Hyundai Elantra Catalytic Converter Scrap Price - Any Surprises?

If you are the proud owner of a Hyundai Elantra, you may wonder how much a catalytic converter costs for this car. We mean not the new one for replacement, but the old OEM converter that you can sell after it starts malfunctioning. You may have heard that people sell theirs for hundreds of dollars. So, is it true for the Elantra?

Partially. Your Elantra may actually have a good OEM cat converter that can cost a lot and you should use this chance to compensate some money for the repair once you need to replace the converter. Today, we are going to tell you more about the types and location of catalytic converters in a Hyundai Elantra and we will also tell you about their scrap prices.

Here's what we are going to talk about:

• Location and type of the Elantra cat converter
• How much should a catalytic converter cost from your Hyundai Elantra?
• How to sell the cat: our guide on getting the best price offer.
• Will you have to install a new cat converter and how much does it cost?

Let's get started!

Hyundai Elantra cat converters - where are they located?

In 1990, Hyundai presented its first generation of the Elantra. This was a mid-sized vehicle that became popular for its affordable price, simple and cheap-to-maintain technologies, and also for quite a good comfort.

Though, in the US, these cars started selling in 2002 gradually getting over 200,000 vehicles a year which is a great figure for the Korean brand. Recently, Hyundai started losing in competition with Japanese, European, and American brands, but the sales are still pretty decent.

So, from the very first car in the US, all Hyundai Elantra vehicles have been equipped with catalytic converters made in South Korea. These cats are not the most valuable ones, but they still contain some precious metals.

Here's what you will want to know about the converters from your Elantra:

• different years and models of the vehicle, and also different engines didn't use the same type of converters, you could find a dozen of different types in these cars;
• some vehicles (with smaller-displacement engines) have a cat-manifold, so the converter is located right near the engine and integrated into the manifold;
• the majority of classic Elantra cars are actually equipped with simple mid-sized converters that would be classified as "mid-sized foreign cats";
• if a car is equipped with a traditional converter (placed near the muffler), it may also have a pre-cat near the exhaust manifold;
• once you delete a cat from your Elantra, the oxygen sensors will go mad, so this part is vital in the overall operation of the engine;
• while pre-cats are usually useless and worthless, main catalytic converters will cost some money because they contain platinum and palladium, and even some rhodium.

One important thing to consider is that the OEM converter will cost some money. Aftermarket catalytic converters are not that valuable and they will not be sold at decent prices to recycling companies.

Actually, we are only talking about OEM cats. To check if you have exactly this in your exhaust system, just look at it closely and find a serial number. It may or may not have the Hyundai logo near the number, too.

What's the scrap price of an old OEM cat converter from the Elantra?

If your Elantra has pre-cats, their price is going to be about $30-40 a piece. Also, aftermarket cats should cost about $30 and you'll be able to sell them to any scrapyard located in your area. They are risky to buy at higher prices because they may just not contain any precious metals.

But OEM converters will have some palladium which now sells for over $60 per gram and also platinum. Hyundai Elantra converters are still not very expensive - you are likely to sell them for the price between $90 and $160 depending on some important factors.

Here are the factors that will influence the price:

• the year and model of your vehicle and the type of engine it's using;
• the condition of the catalytic converter and also its origin (OEM or aftermarket);
• the price for precious metals on the market which goes up and down every day;
• the way you are selling the cat and the buyer you have chosen for this;
• any other individual reasons that may influence the price.

So, to cut the long story short, you can't control the majority of the factors that may change the price of your catalytic converter that you have taken off your Hyundai Elantra. But you can control one of them - the choice of a buyer.

And it's enough to take your revenue up from $50 in a local scrapyard to $160 in a recycling company. How can you check the current price and not rely on some unverified facts from open sources? Read on to find out.

Checking the price and choosing a buyer

First of all, let's find out who buys your Hyundai Elantra catalytic converters. These are scrapyards, auto repair shops, exhaust shops, private buyers, part stores, recycling companies, etc. But only two of these types of buyers are going to actually use your converter: private buyers (for replacement and fog tests passing) and also recycling companies (for selling precious metals after recycling the cats).

All other buyers will just earn using your converters and trying to resell them to recycling companies. So, you can see that all other buyers will offer less money for your old cats because they want to have some revenue. Why should you let them earn? You can just do it by yourself.

Here's what you can do:

• Locate the catalytic converter in your vehicle and take it off or have it taken off in an exhaust shop.
• Take pictures of the cat after cleaning it a little (ensure that these pictures show the overall condition and also the serial number of the converter).
• Then find three or more websites belonging to recycling companies from different regions.
• Send them pictures and also quote online to get to know their price offers, this is easy to do right on the websites.
• Wait for a day or two until all the companies send their offers and just find out whether they are offering good prices.
• Now you know the average prices and you can choose a company that offers you more money than the other ones.

Also, you may try advertising your cat for sale on eBay or on local car repair forums. This is a good idea if your old cat is still working and can allow any Hyundai Elantra of the same year to pass the fog test. A lot of people will be ready to pay more for such a cat.

But anyway, selling a catalytic converter to a private person is always more complicated. It's all about your ability to communicate with people and sell something. As a rule, we just don't have time for this and we can sell our cat converters to recycling companies still getting decent money for them.

Will you have to replace the cat converter in your Elantra?

Now, let's get back to the Elantra that was left in an exhaust shop with its converter taken out. What should you do? Your budget would want to just weld in some pipe instead of a catalytic converter. But is that legal? Well, it depends on where you live.

Some states offer mild ecological requirements while some are much stricter. So, to pass a fog test, you will still need something in the place of your converter. But in some states, even an empty metal cylinder will be OK while in some others, only the original converter will work out well.

We really don't recommend delete tuning for Hyundai Elantra because this will make your car more harmful to the environment. Also, this will require ECU tuning, oxygen sensor tuning, and other things. This means your vehicle will not be as efficient as it should be.

But driving your Elantra with a clogged or broken converter is not an option. So, you should be prepared to spend from $500 (for a decent aftermarket cat) and up to $1,500 (for an OEM converter) to put your vehicle back on the road.

Final words

Your Hyundai Elantra does have a catalytic converter that can be sold for some money, up to $160, usually. But it should be an OEM converter, not an aftermarket one. Also, this cat shouldn't be heavily damaged or destroyed. Otherwise, recycling companies will not be able to extract the needed precious metals from this part.

If you have a broken OEM Elantra converter and want to know its actual price, just quote online. Recycling companies have their websites where you can quote and get to know the average prices. After that, you can decide what exactly you want to do with your catalytic converter taken from the Elantra.