Selling a catalytic converter in Maryland

Who may sell a detached converter

A junk dealer or scrap metal processor may not purchase a catalytic converter from an individual unless the individual, at the time of purchase, provides identification as a licensed automotive dismantler and recycler or scrap metal processor, or as an agent or employee of a licensed commercial enterprise (§ 17-1009(d)(2)). Converters are named in the definition of junk or scrap metal, first in the list of used articles made of either ferrous or nonferrous metal rather than in the nonferrous list that precedes it (§ 17-1001(f)(1)(ii)1). The parallel rule for cemetery urns, grave markers, and the other listed items requires appropriate authorization from a relevant business or unit of federal, State, or local government specifically authorizing the individual to conduct the transaction (§ 17-1009(d)(3)).

The buyer has to be licensed too. Except as the subtitle otherwise provides, a person must hold a junk dealer or scrap metal processor license to do business as one in Maryland (§ 17-1005(a)(1)), and a nonresident dealer or processor that establishes a fixed place of business in the State has to obtain the license and comply with all related laws and regulations (§ 17-1008). Applicants certify their name and business address to the clerk and pay a fee of ten dollars for a junk dealer or scrap metal processor license or five dollars for an agent license (§ 17-1006(a)), and the clerk issues a license to every applicant meeting the subtitle's requirements, which is not transferable (§ 17-1007).

The record rules reach broadly but not universally. They apply to all junk dealers and scrap metal processors doing business in the State, including nonresidents (§ 17-1009(a)(1)), and to an automotive dismantler and recycler or scrap metal processor licensed under Title 15, Subtitle 5 of the Transportation Article where it does business as a licensed junk dealer or processor or acquires vehicle parts or listed metals (§ 17-1009(a)(2)(i)). Critically, the converter record duty in § 17-1009(b)(2) applies to any such licensed dismantler, recycler, or processor whenever all or part of a detached converter is acquired from a person, even one that otherwise only takes whole vehicles (§ 17-1009(a)(2)(ii), (a)(3)(i)). The subtitle does not apply to a dealer or pawnbroker licensed under Title 12, to a business that merely buys or transports junk used in its own operations or disposes of its own accumulated scrap, or to a common carrier's vehicle (§ 17-1002(a)).

What the buyer must record

For each purchase of junk or scrap metal in the State, a junk dealer or scrap metal processor keeps an accurate record in English (§ 17-1009(b)(1)). The record states the date and time of purchase, a description of the material including its type and grade, the weight of each type and grade where payment is based on weight, and, where the material includes all or part of a detached converter, the vehicle identification number of the vehicle it was obtained from (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(i), (ii)). It states the amount paid or other consideration, the registration plate number, make, and model of any vehicle used, and the name and address of the individual the material came from (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(iii) to (v)).

Two signatures and one identity block complete it. Both the individual the material came from and the dealer, processor, or employee who accepted it sign the record (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(vi)). For each individual, the record holds either the date of birth and driver license number, or identification information from a valid State-issued photo identification giving a physical description including sex, race, distinguishing features, and approximate age, height, and weight (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(vii)). Records are kept in electronic form (§ 17-1009(b)(3)).

Reporting is next-business-day and partial. The dealer or processor transmits a copy of each record electronically to the primary law enforcement unit, in a format that unit accepts, by the end of the first business day after the transaction (§ 17-1009(b)(4)(i), (ii)). The copy includes the date and time, a description of the material with its weight where payment is by weight, whether the consideration exceeded five hundred dollars, the plate number of any vehicle the seller used, the seller's name and address, date of birth and driver license number, the physical-description identification information, and an electronic scan or photocopy of the State-issued photo identification (§ 17-1009(b)(4)(iii)). Those copies are confidential, are not public records, and may be destroyed by the unit after one year (§ 17-1009(b)(5), (6)). A resident dealer or processor keeps its own records for one year after the transaction, open during business hours to State or local law enforcement for an investigation of a specific crime involving the listed materials (§ 17-1009(c)). The record and reporting duties do not apply to an item acquired from a licensed dealer or processor, from a unit of federal, State, or local government, or from a commercial enterprise with a valid business license under a written contract whose details have been given to the primary law enforcement unit (§ 17-1009(f)(1)).

How you are paid

Maryland sets no payment rules for junk or scrap metal. The subtitle contains no cash ban, no dollar ceiling above which a check is required, no instruction on who a check is payable to or where it is sent, and no delay before a seller may be paid. Payment method is left to the buyer and the seller.

Money does show up in the paperwork twice. The record of every purchase states the amount paid or other consideration for the material (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(iii)), and the copy sent to the primary law enforcement unit has to say whether that amount exceeded five hundred dollars, without stating the figure itself (§ 17-1009(b)(4)(iii)3.). So the threshold in Maryland is a reporting flag rather than a payment restriction.

There is no standing hold on the metal either, but there is a conditional one with teeth. Where a State or local law enforcement agency has reasonable cause to believe that junk or scrap metal in a dealer's or processor's possession is stolen, it may issue a written hold notice identifying the items, informing the dealer of the hold, and specifying its period, which may not exceed fifteen days (§ 17-1009(g)(1), (2)). On receipt, the dealer or processor may not process the identified items or remove them from its place of business before the hold period ends, unless the agency or a court releases them (§ 17-1009(g)(3)).

Penalties

The record section carries its own graded misdemeanor. A person who violates § 17-1009 is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for a first offense, and a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both for a subsequent offense (§ 17-1009(i)). Because the converter purchase restriction and the vehicle identification number requirement both sit in that section, buying a converter from an unlicensed individual or failing to record the donor vehicle's identification number falls inside that grading (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(ii)3., (d)(2)).

Everything else in the subtitle falls to the general penalty. Except as otherwise provided, a person who violates the subtitle is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for each offense (§ 17-1011). Trading without the required license sits there, since § 17-1005 carries no penalty of its own (§ 17-1005(a)(1)). A dealer or processor also may not barter, buy, exchange, or accept any junk or scrap metal at all unless it keeps records and makes entries in them in accordance with the subtitle (§ 17-1009(d)(1)).

Two structural points are worth knowing. Local law enforcement personnel of the county where the dealer's place of business is located, or where the material was purchased, may enforce § 17-1009 (§ 17-1009(h)). And that section preempts the right of a county or municipality to regulate the resale of junk or scrap metal and supersedes any existing local law doing so, while leaving intact local power to license junk dealers and scrap metal processors (§ 17-1009(a)(4)). Separately, a historic marker or plaque purchase has to be registered with the sheriff within three business days and may not be sold or disposed of for thirty days after the resulting notice, on pain of a fine up to one hundred dollars (§ 17-1010).

What this means when you sell to us

Maryland only allows converter sales by licensed automotive dismantlers and recyclers, licensed scrap metal processors, and agents or employees of licensed commercial enterprises, so bring that identification (§ 17-1009(d)(2)). Bring the vehicle identification number for every unit, since we have to record it (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(ii)3.). Bring a license or State-issued photo ID; we record the number and the physical-description details, and both you and our buyer sign the record (§ 17-1009(b)(2)(vi), (vii)). We file a copy with the primary law enforcement unit by the end of the next business day and keep our record a year (§ 17-1009(b)(4), (c)(2)). Maryland sets no payment method, so our own terms apply.