Catalytic converter pm content and pricing

When I bring in a vehicle for scrap, I always remove the cat. Then I wait in line for them to tell me what they pay. Sometimes I am really disappointed, and other times very satisfied. The buying and scrapping of vehicles game is sometimes a risky business, especially seeing it is hard to know exactly what they pay for the cats beforehand.
The actual weight is the easy part. Because some of the vehicles have after-market cats, it may kill the profit. There must be an easier way of knowing and determining cat. value. Any tricks you guys have, or a list of accurate pricing would be helpful. I have seen some sites that pay for cats, they seem on the low end of the scale, and they are not car-specific lists.
For example, scrapped a Sunfire, got 225-235? for the car, and then 86$ for the cat. paid 200 for the car. By the time I tow it, gas and time factured in, I break even. The cat. makes the difference.
If someone knows of a list, car-specific or anything helpful, pls.let me know.

if you find the list i would like to know also, i poke around scrap yard but they laugh and tell me trade secret. digging around in google helps, check out recycle.net dig in

Don't know if this will help or not. Visual catalog; Small Foreign- Scrap Catalytic Converters-Current Pricing

Auto Core | CURRENT CATALYTIC CONVERTER PRICES

I sell all my cats to a guy who has been buying cats for 11 years and that's all he do so whenever I really want to know what a cat is worth I give him a ring and he can tell me exactly what any cat is worth! Prices have dropped on cats just like on metal. To answer your question you just have to learn all of them the hard way or if you're like me with a very bad memory get a notepad and keep note of each cat you sell, what kind of car they come off of and how much you get for it. It also makes it easier to buy junk cars because someone may want a lil more cash for their car and as long as you know what the cats worth you know you can afford to pay it, this may explain why some guys pay outrageous prices for some cars.

The trouble is that, unless you can get under the car to confirm it's OEM, I've found even relatively newer cars can have aftermarket cats.

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The trouble is that, unless you can get under the car to confirm it's OEM, I've found even relatively newer cars can have aftermarket cats.

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I was going to say, that if their hoping the cat is their only profit then their cutting it too close on profit. Should be making $50-100 on the car plus the goodies.

You should be basing your your profits on rest of the car. Motor tranny Steering electrical and plumbing. Cat should be a bonus. Nothing can break the bank quicker than the cats

Hi about the catalytics all ur sites ur looking at aren't going to help u because of constant regradeing and change of price platinum palladium and rhodium are ur 3 precious metals in ur cats I live in pittsburgh pa and up here at this time I'm paying 110 on a double gm and I'm getting 119 but that's a cat everyone always advertices and one thing my dad tought me was scrap is like lobster in a fancy restraunt if u open the menu and it says a set price u don't eat there just like catsif its always one set price there screwing u over because they always change ALWAYS. I average 10to100 converters a day because I run my customers 7to 10 bucks on my numbers. Like the cat off ur sunfire 86 was decent I guess they made atleast 20 on u at minimum. And 9 out of 10 if the person buying ur cats only buys cats he's screwing u because think about it he's makeing a living on just ur cats now what makes me different is I buy ur rotors rims rads alts starts and ur misc and I make a little off everything and I'm happy and all my customers stay happy too. I also come get the stuff and do the work save u gas. But simple if ur guy doesn't pay u for the high grades or the codes or his last name is santucci ur getting screwed. Any questions my number is on my profile idbe more than happy to help u.

Scrap Catalytic Converter Catalog With Current Prices.

FMR in Orrilla Is Low < J&S in Hamiliton is High

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Originally Posted by warhorse20000

Scrap Catalytic Converter Catalog With Current Prices.

FMR in Orrilla Is Low < J&S in Hamiliton is High

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Have you hard of EDI Refining located in Orillia Ont. give them a call, ask if they still purchase cats as well e-scrap.

You may want to check the spelling of Orillia before diving into the telephone book.

Precious Metal Buyer Canada - Gold - Silver - Platinum

If you take your time, just a couple hours, you can make a good profit without the cat, like someone said let it be your bonus, worse thing you can do is count on the cat for profit then find out its empty, I've got several post on here like this also check out Gus, focker, rio and liberty towing plus several others. Get the radiator for sure, alternator, and battery at a minimum. We also take out the dash and get the wiring harness, at least get it to the front seat,it's not hard to get 15lbs of insulated wire even on a basic car one that's loaded will have a lot more. The heater core and the radiator for the ac are behind the plastic get a small sledge and have some fun :) don't forget alum wheels, tires and free gas, there are two of us and we can do any car in less than two hours with basic tools. Right now steel is down, we are stripping the cars and selling the goodies as those prices are still pretty good and hanging on to the cars till winter when steel goes back up. We just sell one every now and then just to get another car. Do with this as you wish but we have learned a lot on here over the last year, hope this helps someone

Well this may be true he may be screwing me but I tell you what he screws very good because I can't find anyone to beat his prices he also screws most of the junkyards in the area including one you may be familiar with LKQ because he buys from them also. He doesn't just buy cats he also buys al rims batteries and copper for what I consider to be good prices except his copper price I don't like but that's ok because I've never sold any copper.

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Originally Posted by Ptscrapper

Well this may be true he may be screwing me but I tell you what he screws very good because I can't find anyone to beat his prices he also screws most of the junkyards in the area including one you may be familiar with LKQ because he buys from them also. He doesn't just buy cats he also buys al rims batteries and copper for what I consider to be good prices except his copper price I don't like but that's ok because I've never sold any copper.

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I wouldnt call it "screwing" you, he tells you what hes going to pay and you accept it. Listen, there is no magic with converters, they are what they are, at the end of the day all the large end buyers, the decanners, not the guys buying 50-100 cats here and there..pay the same prices within a few dollars, its all in the grading. Anyone can buy cats from a large yard, anyone can put the highest prices on a sheet of paper or quote them on the spot. Take a GM for example, It dosnt matter where you sell it, right now in this market it is not going to be worth more than $128, now every cat buyer knows that every yard, scrapper, garage, etc knows what a large GM is, so they jack up the price for this one cat paying exactly or sometimes even higher than the cat is actually worth, but when it comes to the other 90% of cats, a large foreign is grade as a medium, a small as a low grade etc, so while you got paid good on the 1 cat you know, you lost $20-30 on the ones you didnt, this is how the majority of cat buyers make their money. Lets be honest here, do you really think a cat buyer is going to pay out $100 or more to make $1? I personally work on a $5 profit margin on each cat, I dont car if its a GM, a honda 02, a high grade straight ede or a low grade pre, I make $5... this way I dont have to make up names, categories or stories on why one is worth $130 and another $80 when they are the exact same cat.

meow...

I think the best way to go in terms of selling your cat's is to find a processor that buys in bulk. You may need to start by collecting five or ten at a time (we usually have 20-40), then ask them to come by and give you a quote. If you sell them to the scrap yard, you will get the green banana. Develop a relationship with your cat buyer and they will treat you right. When starting out, ask two or three different buyers to stop by and give you a quote, then go with the best quote or the most honest one out of the bunch.

I would not deal with those core buyers, ive shopped around cats to them and they come up with the most outrageous scams and dont go by there list prices. Ive shopped around marked cats like g17 of t15 or whatever the mark is and they always come up with a reason why its worth less. The worst scam they use is cars that have 2 cats and you try to sell them 1 they will say that is one half of a small foreign. It is all BS. I got tired of shopping around my converters to 10 different buyers. So now i just decan them and sell the ceramic bricks directly to home refiners/buyers. Say my brick weighs 2 pounds well then that is what it is, theres no questions or beating around the bush. It greatly reduces shipping costs and eliminates problems. Oh and whoever mentioned LKQ they dont even know how to put together a part listing, id go to pick and pull before and get my own part before id buy anything from them.

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Originally Posted by jghilino

I would not deal with those core buyers, ive shopped around cats to them and they come up with the most outrageous scams and dont go by there list prices. Ive shopped around marked cats like g17 of t15 or whatever the mark is and they always come up with a reason why its worth less. The worst scam they use is cars that have 2 cats and you try to sell them 1 they will say that is one half of a small foreign. It is all BS. I got tired of shopping around my converters to 10 different buyers. So now i just decan them and sell the ceramic bricks directly to home refiners/buyers. Say my brick weighs 2 pounds well then that is what it is, theres no questions or beating around the bush. It greatly reduces shipping costs and eliminates problems. Oh and whoever mentioned LKQ they dont even know how to put together a part listing, id go to pick and pull before and get my own part before id buy anything from them.

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Good stuff. Maybe we are lucky that we have an honest buyer and a good guy. I do get a lot of scammers stopping by to try to buy our cats, so I can see your point.

Can you tell me the best way to de-can the cats? And, if we were to do that, how much more on average will we get if we sell the bricks direct? Thanks!

Im not saying all cat buyers are scammers, but like everything else in business there are good people to deal with and bad ones. Atleast i know if i process them myself then i am dealing with a good person. =)

If you are going to sell them to a cat buyer/ ship them. You need to cut them as close to the brick/material as possible without cutting into it. I use a tape measure and a paint market to transfer the line, then cut about 1/2 inch back from it.

If you are decanning use the same method. The next step after the ends are properly cut is to do 1 or 2 cuts legnthwise. Usually 1 cut is enough then you can pry it open enough to get the bricks out. Somtimes i have to cut both siides. I use a chop saw to prep the ends and an angle grinder with cutoff wheel to do the legnth cut. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES.

Another method if your going for crushed material is to rod them out. Put them in a vice and use a stick of rebar to bust up the ceramic. Faster process but yields lower prices than intact bricks, for some reason buyers like seeing intact bricks.

if it all works out you end up with a box of bricks that looks like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCRAP-CATALY...item19d217d565

i answered this up above and i wonder if i had a couple beers that day because i danced all around the question, the best two ways ive found to check for an aftermarket converter is one it will be very light compared to an oem of the same size, two the welds will generally not look very nice especially compared to factory welds, i still cut them off i get $5 for them here, they can be sent off for 7

Looking back on it when we were kids we would hammer/pry the material out and put a straight pipe inside for more hp and exhaust noise and then re-weld everything back up. We always threw it away!