Selling a catalytic converter in Arizona

Who may sell a detached converter

It is unlawful for a person to purchase, solicit, advertise, possess, or sell a used detached catalytic converter or any nonferrous part of one (§ 13-3728(A)). Three exceptions carry the trade. A licensed automotive recycler may possess or sell a converter in its ordinary course of business (§ 13-3728(B)(1)). A converter may be bought or sold where it was acquired in a transaction with an industrial account, with another scrap metal dealer, or after a peace officer of the jurisdiction has authorized its release, though soliciting or advertising for converters may be directed only at industrial accounts (§ 13-3728(B)(2)).

The third exception covers the repair trade. A commercial motor vehicle parts or repair business that sells or installs new converters may possess or sell a used one in its ordinary course of business, and may buy a used converter being sold as a repair part in compliance with federal Environmental Protection Agency policy, provided the unit is marked with the date it came off the vehicle and with that vehicle's identification number or an alternative number that law enforcement can immediately link back to the identification number (§ 13-3728(B)(3)).

What this leaves out matters more than what it includes. There is no exception for a private individual selling a converter off a vehicle he or she owns. An industrial account means a person or business that files or is required to file monthly transaction privilege tax returns and can reasonably be expected to generate the type of scrap it sells, or a governmental entity selling scrap metal to a dealer (§ 44-1641(4)). In practice a converter can only move between licensed recyclers, registered scrap metal dealers, tax-registered businesses, repair shops, and government sellers, or after a peace officer of the jurisdiction authorizes its release (§ 44-1642.01(B)). A scrap metal seller also has to be at least sixteen years old (§ 44-1642(G)).

What the buyer must record

Every scrap metal dealer keeps a book or similar record on the business premises, legibly written or printed in ink in English, of each transaction involving the receipt of scrap metal (§ 44-1642(A)). Each entry carries the date, time, and place, a photograph with an identifying description and the weight of the specific metal, and the dollar amount (§ 44-1642(A)(1) to (3)). It also carries the seller's name, physical description covering gender, height, weight, race, and eye and hair color, physical address, date of birth, and signature, plus a photocopy of a current driver license, non-operating identification license, or photo identification card issued by a tribal government or the United States military, which the dealer has to use to validate what was recorded (§ 44-1642(A)(4)).

Three more items complete the entry: the seller's transaction privilege tax number where one applies, the number and state of issuance of the plate on the vehicle used to bring the metal in, and a photograph, video record, or digital record of the seller, along with a right index fingerprint (§ 44-1642(A)(5) to (8)). The dealer hands the seller a receipt at the time of every transaction showing the date, time, and place, a description and weight, and the dollar amount (§ 44-1642(D)). A seller may not split one vehicle load into a series of transactions to get around the section (§ 44-1642(E)).

Converters then carry their own reporting and holding duties. Anyone who buys a used detached converter or its nonferrous parts has to submit a record of each such transaction electronically to the department of public safety under § 44-1644 (§ 13-3728(C)). The general report is due within twenty-four hours after receiving the scrap metals and covers everything except receipts from an industrial account or another scrap metal dealer (§ 44-1644(A)); because those two classes are carved out of subsection (A), subsection (B) supplies a separate report for them, naming the seller with its address and transaction privilege tax number, the date, time and place, the number of converters, and any unique identifying numbers and markings (§ 44-1644(B)). The dealer keeps each purchased converter or nonferrous converter part in its original form at the place of business for at least seven days after the purchase date (§ 44-1642(H)). Records stay in the book at the business premises for one year after the final entry and at the premises or another reasonably available location for a second year (§ 44-1642(B)). During regular business hours a peace officer may inspect the premises, the scrap metal business records, and the inventory, after identifying himself or herself and the purpose and complying with the dealer's reasonable safety requirements; the dealer may make the officer sign an inspection log (§ 44-1642(B)).

How you are paid

Arizona does not ban cash outright; it takes on-site payment away from named categories. Where the rule applies, a scrap metal dealer may not pay for scrap metal on site at the time of the transaction, and payment goes by check or money order mailed to a physical address the seller supplied through a current license or the other identification § 44-1642(A)(4) allows, made payable to the business name for an industrial account (§ 44-1642(C)). It reaches industrial accounts and copper and aluminum wire at least three-eighths of an inch in diameter, every scrap metal transaction of three hundred dollars or more whoever the seller is, and all air conditioner cooling coil transactions, for which the dealer may instead hand over a check payable to an industrial account on site (§ 44-1642(C)(1), (2), (4)).

For a converter that means the mailed-payment rule bites in two common cases: the seller is an industrial account, or the transaction comes to three hundred dollars or more (§ 44-1642(C)(1), (2)). It does not reach an industrial account that annually preregisters the employees authorized to sell on its behalf, so those sellers may be paid on site (§ 44-1642(C)(3)). Outside those cases the statute leaves the method open, so cash is not categorically barred: a converter bought for less than three hundred dollars, or one released after a peace officer of the jurisdiction authorizes it, sits outside § 44-1642(C) (§ 44-1642(C)(1), (2)). A sale by another scrap metal dealer is outside § 44-1642(C) only where that dealer is not an industrial account, which will rarely be so, since an industrial account is a person or business entity that files or is required to file monthly transaction privilege tax returns and is reasonably expected to generate the type of scrap metals it sells (§ 44-1641(4)(a)). In practice the police-release route is what keeps cash available. A scrap metal seller may not take part in more than one cash transaction per day for scrap metal (§ 44-1642(F)).

The seven-day retention rule in § 44-1642(H) sits on the converter, not on the money, so where on-site payment is allowed it is not delayed by it. For copper, thick aluminum wire, and transactions over one hundred dollars, the dealer also has to hold the metal in the size, shape, and condition received for seven days after filing its report, which does not apply to industrial accounts, other dealers, used beverage containers, ferrous metals, or metal released by a peace officer (§ 44-1644(E), (F)).

Penalties

The converter section is criminal on its own terms. A violation of § 13-3728 is a class 1 misdemeanor, and unlawfully possessing ten or more used detached converters is a class 6 felony (§ 13-3728(D)). The definition the section uses comes from the scrap metal article, where catalytic converters and their nonferrous parts appear in the list of metal a dealer may not knowingly purchase, described as motor vehicle exhaust system parts used to control exhaust emissions that contain a catalyst metal (§ 44-1642.01(A)(8)).

That purchase ban is not absolute, but the way out is narrow. It does not reach items acquired in transactions with industrial accounts, with other scrap metal dealers, or after a peace officer of the jurisdiction has authorized release, and then only if the dealer keeps records under § 44-1642 and reports the transaction electronically under § 44-1644 (§ 44-1642.01(B)). Buying a listed item outside those conditions is a class 1 misdemeanor (§ 44-1642.01(C)).

The record and reporting duties carry their own offenses. A dealer who fails in any respect to keep the required book, to enter what the article requires, or to produce a book, business record, receipt, or transaction record on a peace officer's demand, who knowingly destroys a record within two years of the final entry, or who otherwise fails to comply with the article, is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor (§ 44-1643). Failing to file a report is likewise a class 1 misdemeanor (§ 44-1644(G)).

What this means when you sell to us

Arizona only lets a dealer buy converters from a business, or after a peace officer authorizes release, so bring the business paperwork: a transaction privilege tax number, or a recycler, dealer, or repair license, plus a government photo ID for the person signing. We record and photograph the person and each unit, take a right index fingerprint, hand you a receipt, and report the purchase to the department of public safety (§ 44-1644). Payment goes by check or money order mailed to your business address once the ticket reaches three hundred dollars, or whenever you are selling as an industrial account, unless you have preregistered your authorized sellers with us for the year, in which case we can pay on the spot (§ 44-1642(C)(1) to (3)).