Selling a catalytic converter in Maine

Who may sell a detached converter

A seller may not sell and a scrap metal processor may not purchase any of fifteen listed categories of scrap metal unless the seller provides, in addition to everything § 3772(3) requires, a signed statement at the time of sale that the property subject to the transaction is not stolen property to the best of the seller's knowledge and that the seller is the owner or is otherwise authorized to sell it (§ 3775). Catalytic converters are item fifteen on that list, alongside utility-marked metal, utility access covers, street light poles, guardrails, street and traffic signs and signals, water meter covers, beer kegs, government-marked metal, and grave markers and vases (§ 3775(1) to (15)).

A scrap metal processor is simply a person that purchases scrap metal for resale or recycling (§ 3771(5)), and a seller is any person who receives monetary consideration from a processor in exchange for nonferrous metal, iron, or steel, excluding a commercial enterprise selling under a written contract or bill of sale scrap generated in a manufacturing or production process (§ 3771(6)). Nonferrous metal means metal without significant iron or steel and includes copper, brass, aluminum, bronze, lead, zinc, nickel, and platinum and their alloys (§ 3771(2)).

One limit binds the buyer rather than the seller, and it matters for converters. A scrap metal processor may not engage in the sale, purchase, or acquisition of motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts unless it is a recycler under Title 29-A, chapter 9, subchapter 6 (§ 3775), and because a detached converter is a motor vehicle part a Maine processor needs that recycler status before it may buy one at all. A further limit applies to who may sell: a processor may not buy scrap metal from a minor unless the minor is accompanied by a parent or guardian and that parent or guardian gives the processor a written statement that the transaction is taking place with their full knowledge and consent, a statement the processor keeps on file and makes available to law enforcement for not less than three years (§ 3776). Section 3775 does not reach transactions in which a processor buys, transfers, or conveys scrap metal to another processor (§ 3775).

What the buyer must record

A scrap metal processor doing business in Maine maintains an accurate and legible record of each scrap metal purchase transaction, on a form the Commissioner of Public Safety prescribes, though individual records are not required for a series of transactions made under a written contract or bill of sale (§ 3772(1), (2), (3)). The record carries the name, address, and gender of the seller, and the processor requires proof of identification by driver license, military identification card, passport, or other government-issued photo identification, photocopies it, and records its distinct identifying number (§ 3772(3)(A)).

Identification handling is regulated in its own right. Where the photograph on the identification is faded, out of date, or otherwise indiscernible, the processor photographs the seller (§ 3772(3)(A)). Proof of identification records are kept in a secure, non-public location and, unless otherwise permitted by law, may not be published, reproduced, distributed, or disclosed for any purpose other than making them available to law enforcement under § 3773(2) (§ 3772(3)(A)). Information for repeat sellers may live in a relational database recorded once and related to later purchase records (§ 3772(3)(A)).

Retention is short. The records required under § 3772(3) are kept for one year and made available to any law enforcement office of the State or of any municipality or county (§ 3773). The written parental consent statements for sales by minors are the exception, kept for not less than three years (§ 3776(2)). Maine also pushes identification onto the converter itself upstream of the scrap yard: a licensed dealer selling a motor vehicle at retail to the end consumer has to engrave the vehicle identification number legibly on the catalytic converter in a location visible from the underside of the vehicle, unless the vehicle is sold at wholesale or the converter is not in a clearly visible location (§ 952(1)(C) of Title 29-A). That is why a converter arriving from a Maine vehicle may already carry a traceable number.

How you are paid

Cash is not available at all. A scrap metal processor shall provide payment to a seller only in the form of a credit card as defined in Title 9-A, § 1-301(16), a debit card as defined in Title 10, § 1271(3), or a check (§ 3772(1-A)). Where payment is by check, the processor maintains a record of the payee, the check number, and the name of the financial institution the check is drawn on (§ 3772(1-A)).

That rule applies to every scrap metal purchase transaction, not only to the restricted items, so it covers a converter without needing a converter-specific provision. Nothing in the subchapter delays the payment or requires it to be mailed to a particular address, so a processor may hand over a card payment or a check at the time of the sale.

There is also no holding period on the metal. The subchapter contains no requirement to keep a converter in its received condition for any number of days and no hold-notice procedure. The one-year retention in § 3773 attaches to records rather than to metal (§ 3773(1)), and the consideration paid has to appear in those records (§ 3772(3)(F)).

Penalties

Maine enforces the subchapter through escalating civil fines with a fixed amount at each step. A person may not violate the subchapter (§ 3778(1)). In addition to any other penalties provided by law, a person who violates it commits a civil violation for which a fine of one thousand dollars must be adjudged (§ 3778(2)(A)). A person who violates it after having previously been adjudicated of violating it commits a civil violation for which a fine of three thousand dollars must be adjudged (§ 3778(2)(B)).

The third step adds a business consequence. A person who violates the subchapter after having previously been adjudicated of violating it more than once commits a civil violation for which a fine of four thousand five hundred dollars must be adjudged and is prohibited from acting as a scrap metal processor for six months (§ 3778(2)(C)). The earlier penalty section, § 3777, was repealed in 2011, so § 3778 is the operative provision.

The seller's exposure is criminal rather than civil, and it is built into the form. The ownership statement required by § 3772(3)(G) has to carry a conspicuous warning that making a false statement is a Class D crime under Title 17-A, § 453 (§ 3772(3)(G)). Since § 3775 requires a second signed statement for a converter, that a converter is not stolen to the best of the seller's knowledge and that the seller owns it or may sell it, a seller who signs either statement falsely is exposed on that footing (§ 3775).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring a license, military ID, passport, or other government photo ID, which we photocopy and record; if the photo on it has faded we also photograph you (§ 3772(3)(A)). You sign two statements for converters: the ownership statement on our form, which carries the Class D crime warning, and the statement that the units are not stolen to the best of your knowledge and that you own them or may sell them (§ 3772(3)(G), § 3775). We record the description, configuration, weight, and amount paid for each lot, plus the make, model, and plate of the vehicle, and keep the record a year (§ 3772(3)(C) to (F), (H), § 3773). Maine allows no cash: payment is by check, credit card, or debit card (§ 3772(1-A)).