Honda Civic Catalytic Converter Scrap Price. Japanese Cats In Action

We've seen a lot of nonsense on the internet when we were searching for a place to sell our scrap catalytic converter. Some people say that a Civic catalytic converter should be sold at a low price of $40 or $50 because it doesn't contain any precious metals. While other people try to reassure their readers that the converter from a Civic should cost at least $500 to $800.

Both ideas are not very clever. Sorry, but selling an old converter from a small car for $800 sounds like fun but will not come true. As well as giving a thing full of precious metals away for $40. We have our own experience of selling this type of converters and we are going to share it with you today.

Here's what we will talk about in this article:

1. Actual scrap price of Honda Civic converters.
2. What types of converters does Honda Civic have?
3. Replacing the converter - when and why should you do it?
4. Where should you sell your old converter?

Let's get started!

What kinds of cat converters do Civics have?

All modern Honda Civic vehicles have catalytic converters that may be sold after they start malfunctioning. Honda has quite strict rules for producing catalytic converters, so the company adds quite a lot of precious metals to the cats. Unfortunately, all Civics have engines with small displacement, so the converters are not big.

Although these cats are small, they still contain a lot of metals that can be taken out during the recycling process and sold to industrial companies for big money.

Here's what we know about the Civic converters:

• they are small and barrel-like, they are usually covered with a heat screen made of metal;
• these cat converters contain a ceramic honeycomb which is covered with a thin film of precious metals (alloy);
• the converters may be marked with a serial number or they may not be marked - this is a Honda feature;
• the cats are integrated into the exhaust system after the exhaust manifold and before the muffler;
• these catalytic converters are made to serve for about 120 000 miles or around 10 years;
• the cats will most likely contain 3 to 5 grams of palladium, around 5 grams of platinum, and only 1 gram of rhodium.

Now you know that your original Honda Civic converter contains some extremely expensive metals. Rhodium now costs over $600 per one gram. Unfortunately, getting rhodium out of converters is not a simple task. Also, companies will want to buy at least a pound of it, so the recycling business relies more on platinum and palladium which are much cheaper.

The simple math tells us that an average Civic converter contains precious metals for about $1000. So why can't you sell it for at least $500 or even more expensive? Because the recycling process is extremely complicated. And the companies that buy cat converters always risk their money.

What's the optimal scrap price for a Honda Civic catalytic converter?

We presume that the optimal price for an old and malfunctioning converter from your Honda Civic is around $150 and up to $220. It depends on many factors that we'll name in this article.

You have to understand that the price for old catalytic converters may vary every single day. It depends on so many factors that predicting a certain price offer some recycling companies may provide is close to impossible. Here, we'll try to explain why the cat converter prices are such a big mystery.

The price depends on many factors:

• the market price of precious metals that the converter contains;
• the number of old cats offered for sale in different states;
• the condition of your catalytic converter;
• the fact that you have an original Honda converter;
• demand for precious metals available in your converter;
• the way you actually sell your old Honda cat.

Now, some factors depend on the market and you just can't control them. But some other factors depend on you. For example, can you prove that the converter is OEM? Original converters cost much more than the aftermarket ones. The latter will only cost $10 or $20 depending on the company you find for selling your cat.

Also, if you just go to a local scrapyard, they will do everything to get your converter for $20. This is their business, they will then resell the Civic cat to a recycling company and will make money. Why should you lose this money? Just forget about those scrapyards, middlemen, private buyers, etc. We have a better way for you.

Selling your Honda converter to a recycling company

You probably know that all waste should be recycled. When we throw away the converter, we create a lot of problems for nature and the environment. Recycling companies work hard to reduce the amount of harmful elements that get into nature and spoil our environment. Some recycling companies even get revenue by reselling the materials they can sell.

A lot of recycling companies work with catalytic converters. They know that OEM Honda converters contain up to 15 grams of precious metals and they are ready to pay you for this thing.

Here's how you can sell your Honda Civic converter to them:

1. Take pictures of the converter and also take some pictures of your driving license to prevent any unnecessary questions whether it's your converter or you have stolen it.
2. Then, find some companies online that offer good prices for catalytic converters. These are usually the recycling companies and they allow online quotes for clients.
3. Inquire about the price of your Civic converter. For this, send the pictures and also the information on your car (year, engine type).
4. After that, wait until all of these companies answer you with the precise price offer. You will see that the offers are different, the difference may be actually huge.
5. Then, you may choose the best option and sell the converter. Please look at other conditions like shipping costs, etc.

As you see, you can get the best prices by just asking different companies if they want to buy your converter. You shouldn't agree with the first offer you get. Usually, it will be a very bad offer with a very low price. So, you should investigate the market and understand the average prices.

If you are going to sell your cat converter from a Civic as a private seller, you should also bear in mind that you will be the person who will offer the price. In this case, please don't ask for less than $200 unless your converter is damaged or it is an aftermarket part. For a Honda car, it's not that simple to distinguish between aftermarket and original converters. But when you inquire for price and send pictures to a recycling company, these guys will tell you for sure if you have an OEM part.

What will happen with a Civic converter?

Whatever you do with your old converter, it has basically two ways.

The first one is a repair. Some companies buy old converters and then clean and repair them in order to get them ready for another year or two of work. They then sell these converters on eBay or something to people who don't want to spend a lot of money on a new cat converter. By the way, the new OEM Honda converter will cost approximately $1200, and this is the price for the smallest type of cat converter for Civic.

The second way is recycling. The majority of converters after their death get to recycling companies. Then they are taken apart, scrap metal and other parts are recycled, and the precious metals are melted out of the honeycomb. After that, companies work hard to separate the alloy into different metals and to get them ready for being sold to industrial companies.

Unfortunately, the process of getting these precious metals out of the converter is not as simple as it may seem. It takes a lot of time and also a lot of energy to take those metals out. Some precious metals get lost during the procedure. So, the recycling process is not that simple and not cheap at all. That's why you get around $200 for the part that contains around $1000 worth of precious materials.

Final words

We know for sure that hundreds of Americans each day sell their old cat converters from Civics at bad prices. They should get more. And this is exactly why we write articles about different cars and their scrap converters with average prices. Now you know that getting $50 for an OEM cat converter taken from your Honda Civic is not enough in any case.

You should get at least $150 or something even if the prices of precious metals are not very high at that moment. Don't lose your chance of earning more money and compensating for your expenses when you were replacing the broken converter.