Selling a catalytic converter in Connecticut

Who may sell a detached converter

No scrap metal processor, junk dealer, or junk yard owner or operator may receive a converter that is not attached to a motor vehicle except on one of three footings (§ 21-11a(f)(1)). The general route covers a private seller: the buyer records the place and date, a description of the converter including item type and any identification number, and the amount paid; records a description of the seller with the seller's name, residence address, and motor vehicle operator license or identity card number, or the name, address, and telephone number where the seller is a business; records the plate of the vehicle used to bring the converter in; obtains a statement that the seller owns the converter or naming the person the seller got it from as shown on a signed transfer document; and takes a clear photograph or video of the seller, of the seller's operator license or identity card, and of the converter (§ 21-11a(f)(1)(A)).

The second route is a motor vehicle recycler licensed under § 14-67l. There the converter has to carry a stock number affixed or written on it by the recycler, and the buyer has to receive a written statement on the recycler's letterhead giving that stock number and the vehicle identification number of the vehicle the converter came off, with one statement allowed to cover several converters, plus a clear photograph or video of the recycler's employee making the transfer and of that employee's operator license or identity card (§ 21-11a(f)(1)(B)).

The third route is a motor vehicle repair shop, meaning a new car dealer, a used car dealer or a repairer, or their agents or employees, as § 14-65e defines it (§ 21-11a(i)); Public Act 23-40 deleted the former reference to a limited repairer, effective January 1, 2024 (§ 14-65e). The converter has to have come off a vehicle the shop serviced and carry a stock number the shop applied, and the buyer receives a letterhead statement giving the stock number, information on the vehicle including its identification number and registration number where applicable, and a receipt for the services performed, again with one statement allowed for several converters, plus a photograph or video of the employee and that employee's identification (§ 21-11a(f)(1)(C)). A private seller under the general route may sell only one converter per buyer per day (§ 21-11a(f)(2)), and a buyer may resell only converters it received in compliance with these rules, with no daily limit on sales (§ 21-11a(f)(4)).

What the buyer must record

Chapter 405 starts from a local license. Anyone dealing in junk, metals, or other secondhand articles applies to the selectmen of the town, the mayor or chief of police of the city, or the warden of the borough for a license, which names the place where the business is carried on and runs for a year unless revoked sooner (§ 21-11). The dealer keeps a book written in English describing the articles and giving the name, residence, and a general description of the person they came from and the time and hour of receipt, and that book, the property in it, and the premises may be examined at any time by the local authority (§ 21-11). The dealer files weekly sworn statements of all transactions with the chief of police or the town clerk and keeps all goods for at least five days after filing (§ 21-11).

A scrap metal processor as defined in § 14-67w carries a separate record duty for every load: a description of the scrap, its weight, the price paid, and the identification of the person who delivered it, plus a photograph of the motor vehicle that brought it, including the plate (§ 21-11a(a)). Loads containing telecommunications or data wire or cable, scrap equipment, electric distribution wire or cable, or railroad right-of-way materials draw extra duties, including a photograph of the load, a copy of the vehicle's certificate of registration, a description of the material, and a recorded statement of the location it came from (§ 21-11a(a)). Those records are kept in good condition for not less than two years and are open to law enforcement inspection during normal business hours (§ 21-11a(b)).

Converter transactions are reported to the state every week. Each processor, dealer, or junk yard owner or operator submits to the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, weekly or more often if the commissioner requires it given the volume and nature of the business, a sworn statement of its converter transactions describing the property received, setting out the nature and terms of each transaction, and identifying the recycler or repair shop the property came from or, for a private seller, that person's name, residence address, and description (§ 21-11a(f)(5)). The statement goes in an electronic format the commissioner prescribes, with exemptions available for good cause, and the information is folded into the database that holds § 21-43 submissions (§ 21-11a(f)(5)). The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles adopts regulations on creating and retaining the § 21-11a(f)(1) documents, which stay open to law enforcement inspection during normal business hours (§ 21-11a(f)(6)).

How you are paid

Connecticut permits only one payment method for a converter. A scrap metal processor, junk dealer, or junk yard owner or operator may pay a seller of a converter only by check (§ 21-11a(f)(3)). Where the seller is a motor vehicle recycler or a motor vehicle repair shop, the check is made payable to that recycler or shop (§ 21-11a(f)(3)). Cash, cards, and transfers are not available for converters at all.

For any other seller the buyer has two options, and both are set by statute rather than by policy. It either sends the check to the address the seller gave under § 21-11a(f)(1)(A)(ii), or it holds the check at its place of business for the seller to collect no earlier than the third business day after the date of purchase (§ 21-11a(f)(3)). A private seller is also limited to a single converter per buyer per day, so a larger lot cannot be turned into one payment (§ 21-11a(f)(2)).

The five-day rule elsewhere in the chapter is a holding rule on goods rather than a payment delay, and it belongs to the junk dealer capacity rather than the scrap metal processor capacity in which a converter is bought: a licensed junk dealer keeps all goods for at least five days after filing its weekly sworn statement (§ 21-11). A scrap metal processor is not required to segregate and hold received scrap for five days, except for telecommunications or data wire or cable, scrap equipment, or electric distribution wire or cable, unless that material came from a licensed demolition contractor or from someone who has already segregated it and supplies a written statement saying so (§ 21-11a(a)).

Penalties

The chapter's general offense is unlicensed dealing. Knowingly and deliberately engaging in business as a junk dealer without a license, or after notice that a license has been suspended or revoked, is a class D felony (§ 21-11), and engaging in the business of a junk dealer without complying with the chapter is a class C misdemeanor (§ 21-13). Each licensed dealer also displays on every vehicle used in the business the name of the person conducting it, the license number, and the municipality that granted the license, in painted letters at least four inches high and two inches wide (§ 21-12).

Violations of the scrap metal processor requirements escalate. A first violation of any provision of subsections (a) to (e) of § 21-11a is a class C misdemeanor, a second is a class B misdemeanor, and a third or subsequent one is a class A misdemeanor (§ 21-11a(h)). Because that ladder reaches only subsections (a) to (e), a breach of the converter subsection (f) falls outside it and lands on the chapter's general penalty in § 21-13 instead. Those subsections carry the record and photograph duties, the duty to notify local law enforcement immediately about anyone offering bronze statuary, plaques, historical markers, bells, lighting fixtures, or similar items (§ 21-11a(c)), the ban on taking a stainless steel or aluminum alloy beverage keg marked with someone else's indicia of ownership (§ 21-11a(d)), and the municipal property rule requiring a signed letter of authorization on municipal letterhead with payment sent to the official named in it (§ 21-11a(e)).

Connecticut also gives the buyer a civil remedy and keeps some sellers out of the chapter entirely. A scrap metal processor that buys scrap later determined to have been stolen and returned to its owner has a civil cause of action against the person it bought from (§ 21-11a(g)). The chapter does not apply to a dealer in motor vehicles as defined in chapter 246, or to a dealer in antique household furniture, china, or glassware (§ 21-14).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring a Connecticut operator license or identity card. Recyclers and repair shops instead bring a letterhead statement giving the stock number written on each converter and the vehicle identification number it came off, with a service receipt where the unit came off a vehicle you serviced (§ 21-11a(f)(1)(B), (C)). Private sellers sign an ownership statement, may sell one converter a day, and are photographed with their identification and the unit (§ 21-11a(f)(1)(A), (f)(2)). Payment is by check only: mailed to the address you gave, or held for collection from the third business day after the sale, with business sellers paid to the business (§ 21-11a(f)(3)).