Honda Accord Catalytic Converter Scrap Price – Our Investigation

If you own a Honda Accord, you will most likely form a good opinion about this car and about the manufacturer in general. This vehicle will deliver wonderful comfort, great technical specs, astonishing longevity, and reliability. Up until one point when it starts breaking and asking for an extremely expensive repair. One of these dark sides of a Honda Accord is a catalytic converter.

Unfortunately, these parts have twice shorter mileage as the other units of the vehicle. Your old Honda will easily be targeted to go at least 250 000 miles, but no converter will last that long. So, you will have to replace it. After that, you will have an old original converter in your hands and you may have heard that people sell these things at good prices.

Today, we'll discuss the following:

1. Honda Accord catalytic converters for different engines.
2. How much will an old cat converter cost from your Accord?
3. Who should you sell an old converter to?
4. How much is to replace a converter on Honda Accord?

Let's get started!

Types of cat converters in your Honda Accord

Unfortunately, Japanese corporations don't care much about marking their converters. Many catalytic converters which were originally installed on Honda vehicles have no serial numbers and Honda logos on them. This makes it quite hard to distinguish between original and aftermarket cats, and this is a very important factor.

The cats made by Honda are not extremely big and heavy. They are technological, they contain a lot of really expensive metals compared with cats by other producers. But anyway, these catalytic converters are not the best and the most expensive on the market.

Here's what we want to say:

• nearly all engines in the Accord have the same type of converter - they may look different, but actually, they are the same;
• most converters in the Honda Accord will contain around 5 grams of palladium, up to 7 grams of platinum, and also 1 gram of rhodium;
• these metals are all blended into one alloy that covers the ceramic honeycomb which is basically the filter for exhaust gasses;
• the precious metals play the role of the catalysts, they break the harmful elements into a couple of less harmful ones;
• over time, the honeycomb becomes clogged, but it doesn't mean that the precious metals disappear or get burned, they are still there;
• most of the metals that Honda uses to build their converters are rare and the demand for them on the market keeps growing.

Rhodium itself costs over $600 per one gram. Other metals are way less expensive but still can form a decent revenue for recycling companies. That's why old converters can be sold. We know at least four or five ways to sell the converter from your Honda Accord, but only one of them can bring you much more money than you think.

Now, you should forget about all tips and myths you know about selling the used converters. We'll tell you some important things you should know. And then, you will decide whether you want to sell the converter quickly and cheaply, or you want to spend some time and sell the cat at a better price.

How much should a converter cost from your Honda Accord?

The year of the Honda plays an important role. A very old converter will likely contain less precious metals. Also, these old converters may be damaged by rust and physical impacts during their life. It means, they could have already lost some parts of the honeycomb with the precious metals.

We believe, the average price for the old Honda Accord catalytic converter should be around $120. But one converter may cost $60 while some other may be worth over $200. This depends on the engine model, year, size of the cat, and also its condition.

However, the final price depends much on the way you sell your old converter. In one case, this will be a quick sale to your mechanic for $20, in some other cases, you will manage to sell the cat directly to some recycling company.

By the way, we've written a big article explaining the nature of pricing for old catalytic converters.

Please note that you shouldn't sell the Honda Accord converter to a scrapyard in your area, to a car mechanic, to a car shop, or to any other company that wants to trick you and give you twice or three times less money. We've found ways to sell your converter and we recommend choosing between them.

1. Selling a Honda cat to a middleman in your area

First of all, you should decide whether you want more money or a quick sale. This option is good for those who want to sell their old Accord converter quickly. But you will lose some money, remember it.

Here's how you can sell your cat easily and quickly:

1. Find a person who buys used catalytic converters in your city or town. Usually, they advertise on social media and in local media. There are plenty of them in densely populated areas.
2. Call this person and ask him or her to come and look at your old converter. The middleman may also ask you to take pictures of the car and send them in order to make some calculations.
3. When this person has already looked at the car, he or she will offer you a certain price. Unfortunately, this price will be lower than the fair market price.
4. You can finalize the deal and sell the converter or you can try to get some more money if you feel that the middleman tries to trick you with the price.
5. Finally, you can reject the deal and go on to sell your converter any other way. Sometimes, this will be a good decision.

Middlemen are not your best friends when it comes to the price of the Honda Accord used converter. They will probably offer you a little more than half of the real price. So, you will sell the converter for $50-$120 depending on its size, year, type, etc. But you will get some cash immediately and will not have to think about those problems with sales you could have.

2. Selling your Accord converter to a recycling company

Almost all converters eventually come to recycling companies. These are businesses that have all the needed equipment to take the precious metals out of the converters. They can recycle metals and ceramics, they have special licenses for this. And they usually buy cat converters from people and companies.

These recycling companies will pay you more than any middleman. To sell your old cat converter to them, you will need to follow these steps:

1. Take the converter out of the car and take some pictures of it. For this, you will probably need to clean it a little.
2. After that, go online and find as many recycling companies' websites as you can.
3. Each website will have a special form to send a quote to these companies. Use this form to inquire about the price. Also, attach the pictures you've already taken.
4. Wait for responses. All the companies may answer within one or two working days and you will have price offers to compare.
5. Then just compare the offers and decide which company gives you the best price.

All you have to do is to organize the shipping of your converter. You will get money on your bank account or just as a cash transfer depending on the policies of the recycling company you are dealing with. Pay attention to the reputation of the company. If it has bad reviews, they may cause troubles for catalytic converter sellers. Check this before you finalize your deal.

Can you sell your cat privately?

Honda Accord catalytic converters are demanded on the market. So, you will be able to sell this part on eBay or any local website, or with the help of a specialized forum. But we think that the same middlemen will be your potential buyers, in this case. Probably, you will not get the best price offer this way.

Also, you should already know the average price for your converter before you advertise it for sale on eBay or whatever. Unfortunately, not all people are experts in catalytic converters and they can't know for sure how much a cat may cost. We know cases when people sold their old cats on eBay and they only asked half of the price these cats actually cost. Also, they needed to spend a lot of time waiting for their buyers.

Final words

We recommend using recycling companies' services to sell your old converter. It's not hard and complicated - you will only need to take some pictures and send quotes. But this can let you sell your cat converter at a much better price. Also, be careful with scrapyards. Honda cats often have no serial numbers on them, so the scrapyard workers may try to persuade you that you have an aftermarket car that costs $10. Always use reputable sources to estimate the price of your old catalytic converter.