Selling a catalytic converter in Indiana

Who may sell a detached converter

A person may not sell or attempt to sell a catalytic converter in whole or in part as valuable metal when the converter is not attached to a motor vehicle at the time of the sale or attempted sale (§ 25-37.5-1-9), and on the buying side a valuable metal dealer may not purchase or attempt to purchase such a converter unless the seller is a used parts dealer as IC 9-13-2-195 defines it or an automotive repair company (§ 25-37.5-1-10). The Secretary of State's own affidavit form states the buyer-side prohibition under § 25-37.5-1-10 and cites § 25-37.5-1-9 for the affidavit route (State Form 57316 (8-23)). The single way around the prohibition is an affidavit executed by a law enforcement officer attesting to the officer's reasonable belief that the converter lawfully came into the possession of the person attempting to sell it, valid for seven days after the officer signs (§ 25-37.5-1-9, State Form 57316 (8-23)).

Indiana narrowed proof of ownership sharply in 2022. Before July 1, 2022 a seller could rely on a certificate of title, a certificate of registration, a certificate of authority, a receipt from a repair transaction, or a law enforcement affidavit; from that date the law enforcement affidavit is the only acceptable proof of ownership for a detached converter, according to the Secretary of State's Auto Dealer Services Division (§ 25-37.5-1-9). The same change made an automotive salvage recycler license necessary for anyone acquiring, selling, or advertising for sale a catalytic converter (§ 9-32-9-1).

That license requirement sits on top of the existing licensing scheme for vehicle salvaging. An automotive salvage recycler has to be licensed by the Secretary of State before acquiring, selling, or advertising a used major component part of a motor vehicle, wrecking, dismantling, shredding, compacting, crushing, or otherwise destroying a vehicle for resale of major component parts or scrap material, rebuilding a salvage vehicle for resale, or engaging in the business of storing, disposing, salvaging, or recycling vehicles, hulks, or parts, and a recycler who violates that section commits a Class A infraction (§ 9-32-9-1). A licensed recycler also has to have an established place of business in Indiana actually conducting the licensed business, and one performing only ministerial tasks does not count (§ 9-32-9-2). Catalytic converters sit near the top of the Indiana State Police list of valuable metal products most likely to be targeted for theft, published under § 25-37.5-1-6(2) (§ 25-37.5-1-6(2)).

What the buyer must record

Since July 1, 2022 the Secretary of State's Auto Dealer Services Division can enforce the record requirements in the valuable metal dealer statute against converter purchasers (§ 25-37.5-1-2). Those records cover the name and address of the valuable metal dealer, the date and place of each purchase, the name, address, age, and driver license number or Social Security number of each seller, the motor vehicle license number of the vehicle or conveyance the metal arrived on, the price paid, a description and the weight of the valuable metal, and the source of the metal (§ 25-37.5-1-2).

Identification is recorded in detail. The record carries the type of government photo identification, the name of the government agency that issued it, the identification number shown on it, and a copy of the identification, which may be reused from a past purchase, together with a photograph of the seller and a photograph of the valuable metal (§ 25-37.5-1-2). Where the seller was not a used parts dealer or an automotive repair company, the purchaser also keeps a copy of the law enforcement affidavit attesting to the officer's reasonable belief in lawful possession (§ 25-37.5-1-9). The copy of the photo identification and the affidavit are kept in separate books or registers that can be made available to law enforcement (§ 25-37.5-1-2).

The salvage side of the business carries its own forms. The Secretary prescribes recordkeeping forms to preserve information about vehicles and major component parts acquired or sold, and for each major component part acquired the form holds a description including numbers or other identifying marks, the date it was acquired, the name and address of the person it came from, the vehicle identification number if present on the part, and a statement of whether any number on it has been defaced, destroyed, or changed (§ 9-32-9-15(a), (d)). For each part sold or disposed of it holds a description, the date, the way it was disposed of, the vehicle identification number, and verification of the buyer's identity, and separate records are kept for each vehicle or part (§ 9-32-9-15(e), (f)). Those records are retained five years, held at the established place of business for two years before moving offsite, and a recycler that knowingly or intentionally fails to comply commits a Class B misdemeanor (§ 9-32-9-16). That five year period is the one shown in the summary above: it is the salvage vehicle and major component part retention in § 9-32-9-16, not a period read from the valuable metal dealer section. They have to be produced at the request of a police officer or an authorized agent of the Secretary of State, and failing to produce them is a Class A infraction (§ 9-32-9-17).

How you are paid

Indiana caps cash rather than banning it. An automotive salvage recycler buying a detached converter may pay cash only where the payment to the seller is twenty-five dollars or less, and may not pay a seller cash for a converter more than once a day, which works out at one converter for cash per person per day (§ 9-32-9-14.5). Anything above twenty-five dollars is paid by check made payable to the seller (§ 9-32-9-14.5).

The section also closes the obvious workaround. A recycler may not cash a check it issued, and may not use an automated teller machine or other cash card system in place of a check (§ 9-32-9-14.5). So a converter of any real value is settled by a check the seller has to take elsewhere to convert into cash, which is the point of the rule.

Nothing in either statute imposes a waiting period on the converter itself or delays the check, so payment happens at the transaction. What does run on a clock is reporting on the vehicle side: an automotive salvage recycler buying a motor vehicle for scrap, parts, shredding, compacting, or other dismantling has to report the purchase to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System within seventy-two hours and give the seller a valid report identification number (§ 9-32-9-3.5).

Penalties

Stealing a converter is a felony in its own right. Theft is a Class A misdemeanor at base, but it is a Level 6 felony where the property is a component part of a motor vehicle as IC 9-13-2-34 defines it (§ 35-43-4-2(a)(1)(B)(iii)), and that definition expressly names the catalytic converter alongside the engine, transmission, body-chassis, doghouse, rear-end, and frame (§ 9-13-2-34). Both provisions took their current form in Public Law 70 of 2021, the enrolled version of Senate Bill 167 (§ 9-13-2-34, § 35-43-4-2, as amended by P.L.70-2021). A theft is also a Level 6 felony where the person has a prior unrelated conviction for theft, criminal conversion, robbery under IC 35-42-5-1, or burglary under IC 35-43-2-1 (§ 35-43-4-2(a)(1)(C)), and it rises to a Level 5 felony where the property is a valuable metal as IC 25-37.5-1-1 defines it, relates to transportation or public safety or comes from a hospital, telecommunications provider, public utility, or critical infrastructure facility, and its absence creates a substantial risk of bodily injury (§ 35-43-4-2(a)(2)(B)). Theft is also a Level 5 felony where the property is a motor vehicle or a component part of one as IC 9-13-2-34 defines it and the person has a prior unrelated conviction for theft of a motor vehicle or of a component part, which is the repeat-converter-thief provision (§ 35-43-4-2(a)(2)(C)).

On the licensing and records side the grading is lower but the exposure is continuous. Operating as an automotive salvage recycler without the Secretary's license is a Class A infraction (§ 9-32-9-1(b)), as is operating without an established place of business actually conducting the licensed business (§ 9-32-9-2(b)). Knowingly or intentionally failing to retain records for the full five years is a Class B misdemeanor (§ 9-32-9-16(b)), and failing to make records available to a police officer or an authorized agent of the Secretary of State is a Class A infraction (§ 9-32-9-17(b)).

Indiana also polices title-free purchases closely, which matters where converters arrive with whole vehicles. A recycler may buy a motor vehicle without a certificate of title only where the vehicle is at least fifteen model years old, the purchase is solely to dismantle or wreck it for scrap metal or parts, the recycler records every such transaction, and the seller presents a certificate of authority under IC 9-22-5-18 (§ 9-32-9-29(a)). Those records are kept at least five years and include the name and address of any scrap metal processor or scrapyard, who entered the information, the date and time, a description of the vehicle with make and model where discernible, the vehicle identification number so far as discernible, the consideration given, and a copy of the certificate of authority with a signed statement that the seller has the lawful right to sell, that there is no security interest or lien, and that the vehicle will not be titled again (§ 9-32-9-29(b)).

What this means when you sell to us

Indiana lets us buy a detached converter only from a used parts dealer or an automotive repair company, so bring that standing plus a government photo ID, which we copy and record along with the issuing agency and the identification number (§ 25-37.5-1-10, § 25-37.5-1-2). Anyone else needs a law enforcement affidavit attesting that the converter lawfully came into your possession, and it is good for seven days after the officer signs it (§ 25-37.5-1-9). We photograph you and the units, record the count, weight, and source, and keep the identification copies and affidavits in separate registers (§ 25-37.5-1-2). Cash is limited to twenty-five dollars and one converter per person per day, so anything more is a check payable to you (§ 9-32-9-14.5).