Selling a catalytic converter in Louisiana

Who may sell a detached converter

No person may do business as a catalytic converter purchaser in Louisiana without first obtaining a business license from the Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission, applied for in writing and specifying the address of the building where the business is carried on, valid for two years (§ 37:1893(A)). It is unlawful for any person, firm, association, corporation, limited liability company, or trust to engage in the business of purchasing used converters without that license, and a purchaser has to obtain and hold a current one (§ 37:1893(B)). The license names the place of business, is posted conspicuously there, and the commission is notified immediately of any change of location (§ 37:1893(D)).

On the selling side the constraint is documentary. It is unlawful for any person to possess, obtain or otherwise acquire, transport, or sell more than one used, detached converter or any nonferrous part of one without being able to provide, on request by law enforcement, the name and address of the person keeping the records, the date and place of each purchase, the name and address of the person the material came from with the distinctive number of that person's Louisiana or out-of-state driver license, passport, military identification, or identification issued by a governmental agency or the United States Postal Service, the plate number of the vehicle it arrived on, a full description and photograph of the material, and a picture of the person it came from (§ 37:1895(A)). Where the person cannot produce any of those forms of identification at the time of purchase, the purchaser may not complete the transaction (§ 37:1895(A)(3)).

Two exceptions keep ordinary situations out of the Part: a dealer licensed by the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission, and a person possessing not more than one detached converter where there is documentation indicating how it was acquired (§ 37:1894). On the scrap metal recycler side the gate is tighter still. An operator may not purchase a catalytic converter that is not part of an entire motor vehicle without first receiving a signed statement from the company or governmental entity that owns the material consenting to the sale, naming that entity and the name, employee number, and telephone number of the person signing, which the operator tries to verify and then retains (§ 37:1970(C)(1)(k), (C)(2)). No operator may buy scrap metal it knows is unpaid for or not owned by the seller, or buy from anyone under eighteen other than aluminum cans, and lack of knowledge of age is no defense (§ 37:1969(A), (B)).

What the buyer must record

Every scrap metal operator either keeps a register and files reports or maintains the data electronically, in the form the Department of Public Safety and Corrections prescribes, holding the name and address of the residence or place of business of the person responsible for the records, the date and place of each purchase, the name and address of each seller with the distinctive number from a Louisiana or out-of-state driver license, passport, military identification, or government or postal identification, the plate number of the vehicle the material arrived on, and a full description of the material including its weight and whether it consists of bars, kegs, cable, ingots, rods, tubing, wire, wire scraps, clamps, connectors, or other appurtenances (§ 37:1967(A)). Railroad track materials are described separately and in the same detail (§ 37:1967(A)(6)). A transaction cannot be completed where the seller produces none of the listed identification (§ 37:1967(A)(3)).

Photographs are mandatory on both sides of the counter. The operator obtains a photograph of the person selling or delivering the metal, of a quality sufficient to identify them, or in its place a thumbprint or a photocopy of that person's driver license, passport, military identification, or government or postal identification, cross-referenced to the ledger entry and preserved for at least a year (§ 37:1968(A)). It also obtains a photograph of all scrap metal purchased, of a quality sufficient to identify each type, taking multiple photographs where needed, cross-referenced to the ledger entry and preserved for at least a year (§ 37:1968(B)). Photographs go to law enforcement within twenty-four hours of a request (§ 37:1968(A), (B)).

The seller signs, and that signature protects the buyer. Every operator obtains a signed statement from the seller that the scrap metal has been paid for or is owned by the seller, and failure to exact such a statement is prima facie evidence of fraudulent intent and guilty knowledge on the operator's part, sufficient to warrant a conviction, while an operator who does obtain it is exonerated from fraudulent, willful, or criminal knowledge (§ 37:1970(A), (D)). The converter Part imposes the same duty before the purchase, with the same consequences, and makes it unlawful to provide false, fraudulent, altered, or counterfeit information or documentation (§ 37:1895(C), (D)). Records under the converter Part are kept three years and open to inspection by any peace officer, law enforcement official, or commission official at any time in that period (§ 37:1895(B)), and the scrap metal register is likewise kept three years at the place of business (§ 37:1967(B)). Every licensed operator delivers the previous day's entries to the chief of police or parish sheriff by noon each day by electronic transmission, and transmits the same information to a database accessible by law enforcement (§ 37:1972(A)(1), (B)). Failing to maintain the register or produce a requested report is prima facie evidence that the operator received the material knowing it to be stolen (§ 37:1967(C)).

How you are paid

Louisiana's cash rules are keyed to the metal. An operator may not enter into any cash transaction for copper or aluminum-copper air conditioning coils, and payment for those is made, after five business days from the date of the transaction, by check payable to the name and address of the seller or by a loadable payment card, tendered by mail to the address on the seller's photo identification, in person at the operator's place of business, or by electronic transfer (§ 37:1973(A)(1)). A converter is not copper or an air conditioning coil, so it falls under the general rule instead.

Under that general rule, an operator may not enter into any cash transaction over three hundred dollars for metal property other than copper and aluminum-copper coils, payments above three hundred dollars are made by check payable to the name and address of the seller or by loadable payment card and may be tendered at the time of the transaction, and the operator may pay by cash or any other method for transactions of three hundred dollars or less (§ 37:1973(A)(2)). Since a converter is usually worth well above three hundred dollars, in practice a converter is paid by check or loadable card at the time of the sale.

Three further rules close the loops. Where payment is by check or loadable payment card the operator has to verify the seller's identification by driver license or similar means and verify the seller's address by a current utility bill, keeping a copy of that bill (§ 37:1973(C)). No operator may allow a seller to run multiple transactions within twenty-four hours totaling more than three hundred dollars to get around the section, and no operator may cash, offer to cash, or provide the means of exchanging for cash a check it issued to a seller on its own premises, including through an automatic teller machine (§ 37:1973(D)). All payments made by check are reported separately in the daily reports, which § 37:1973(B) cross-refers to § 37:1967 rather than to the § 37:1972 daily report described above (§ 37:1973(B)). Louisiana sets no waiting period on a converter itself; the five-day rule attaches to copper and coil payments, not to the metal.

Penalties

The converter Part is punished by escalating fines and imprisonment. Acting as an unlicensed catalytic converter purchaser draws a fine of not less than five hundred dollars and imprisonment of not less than thirty and not more than sixty days per violation; a second offense draws a fine of up to two thousand dollars and imprisonment with or without hard labor for up to two years per violation; and a third or subsequent offense draws a fine of up to ten thousand dollars and imprisonment with or without hard labor for up to five years per violation (§ 37:1896(A) to (C)). Each unlawfully obtained, possessed, or transported used, detached converter is a separate violation and a separate charge, and on conviction the court may order restitution for the value of repairing and replacing the converter (§ 37:1896(D)).

The scrap metal recycler law hits the license. Any licensed operator who violates, neglects, or refuses to comply with any provision of the chapter is fined not less than two thousand five hundred dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not less than thirty and not more than sixty days, or both (§ 37:1974(A)). A second offense suspends the occupational license for thirty days; a third revokes it, and the operator may not thereafter engage in scrap metal recycling in Louisiana (§ 37:1974(B)). Any operator convicted of selling stolen goods has the occupational license revoked (§ 37:1974(C)).

Enforcement of the license runs through the occupational license tax collector, who may move in a court of competent jurisdiction to rule a non-complying operator to show cause, in not less than two and not more than ten days excluding holidays, why the retail occupational license should not be suspended or revoked, tried with preference and priority (§ 37:1974(D)). Violations of the payment section are subject to the penalties in §§ 37:1974 and 37:1975 (§ 37:1973(E)). Missing license changes has its own consequences: a licensee changing name, address, or ownership notifies the commission within ten days or is in violation, and a licensee that ceases business surrenders the license within ten days (§ 37:1893(C)(4)).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring a Louisiana or out-of-state license, passport, military ID, or other government identification; without one of those we cannot complete the transaction (§ 37:1895(A)(3), § 37:1967(A)(3)). You sign a statement that each converter has been paid for or is owned by you (§ 37:1895(C)). Louisiana's scrap metal recycler law requires a signed consent statement from the company or public body that owns the converter before we may buy it at all, so bring that statement naming the entity and the signer with their employee number and phone number, and we attempt to verify it (§ 37:1970(C)(1)(k), (C)(2)). We photograph you and every unit, log the weight and price, and file the day's entries by noon the next day (§ 37:1968, § 37:1972). Cash stops at three hundred dollars, so above that we pay by check or loadable card, and we verify your address with a current utility bill (§ 37:1973(A)(2), (C)).