Anyone get a full exhaust replaced including catalytic converter? Did you get paid for your Cat?

I've been looking over the prices of aftermarket cat's and also the price paid for scrap cat's, for the same model car as the replacement. I've found that some cats are worth more as scrap than the replacement aftermarket cat! I think this has something to do with emission standards on cars when they are new, so maybe after like 10 years, they don't have the same standards so they can get away with a less effective cat?

For example there are generic cat's for $120 for my car and a brand (basically OEM replacement) for $580-780 (varies for different manufacturers) and IDK what the cost would be from the dealership. I've seen these cat's being purchased much more than the generic replacement. Some of these cat's can go for hundreds of $$ (some $4-500) for SCRAP and these aren't to be reused or remanufactured. It's to extract the metals from them as they are very rare and the prices have gone up A LOT in the last 10+ years, even more in the last 30.

So there are some cat's that have 4-10x the precious metals as newer models b/c the prices of the metals were much lower and they could be more liberal with their use.

Has anyone who has had one replaced been compensated (discounted) for the shop keeping the cat? I'm guessing this probably doesn't happen and the shops rely on people being ignorant of the value of their scrap cat and not knowing it's theirs and they should get a discount for the shop keeping it or they should take it to a reputable scrap yard. I asked a manager of a popular exhaust shop about buying a couple and they wouldn't even think about selling them for the scrap price, so it seems there is either more value than illustrated by scrap pricing (meaning they buyers pay maybe 20-50% of the value of the metals in the cat) and maybe these companies are doing private refining contracts - thus getting much more than scrap value.

The thing is that I found this over a number of locations with only one willing to sell one and they were really sketchy about it and I even told them I'd cut it in half in front of them (not best idea but it let them know I wasn't planning on reusing it) and they said I could check at end of day after closing but only ask for "Johnny" - the manager.

I know a lot of parts in cars have a core charge like for alternators b/c they are rebuilt and also for batteries b/c they have so much lead. I have seen reports of shops wanting $200-400 for the cat to be returned but there is never any indication of a discount on the billing, which on a bill, legally this should be legally required else everything that is removed is the property of the owner.

I've seen similar "schemes" in appliance delivery where they charge to take your old equipment away and if you ask to keep it (and subtract the removal fee), the delivery charge mysteriously jumps or it is even denied. Some of the old equipment, depending on size, can have $20-100+ in scarp value and the companies try to make you think it has no value by charging you to remove it. Some OLD commercial air conditioners can be very valuable if they still have their R22/Freon charge b/c it's legal to harvest & sell until it's gone. Now some things, there are legit reasons, like old CRT TV's/monitors. But I digress - yeah I know.. But these are just examples of how consumers who trust businesses and are ignorant of the real value of old things, can be taken advantage of..

Some catalytic converters contain several grams of platinum, some have alot more than that.
The problem is extracting the platinum is a difficult and dangerous process best left to the professionals.
If you can get a hold of a couple dozen or so then it might be worth paying to get the platinum extracted and purified. Otherwise you have some weird brittle ceramic honeycomb on your hands that is of little use to anybody without the extensive knowledge and equipment to do the extraction.
Here you go, nice and easy... platinum extraction from catalytic converters

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Call them.

www.pullapart.com

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I had a Jetta and it failed inspection. The inspection place was shady. I told my bf (who insisted on taking my car for the inspection) exactly where to go, the place I always went, and he went some other place because "it was closer".

I honestly believe this place might have poked the hole themselves, but they said the car didn't pass because of a hole in the exhaust system. At that point there was a hole regardless of how it got there, and it had to be dealt with.

I went to VW. At VW the service person was like, "Oh you have pretty low miles, let's see if it's covered under warranty." Well I had just missed the warranty by like 700 miles, it was so sad. So we talk about the hole for a minute and what all might need to be done, and I said that if my catalytic converter had to be replaced, I wanted the old one.

Apparently this clued in the service person that I knew what that was. He proposed a deal. He would write down that the car "drove funny" instead of what I said about the hole. Then they would put my car on lift. A mechanic would look at it to see if they could identify the problem. While doing this, the mechanic would "accidentally" damage my catalytic converter, by dropping it.

In return for my inconvenience, I would receive a loaner car and my entire exhaust system replaced for free. He didn't say it, but this means him and the mechanic are going to split my old catalytic converter. I was pretty broke, so of course I agreed immediately.

He goes to speak quietly to a particular mechanic and then they move my car in. It goes on the lift. Several minutes go by before there is horrific sound. I play it up by looking down that way and saying "Oh no, was that MY car?" There was a whole big show of the service person explaining what happened and the mechanic coming over personally to apologize to me.

After I got home and researched it, mine might have been worth $700 at the time. The exhaust might have cost around $1500. Literally all of us benefited in ways that were important to us.

a reply to: Ameilia

They`ll certainly rip you off if they can get away with it. I`m a musician and I`ve been ripped off so many times buying musical equipment from stores selling used drums, guitars and recording equipment. There`s no way I`d have a business like that!