Missing Catalytic Converter on a Junk Car in Ocala, FL

What the catalytic converter is, and why it matters

The catalytic converter is the part of the exhaust system that sits between the engine and the muffler, under the car. Inside it are small amounts of precious metals — platinum, palladium and rhodium — and those metals are what make the converter valuable. A converter on a junk car can be worth more than the rest of the car's scrap metal, and it is the single most valuable part on many junk cars.

That value is also why converters go missing. They are cut off cars for their own value, and the theft is common enough that it is a known problem in Florida and across the country. A converter can also be removed when the car is repaired — taken off for a repair and never replaced — or it can fail and be removed because the car was not worth the cost of a new one. Either way, a car without a converter is a car that is worth less than the same car with one.

The converter matters for the offer because the offer follows from the car as it actually is. A car described as having its converter, when the converter is gone, is a car that was described wrongly — and the offer made for that car will change when the provider arrives and finds the converter missing.

How to tell whether the converter is still on the car

Look under the car, between the engine and the muffler. The converter is a metal canister in the exhaust pipe, usually about the size of a loaf of bread. If the exhaust pipe has a gap where the canister should be, or if the pipe has been cut, the converter is gone. If the car is louder than it should be, or if it smells of exhaust inside, the converter may be gone or damaged.

If you are not sure, say so on the call. The provider can explain how to check, and the offer can be set on the basis that the converter's condition is unknown. What matters is not knowing for certain — it is not describing the car as having a converter when you do not know whether it does.

Do not go under a car that is not safely supported. If the car is on a jack, or on soft ground, do not crawl under it. Tell the provider you are not sure, and the provider will check at pickup.

A converter removed months earlier

What happens to a car with no converter after pickup

After pickup, a car with no converter goes to a scrap facility like any other junk car, where fluids are drained, reusable parts are removed, and the rest is recycled as scrap metal. The title is cancelled so the car cannot be put back on the road. The missing converter changes the offer, not the pickup — the car is still picked up from where it sits, and the paperwork is the same.

One point: a car with no converter should not be driven. Without the converter, the car is louder than it should be, and it may not pass an emissions check. If the car still runs, do not drive it to the pickup — the provider picks it up from where it sits.