Selling a catalytic converter in North Carolina

Who may sell a detached converter

The gate is a criminal possession statute that doubles as the buyer's list. Knowingly possessing a catalytic converter that has been removed from a motor vehicle is a Class I felony unless the possessor is an employee or agent of a company, or an individual, acting in official duties for a motor vehicle dealer, motor vehicle repair shop, secondary metals recycler, or salvage yard licensed, permitted, or registered under state law (§ 14-164.1(1)); an individual with vehicle registration documentation showing the converter is from a vehicle registered in that individual's name and is or will be replaced with another legally obtained converter (§ 14-164.1(2)); or an individual holding a converter lawfully received from such an owner together with proof of vehicle ownership and a copy of the most recent registration documentation for the donor vehicle (§ 14-164.1(3)).

Section 66-424 then ties the purchase to that list. A secondary metals recycler shall not purchase any catalytic converters that are not attached to a vehicle except from a person listed in § 14-164.1 (§ 66-424(a)(3a)), and it is unlawful for any person that is not a secondary metals recycler to purchase a used converter not attached to a vehicle (§ 66-424(d)). None of § 66-424 reaches a used and detached converter that has been tested, certified, and labeled or otherwise approved for reuse and is bought or sold for reuse under the federal Clean Air Act (§ 66-424(e)).

The buyer needs a county permit. A secondary metals recycler shall not purchase nonferrous metals for recycling unless the nonferrous metals purchaser possesses a valid permit (§ 66-424(a)(2)), and the sheriff of each county issues one to an applicant with a fixed site in that county who declares on the sheriff's form that the applicant is informed of and will comply with the Part, holds no permit revoked under § 66-429(b), and has not been convicted of more than three violations of the Part, with the permit valid for twelve months and for fixed sites in the county of issuance only (§ 66-426(a)). Nonferrous metals expressly include catalytic converters (§ 66-420(4)), and a fixed site means a site occupied as owner or under a lease providing for occupation for not less than three hundred sixty-four days (§ 66-420(2)).

What the buyer must record

Every transaction generates both a receipt and an electronic record. The recycler issues a receipt for all purchases of regulated metals property, issued to and signed by the person delivering the property, and has to be able to document which employee completed the transaction (§ 66-421(a)). The electronic record carries the recycler's name and address; the identification of the individual entering the information; the date; the weight; a trade description of the type, the physical address where the seller obtained the metal and when, and a statement signed by the seller certifying the lawful right to sell and dispose of the property; the consideration given; and the seller's name and address with the license plate number, make, model, and color of the vehicle used (§ 66-421(b)(1) to (7)).

Identity is mandatory and the transaction stops without it. The record holds a photocopy or electronic scan of the person's unexpired driver license or state or federally issued photo identification card; where a valid copy is already on file the recycler examines the identification and verifies it has not expired and may reference the copy on file instead of rescanning; and where the person has no unexpired license or state or federally issued photo identification card, the recycler shall not complete the transaction (§ 66-421(b)(8)). A copy of the receipt goes into the record, or the original where the copy is not clear or legible (§ 66-421(b)(9)), along with a video or digital photograph of the seller together with the property, of a quality sufficient to let a person of ordinary faculties identify the person recorded (§ 66-421(b)(10)).

Converters add a fingerprint and a paper trail. In transactions involving catalytic converters not attached to a vehicle, and central air conditioner evaporator coils or condensers, the person delivering the material places next to that person's signature on the receipt a clear impression of that person's index finger, in ink and free of any smearing, which the recycler may elect to take electronically and may reference from file for later transactions (§ 66-421(b)(11)). Where the recycler buys a converter under § 66-424(a)(3a) it also makes and retains a copy of all documentation provided to and relied upon in determining the seller's status (§ 66-421(b)(11)). Records are kept for not less than two years from the date of purchase, securely maintained, and destroyed in a way that protects the identities involved (§ 66-422(a)), with law enforcement entitled to inspect both the metal and the records during business hours (§ 66-422(b)) and to have receipts made available each regular workday or transferred electronically on request (§ 66-422(c)).

How you are paid

Cash exists in North Carolina but on a short leash. No nonferrous metals purchaser may enter into a cash transaction for the purchase of copper at all, and none may purchase any nonferrous metal property for cash consideration greater than one hundred dollars per transaction, with any payment above that made by check, money order, or cash card system (§ 66-425). A purchaser may also make no more than one cash purchase per day from any individual, business, corporation, or partnership (§ 66-425).

A cash card system is a defined thing rather than a loophole. It means a system of payment that provides payment in cash or in another form and that, when paying in cash, captures a photograph of the seller at the time payment is received and uses an automated cash dispenser, including an automated teller machine (§ 66-420(1)). The Part separately forbids a recycler from operating any check-cashing business at a fixed site where it buys regulated metals property (§ 66-424(a)(1)).

North Carolina puts no standing waiting period on a converter. The hold in this Part is triggered by an officer: where a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion that an item of nonferrous metal in a purchaser's possession has been stolen, the officer may issue a written hold notice identifying the items, after which the purchaser must not process or remove them from the fixed site for fifteen calendar days unless released earlier, renewable for another thirty days (§ 66-423(a)). A standing seven day retention applies only to a recycler owner convicted of a felonious violation of the Article or of §§ 14-71, 14-71.1, or 14-72 (§ 66-423(b)).

Penalties

The ladder starts at misdemeanor and escalates on repetition. Unless the conduct is covered by another provision providing greater punishment, knowingly and willfully violating any provision of the Part is a Class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a Class I felony for a second or subsequent violation (§ 66-429(a)). Converters carry a surcharge: in addition to any other punishment, knowingly and willfully violating any provision of the Part involving the purchase of a catalytic converter is punished by a fine of one thousand dollars for each violation (§ 66-429(a)).

Permits are lost by accumulation. Where the owner or the employees of a fixed site are convicted of an aggregate of three or more violations of the Part within a ten year period, the sheriff immediately revokes the permit for that site for six months, and any attempt to get around that by procuring a permit through a family member extends the revocation by another eighteen months (§ 66-429(b)). A court may also order restitution to the recycler or the property owner for damage or loss arising out of a violation of the converter purchase rule, among others (§ 66-430).

The vehicle used can go too. Vehicles used or intended for use to convey or transport, or in any manner facilitate the transportation of, unlawfully obtained regulated metals property are subject to forfeiture, but only where the violation involved is a felony and only where the owner knew or had reason to believe the vehicle was being used in the commission of a qualifying violation (§ 66-431(a)(2), (a)(4)). The Part also preempts any conflicting county or municipal regulation of secondary metals recyclers or regulated metals property (§ 66-428), and it does not reach purchases from a manufacturing, industrial, government, or other commercial vendor that generates or sells regulated metals property in the ordinary course of its business (§ 66-427(1)).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring an unexpired license or state or federal photo ID, because North Carolina forbids us to complete the transaction without one (§ 66-421(b)(8)). If you are not a dealer, repair shop, recycler, or salvage yard, bring your vehicle registration documentation showing the converter came off a vehicle registered in your name, which is the route § 14-164.1 leaves open for an owner (§ 14-164.1(2), § 66-424(a)(3a)). You sign a statement certifying your right to sell, sign the receipt, and press an inked index fingerprint beside your signature, which North Carolina requires for converters (§ 66-421(a), (b)(5), (b)(11)). Cash tops out at one hundred dollars per transaction and one cash purchase a day; above that we pay by check, money order, or a cash card system that photographs you as the money is handed over (§ 66-425, § 66-420(1)).