Selling a catalytic converter in West Virginia

Who may sell a detached converter

Converters are inside the definition of scrap metal. Scrap metal means any form of copper, aluminum, brass, lead, or other nonferrous metal of any kind, a catalytic converter, or any materials derived from a catalytic converter, or steel railroad track and track material (§ 61-3-49(a)(3)). A purchaser is any person in the business of purchasing scrap metal or used auto parts, any salvage yard owner or operator, any public or commercial recycling facility owner or operator, or an agent or employee of any of them (§ 61-3-49(a)(2)).

The buyer carries four registrations. In addition to any requirement necessary to do business in the state, a scrap metal dealer has to hold a current valid business registration certificate from the Tax Commissioner, register any scales used for weighing scrap metal with the Division of Labor Weights and Measures, provide a notice of recycling activity to the Department of Environmental Protection, and register as a scrap metal dealer with the Secretary of State, who maintains a publicly available list including each dealer's business and physical addresses, hours of operation, telephone and facsimile numbers, and the names of the owners or principal officers (§ 61-3-49(b)(1) to (4)).

The seller needs documentation, and holding a converter without it is an offense. Any person in possession of a converter previously installed on a motor vehicle, or parts of one, shall have in his or her possession written documentation of ownership or authorization to possess it, and a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or up to one year in jail, or both (§ 61-3-49c(b)). Anyone placing an advertisement on an internet-based platform soliciting the sale or purchase of a converter in the state must have completed the requirements to be a scrap metal recycler under § 61-3-49(b), including any other business requirements (§ 61-3-49c(c)).

What the buyer must record

The base record is five items. The seller's full name, permanent home and business addresses, and telephone number where available; a description and the motor vehicle license number of any vehicle used to bring the scrap metal in; the time and date of the transaction; a complete description of the kind, character, and weight of the metal purchased; and a statement of whether the metal was purchased, taken as collateral for a loan, or taken on consignment (§ 61-3-49(c)(1) to (5)).

Two further items are required and retained from the seller. A signed certificate of ownership of the scrap metal being sold, or a signed authorization from the owner to sell it, and a photocopy of a valid West Virginia driver license or Division of Motor Vehicles identification card, or any other valid photo identification issued by another state or the federal government, with the proviso that where the purchaser already has a copy of the seller's valid photo identification on file it may reference that instead of rephotocopying for each transaction (§ 61-3-49(d)(1), (2)). It is unlawful for any purchaser to buy scrap metal without obtaining and recording all of that, although the subsection does not apply to purchases made at wholesale under contract or through a bidding process where the contract or bill of sale is retained and made available (§ 61-3-49(e)).

Converters add a named document and a fingerprint. In transactions that are not exempt, any person delivering one or more automobile converters to a scrap metal dealer has to execute a document containing the name of the person or entity from whom the converter was received and affirming that the deliverer is the lawful owner or is authorized by the lawful owner to sell, and next to the signature place a clear impression of an index finger or thumb in ink and free of smearing, which the dealer may elect to take electronically (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)). The dealer makes a good faith effort to record any identifying information on a converter received and may not purchase or take possession of one whose identifying information has been manually altered (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)). Records are kept at the place of business on a State Police form or the dealer's own for not less than three years, available for inspection by any law-enforcement officer and, on written request during business hours, by a utility or railroad theft investigator, or else filed with the local State Police detachment and the municipal chief of police or county sheriff within seventy-two hours of the purchase and retained by them for not less than three years (§ 61-3-49(g)).

How you are paid

Converter money goes on a check. Payment shall be made by check payable to the seller (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)). The statute says nothing about cash for converters other than that sentence, which leaves no room for it, and it does not require the check to be mailed or delayed.

The metal itself waits, and the dealer can shorten the wait by reporting. No scrap metal dealer may process, sell, or remove a converter from its premises for at least fourteen days after acquiring it, and that fourteen day retention may be reduced to five days where, within the first consecutive five-day period, the dealer provides all documentation the section requires to the local detachment of the State Police and to either the chief of police of the municipality or the sheriff of the county where it transacts business (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)).

Several purchases fall outside the converter subsection altogether. It does not reach a purchaser of a motor vehicle on which a converter is installed, a scrap metal dealer buying a detached converter accompanying the vehicle it was removed from, a purchaser of a converter intended for installation on a vehicle the purchaser owns or leases, or any person who buys a converter or a vehicle with one installed, other than for resale, for personal, family, household, or business use (§ 61-3-49(k)(1)). Nothing in the section applies to scrap purchases by manufacturing facilities that melt or otherwise alter scrap metal into a new product, or to food and beverage containers and other nonindustrial materials with a marginal per-unit value (§ 61-3-49(j)).

Penalties

The dealer penalty escalates into the business registration certificate. Any person who knowingly or with fraudulent intent violates a provision of the section for which no penalty is specifically set out, including knowingly failing to make a report or knowingly falsifying required information, is guilty of a misdemeanor, fined not less than one thousand nor more than three thousand dollars on a first conviction; not less than two thousand nor more than four thousand dollars on a second, with the court ordering the Tax Commissioner to suspend any business registration certificate for six months; and not less than three thousand nor more than five thousand dollars on a third or subsequent conviction, with the court ordering the Tax Commissioner to cancel the certificate and state the effective date (§ 61-3-49(l)).

Knowing possession of stolen scrap is larceny on both sides. A person may not have or take possession of any scrap metal that he or she knows, or has reason to know, has been stolen or unlawfully obtained, and a violation is larceny (§ 61-3-49(m)). A scrap metal dealer may not purchase, possess, or receive scrap metal it knows or has reason to know was stolen or unlawfully obtained by the seller, and that too is larceny (§ 61-3-49(n)). The one exception is a purchase or possession made pursuant to a written agreement with law-enforcement officials (§ 61-3-49(p)).

Converter possession offenses count per unit. Each converter possessed in violation of the documentation rule is a separate offense, any converter possessed in violation is subject to seizure at the time of arrest, and a person possessing a single converter in violation is charged by citation and not subject to arrest for that offense (§ 61-3-49c(b)(1) to (3)). Presenting to the court sufficient evidence of lawful ownership or authority to possess is an absolute defense to the charge (§ 61-3-49c(b)(4)). Fifteen categories of marked public, utility, railroad, and cemetery metal may not be bought at all without written documentation that the seller is authorized to possess and sell it and is in lawful possession (§ 61-3-49(o)(1) to (15)), and a dealer may not knowingly buy or possess a stainless steel or aluminum beer keg for resale as scrap except from the beer manufacturer or its authorized representative (§ 61-3-49(f)).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring a valid West Virginia license or Division of Motor Vehicles identification card, or another state's or a federal photo ID, and be ready to give your full name, home and business addresses, and telephone number (§ 61-3-49(c)(1), (d)(2)). Bring your written documentation of ownership or authority to possess the converters, since West Virginia makes holding one without that documentation an offense in itself (§ 61-3-49c(b)). You sign a certificate of ownership, execute a document naming who you got each converter from, and press an inked index finger or thumb beside your signature (§ 61-3-49(d)(1), (k)(2)). Payment is never cash. West Virginia requires a check made payable to you (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)). Each unit then stays with us fourteen days, or five if we file the full paperwork with the State Police and the local sheriff or chief of police inside the first five days (§ 61-3-49(k)(2)).