Selling a catalytic converter in Washington
Washington moved catalytic converters out of the scrap metal chapter entirely. Since April 1, 2025 a converter is a major component part, only a licensed scrap processor or licensed vehicle wrecker may buy one, and buying one without either license is a class C felony. Every detached converter has to be permanently marked with the last eight digits of the originating vehicle identification number within twenty-four hours of removal. Payment is by mailed nontransferable check, never cash, and never sooner than three business days, and a processor may not open a converter for thirty days after buying it.
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 buyer now needs a vehicle license rather than a scrap metal license. A converter is included in the definition of major component parts for hulk haulers and scrap processors (§ 46.79.010(6)), and nothing in the metal property chapter shall be construed to authorize licensed scrap metal businesses to purchase or sell junk vehicles or major component parts as defined in § 46.79.010 (§ 19.290.235). A person who knowingly purchases a converter removed from a motor vehicle without a valid scrap processor license under chapter 46.79 or vehicle wrecker license under chapter 46.80 is guilty of trafficking in catalytic converters in the first degree, a class C felony (§ 9A.82.190(1)(b)). That reordering came with chapter 301, Laws of 2024, which struck "private metal property" from chapter 19.290 and rebuilt the converter rules in Title 46 and chapter 9A.82, effective April 1, 2025.
The seller's obligation is a mark, not a license. Any person who removes a converter from a vehicle for a purpose other than maintenance, repair, or demolition, or who knowingly possesses an unmarked detached converter, has to permanently mark it with the last eight digits of the originating vehicle's identification number so that at least a portion of the marking is visible from any side, within a reasonable time and no later than twenty-four hours after removal, and before the unit moves off site (§ 9A.82.180(1)). Detached converters not marked as required are subject to immediate seizure and forfeiture by law enforcement (§ 9A.82.180(2)). It is an affirmative defense that the possessor removed the converter with the permission of the registered owner of the vehicle (§ 9A.82.180(7)).
Unmarked units are an offense to hold at all, unless you are licensed. It is a gross misdemeanor for any person who is not a scrap processor licensed under chapter 46.79 or a vehicle wrecker licensed under chapter 46.80 to knowingly possess, sell, or offer for sale six or fewer detached converters that do not comply with the marking requirement, and a class C felony to do the same with seven or more (§ 9A.82.180(4), (5)). Only a licensed scrap processor may engage in the business of disassembling or de-canning a converter to extract platinum, palladium, rhodium, or other metals (§ 46.79.140(1)).
What the buyer must record
The converter record has nine elements and it runs three years. It carries the time, date, location, and value of the transaction; the name of the employee representing the scrap processor; the name, street address, and telephone number of the person the transaction is made with; the license plate number and state of issuance on the motor vehicle used to bring the converters in; a description of that vehicle; a copy of the seller's current driver license or other government-issued picture identification card; and the vehicle identification number of the vehicle the converter was removed from (§ 46.79.150(3)(a) to (g)).
Two more items close it. The seller signs a declaration stating substantially that the property subject to the transaction is not, to the best of the seller's knowledge, stolen property and that the information the seller provided is accurate (§ 46.79.150(3)(h)), and the record includes a photo of the converter showing the vehicle identification number marking § 9A.82.180 requires (§ 46.79.150(3)(i)). The record is kept for three years following the date of the transaction and is open to inspection by any commissioned law enforcement officer of the state or a political subdivision at all times during ordinary business hours, or at reasonable times where ordinary hours are not kept (§ 46.79.150(3)).
A processor that de-cans keeps a second set of records. Any licensed scrap processor disassembling or de-canning converters maintains the records of every converter it disassembles or de-cans in accordance with the chapter's recordkeeping requirements and other provisions of law (§ 46.79.140(2)). None of § 46.79.150 applies to the purchase of material from a licensed business that manufactures converters in the ordinary course of its legal business (§ 46.79.150(4)). The scrap metal chapter's own record rules, which still govern nonferrous metal property generally, require a signed no-stolen-property declaration witnessed by an employee and a five year retention (§ 19.290.020(2), (3)).
How you are paid
There is no cash for a converter in Washington, and no same-day money. Payment to individual sellers of converters removed from a vehicle may not be made at the time of the transaction and shall not be paid earlier than three business days after the transaction was made (§ 46.79.150(1)). No transaction involving such converters may be made in cash, or with any person who does not provide a street address and photographic identification, and the seller may only be paid by a nontransferable check mailed by the licensed scrap processor to the street address recorded under the section, no earlier than three days after the transaction (§ 46.79.150(2)). Licensed vehicle wreckers are held to the identical rule (§ 46.80.210(1), (2)).
The converter cannot be opened for a month. Any licensed scrap processor disassembling or de-canning converters has to implement a thirty day waiting period between the purchase and the disassembly or de-canning of a converter, unless the scrap processor is also the registered owner of the originating vehicle (§ 46.79.140(3)). That is a standing period tied to the purchase date rather than to any police request, and unlike the holds some other states impose it restricts opening the unit rather than selling it on or removing it from the premises.
The license itself now carries a converter surcharge. The license fees required under §§ 46.79.040 and 46.79.050 for a scrap processor's license must also include a five hundred dollar catalytic converter inspection fee, deposited in the state patrol highway account to support the Washington State Patrol's activities under § 43.43.888 (§ 46.79.160). Neither the payment rule nor the waiting period applies to material bought from a licensed converter manufacturer in the ordinary course of its business (§ 46.79.150(4), § 46.80.210(3)).
Penalties
Trafficking is the central offense and it is a felony either way. A person is guilty of trafficking in catalytic converters in the first degree by knowingly trafficking seven or more converters removed from a motor vehicle without fulfilling the chapter 46.79 or 46.80 requirements for lawful transfer, or by knowingly purchasing such a converter without a valid scrap processor or vehicle wrecker license, and that is a class C felony (§ 9A.82.190(1), (2)). Knowingly trafficking six or fewer converters without fulfilling those requirements is trafficking in the second degree, also a class C felony (§ 9A.82.200(1), (2)).
Defacing the mark is its own offense, graded on repetition. It is a gross misdemeanor for any person to intentionally remove, alter, or obliterate the last eight digits of the originating vehicle identification number from a detached converter, and a class C felony where the person has previously been convicted under that subsection (§ 9A.82.180(3)(a), (b)). Possessing, selling, or offering unmarked converters without a license is a gross misdemeanor up to six units and a class C felony at seven or more (§ 9A.82.180(4), (5)).
Two softer mechanisms sit alongside. Where a case is legally sufficient to charge an alleged juvenile offender with a first violation involving detached converters, the prosecutor is encouraged to divert the case under § 13.40.070 (§ 9A.82.180(6)), and unmarked detached converters are subject to immediate seizure and forfeiture rather than only to prosecution (§ 9A.82.180(2)). The metal property chapter is to be liberally construed to prevent traffic in stolen commercial and nonferrous metal property and to keep unreliable or dishonest persons out of the business (§ 19.290.240).
What this means when you sell to us
Mark each converter before it leaves the site: Washington requires the last eight digits of the originating vehicle identification number to be permanently marked on it so that at least a portion of the marking is visible from any side, within twenty-four hours of removal (§ 9A.82.180(1)). Bring government photo identification and a street address, both of which the statute names as conditions of the transaction (§ 46.79.150(2), (3)(c), (f)). Bring the identification number of the vehicle the converter came off, because it goes in the record and in a photograph of the marked unit (§ 46.79.150(3)(g), (i)). You sign a declaration that the property is not stolen and that your information is accurate (§ 46.79.150(3)(h)). Payment is never cash and never on the day: Washington requires a nontransferable check mailed to your recorded street address, no earlier than three business days after the sale (§ 46.79.150(1), (2)).