Selling a catalytic converter in New Mexico
New Mexico regulates converter sales through the Sale of Recycled Metals Act, which registers the buyer with the Regulation and Licensing Department and names a catalytic converter as regulated material. Converters are a restricted transaction, so they need written proof of ownership on top of the usual record, they carry a three year record instead of the one year that covers everything else, and no regulated material may be processed or leave the yard for twenty-four hours.
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
The registration burden falls on the buyer. A secondhand metal dealer shall not buy or sell regulated material without a valid registration issued by the department (§ 57-30-2.2(A)), the application is completed under penalty of perjury and lists every location where the applicant buys or sells regulated material (§ 57-30-2.2(B)), and a registration runs three years from issuance unless suspended or revoked (§ 57-30-2.1). A secondhand metal dealer means a scrap metal processor in the business of operating or maintaining a scrap metal yard in a physical location where scrap metal or cast-off regulated material is purchased for shipment, sale, or transfer (§ 57-30-2(J)).
Sellers need no registration, only identity and a signature. A person attempting to sell regulated material displays a personal identification document, signs a written statement provided by the dealer that the person is the legal owner of or lawfully entitled to sell the material, gives the year, make, model, and license plate number of the motor vehicle used to transport it, and allows the dealer to take a photograph of the seller and the material (§ 57-30-4(A)(1) to (4)). A personal identification document means a driver license, a military identification card, or a passport issued by the United States or by another country the United States recognizes (§ 57-30-2(H)).
Converters sit inside the restricted list, so the ownership paper is mandatory. Regulated material includes a catalytic converter that is not part of an entire motor vehicle (§ 57-30-2(I)(11)), and a dealer shall not knowingly purchase or otherwise receive such a converter without written documentation indicating that the seller or offeror is the rightful owner or has permission from the rightful owner and that the material was otherwise lawfully obtained (§ 57-30-2.4(A), (A)(10)). The department writes rules describing what that documentation has to be (§ 57-30-2.4(B)). The act does not reach a purchase from a manufacturing, industrial, or other commercial vendor that sells regulated material in the ordinary course of its business (§ 57-30-14).
What the buyer must record
The general record is written, in a form the department approves, and covers copper or brass, bronze, lead, aluminum over ten pounds, and steel over one ton, with a separate record for every stainless steel beer keg (§ 57-30-5(A)). Into it go the place and date of purchase, the name and address of the seller, the identifying number of the seller's personal identification document, the year, make, model, and license plate number of the vehicle used to transport the material, a description of type and quantity made in accordance with the custom of the trade, the seller's signed ownership statement, and the written documentation any restricted transaction requires (§ 57-30-5(B)(1) to (7)). The dealer may also take a date and time stamped digital photograph of the seller and of the material as purchased (§ 57-30-5(C)).
Converters get a second, stricter record added in 2023. A dealer shall not knowingly purchase or receive a catalytic converter unless the seller presents a personal identification document and the dealer makes a record of the transaction, kept for at least three years, containing a photocopy or digital image of that document; the date and time of the transaction; the seller's name, address, telephone number, and signature; the license plate number and vehicle identification number of the vehicle used to transport the converter, if applicable; a photocopy or digital image of the legal document or affidavit demonstrating the seller's ownership; and photographs of the converter (§ 57-30-2.4(D)(1), (D)(2)(a) to (f)). The two records do not overlap. The § 57-30-5(A) list runs to copper or brass, bronze, lead, aluminum over ten pounds, steel over one ton, and stainless steel beer kegs, and a catalytic converter is not on it, so a converter purchase triggers neither the § 57-30-5 record, nor the one-year preservation period in § 57-30-6, nor the § 57-30-8(A) database upload, which is limited to material "for which a record is required pursuant to Section 57-30-5". The three-year § 57-30-2.4(D) record is what carries a converter.
Everything else is reported and inspected. The dealer preserves each § 57-30-5 record until the first anniversary of the date it was made (§ 57-30-6), uploads the recorded information to the department's database not later than the second business day after the purchase (§ 57-30-8(A)), and the department keeps that database accessible to law enforcement agencies and itself, with records available by the end of the second business day after receipt (§ 57-30-9). A local government may add converter reporting requirements, but not for other regulated material, and only where they are no more stringent than the act's own (§ 57-30-8(B)). On request a dealer produces the requested record to a peace officer during usual business hours (§ 57-30-7(A)).
How you are paid
The act sets no payment rule. Nothing in §§ 57-30-1 to 57-30-14 names a method of payment, a cash ceiling, a payee, or an address the money has to go to, so New Mexico leaves the settlement terms to the parties while regulating everything around them.
What New Mexico does regulate is when the metal may move. A secondhand metal dealer shall not process or permit to be removed from the dealer's premises regulated material until at least twenty-four hours have elapsed since the dealer acquired it (§ 57-30-11). That period is unconditional, applies to every converter, and was itself a relaxation: before 2012 the wait ran to the fifth business day after acquisition (§ 57-30-11, Annotations, 2012 amendment).
A second hold is triggered by an officer rather than by the calendar. Where a peace officer determines through an investigation or examination of the dealer's records that the dealer may be in possession of stolen property or property that constitutes evidence in a criminal investigation, the officer may place a hold prohibiting sale or removal of the property from the premises, and that hold may remain in effect for up to five days or until it is lifted or the property is seized, whichever occurs earlier (§ 57-30-7(B)). A dealer who becomes aware that material in the yard was stolen or unlawfully obtained may not remove it and has to report it to a local law enforcement agency within twenty-four hours (§ 57-30-2.3(B)).
Penalties
Dealer-side enforcement is civil and administrative. A person who violates any provision of the Sale of Recycled Metals Act may be assessed a civil penalty by the superintendent of not more than one thousand dollars per violation (§ 57-30-13(A)), and the superintendent may suspend or revoke a dealer's registration on finding that the dealer intentionally violated a provision of the act (§ 57-30-13(B)), in both cases only after notice and an opportunity to be heard under the Uniform Licensing Act (§ 57-30-13(C)).
Seller-side conduct is prohibited by its own section. A person shall not, with intent to deceive, display a false or invalid personal identification document in connection with an attempted sale of regulated material, make a false material statement or representation in connection with the written ownership statement or the dealer's efforts to obtain the required record information or the documentation a restricted transaction requires, or deliberately remove or alter a manufacturer's make, model, serial, or personal identification number or other identifying marks engraved or etched on regulated material (§ 57-30-12(A) to (C)). The warning sign every dealer posts in two-inch lettering says exactly that (§ 57-30-3(A)(1)).
Theft of a converter is graded in the criminal code by the damage it causes. Criminal damage to property by theft or attempted theft of regulated material consists of the unlawful taking or attempted taking of regulated material from another that results in any damage to real or personal property, and it is a petty misdemeanor below one thousand dollars, a misdemeanor from one thousand to under two thousand five hundred dollars, and a fourth degree felony at two thousand five hundred dollars or more, measured by the fair market value of the damage or loss (§ 30-15-8(A)(1) to (3)). Regulated material there also includes a catalytic converter that is not part of an entire motor vehicle (§ 30-15-8(B)(3)(i)).
What this means when you sell to us
Bring a personal identification document, meaning a license, a military ID, or a passport, and bring the document or affidavit that shows the converter is yours, because New Mexico treats a converter as a restricted transaction we cannot complete without it (§ 57-30-2(H), § 57-30-2.4(A), (D)). You sign a written statement that you own the units or are entitled to sell them, give us the year, make, model, and plate number of the vehicle, and let us photograph you and the converters (§ 57-30-4(A)). We keep the converter record for three years (§ 57-30-2.4(D)(2)). New Mexico sets no payment rule, so nothing in state law restricts how we settle with you.