get a pass with no margin for lifetime/degradation. BTDT.

No thanks... If the car is worth keeping, do it right. If you can't afford to do it right, get a bus pass.
 
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