Selling a catalytic converter in New Jersey
New Jersey has one short scrap metal statute and, since May 2023, a catalytic converter written into it. A detached converter is scrap metal, only a scrap metal business may buy one from a person who is not in the parts trade, and the record has to carry the vehicle identification number of the car the unit came off plus a title, registration, repair receipt, or bill of sale. The statute says nothing at all about how the seller is paid.
Last checked September 13, 2026; source material current as of November 11, 2025. Laws change. Confirm the current statute and its effective date before relying on this page. This is not legal advice.
Who may sell a detached converter
New Jersey does not license scrap metal businesses under this statute and puts no license on the seller. Instead it limits who may buy. The purchase of a used catalytic converter, in whole or in part, that is not attached to a motor vehicle at the time of sale or attempted sale is limited to a scrap metal business, unless the seller is a registered business that in the regular course of business collects, stores, or sells a catalytic converter or any other motor vehicle part (§ 45:28-6). A scrap metal business means a commercial establishment which, as one of its principal business purposes, purchases scrap metal for resale or processing (§ 45:28-1).
A converter became scrap metal by amendment. Scrap metal means used, discarded, or previously owned items that consist predominantly of ferrous metals, aluminum, brass, copper, lead, chromium, tin, nickel, or alloys, and includes a used catalytic converter, in whole or in part, if the converter is not attached to a motor vehicle (§ 45:28-1). The words about converters were added by P.L.2023, c.56, § 1, which took effect on its approval date of May 15, 2023.
The private seller's route is documentary. Where a used converter is not attached to a motor vehicle at the time of sale or attempted sale, and the seller is not a registered business that in the regular course of business collects, stores, or sells converters or other motor vehicle parts, the record has to carry the vehicle identification number of the motor vehicle the converter was taken from and a copy of the certificate of title or registration, a receipt from a transaction of repair, or a bill of sale for that vehicle (§ 45:28-2(c)(6)). The operator may purchase or attempt to purchase only from a person who provides the information the section requires (§ 45:28-2(e)), a duty added in 2023.
What the buyer must record
Identification comes first and it has to be checked, not merely collected. The operator of a scrap metal business verifies the identity of any person delivering or selling scrap metal by requesting and examining a photograph-bearing, valid state or federal driver license or other government-issued form of identification bearing a photograph (§ 45:28-2(a)), then makes a clear copy of it and records its number, in a manner the Attorney General may prescribe, before receiving or purchasing any scrap metal from that person (§ 45:28-2(b)).
The transaction record is triggered by size and kept for five years. The operator maintains, for at least five years, a record of all receipts or purchases of scrap metal in excess of one hundred pounds or fifty dollars, whichever is less (§ 45:28-2(c)). Into it go the date of receipt or purchase; the name and address of the person delivering or selling; the type and number of the identification presented along with a copy of it; a description of the scrap metal received or purchased, including its type, amount, and form; the seller's signature; the converter items already described; and any other information the Attorney General may require (§ 45:28-2(c)(1) to (7)).
Access and reporting run both ways. Records maintained under subsection c. are made available on request to any law enforcement agency or official investigating the possible theft or resale of scrap metals (§ 45:28-2(d)). The operator has to report immediately to an appropriate law enforcement agency any delivery or sale of scrap metal under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to believe the metal was probably stolen or otherwise inappropriately obtained (§ 45:28-3), and anyone who reports such information in good faith is immune from civil liability on account of the report unless acting in bad faith or with malicious purpose (§ 45:28-4). Police departments may in turn notify scrap metal businesses of reported thefts and give them information to identify the stolen metal (§ 2C:20-7.2).
How you are paid
New Jersey is silent on payment. Sections 45:28-1 to 45:28-6 name no method of payment, no cash ceiling, no requirement that a check be mailed, and no address the money has to go to. The rules the statute does impose are identity, records, retention, reporting, and the limit on who may buy a detached converter (§§ 45:28-2, 45:28-3, 45:28-6).
There is also no waiting period. Nothing in the chapter tells a scrap metal business to hold a converter, tag it, keep it intact, or wait a set number of days before processing it, and the statute creates no law enforcement hold procedure of its own. The only clock in the statute is the five year record retention clock (§ 45:28-2(c)).
What the statute does instead is condition the purchase on the paperwork. The operator may purchase or attempt to purchase only from a person delivering or selling scrap metal who provides the information the section requires (§ 45:28-2(e)), so for a converter the vehicle identification number and the ownership document have to be in hand before the transaction happens at all (§ 45:28-2(c)(6)). A buyer who is not a scrap metal business may not make the purchase from a private seller in the first place (§ 45:28-6).
Penalties
The grading is by repetition rather than by value or quantity. Violations of P.L.2009, c.8 are disorderly persons offenses for a first or second offense and crimes of the fourth degree for third and subsequent offenses (§ 45:28-5). The 2023 amendment widened that sentence: where it had reached only the record and reporting sections, it now reaches violations of the act as a whole, which brings the converter purchase limit inside the penalty (P.L.2023, c.56, § 3, amending § 45:28-5).
Nothing in these sections adds a license to suspend or revoke, because the statute issues none. Enforcement runs through the criminal grading in § 45:28-5, through the Attorney General's rulemaking authority to implement the act (P.L.2009, c.8, § 7), and through the investigative access to records that § 45:28-2(d) guarantees.
The reporting duty carries its own weight. Failing to report a delivery or sale that would make a reasonable person believe the metal was probably stolen is a violation of § 45:28-3 and therefore falls inside the same ladder (§§ 45:28-3, 45:28-5), while a good faith report cannot be turned into civil liability against the person who made it (§ 45:28-4).
What this means when you sell to us
Bring a government photo ID, because New Jersey requires us to examine it, copy it, and record its number before we take anything in (§ 45:28-2(a), (b)). For a converter that is off the vehicle, bring the vehicle identification number of the car it came from and one of the documents the statute names: the certificate of title or registration, a repair receipt, or a bill of sale for that vehicle (§ 45:28-2(c)(6)). Shops and yards that regularly handle vehicle parts are treated as registered businesses instead and do not need the vehicle paperwork (§ 45:28-2(c)(6)), and the same description marks the seller whose sale falls outside the purchase limitation (§ 45:28-6). New Jersey sets no payment rule for scrap metal, so nothing in state law restricts how we settle with you.