# Identifying Different Types Of Catalyst (GM,BMW,etc..)



## Tomac1 (Oct 21, 2011)

Hey Guys,

I'm interested in starting a scrap business focusing on catalytic converters, I got the idea from a man I met in Vegas apparently making a good living for himself doing just that.
I've found lots of good info the forum, and as per everyone and their dogs suggestion I've read Hokes book, one extremely important piece of information I've not been able to gather from either source is a guide showing all the different types of catalyst and their PGM contents. What I'm looking for is something that shows me a picture of the catalyst, who its made by/what brand, how much PGMs are in it, and other identification methods such as ID or serial numbers. 

If such guide is non-existent, what are some typical methods of identifying how much a spent catalyst is worth? 
From Ebay I have gathered that weight and length are big factors, that Euros generally have the most PGMs, and cigar shaped cats tend to sell for more than rounder ones. 

Evan


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## Anonymous (Oct 21, 2011)

http://www.hilltopautomotivecore.com/
(Thank you Skippy for the link)


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## jimmydolittle (Oct 21, 2011)

I seriously doubt you can get a finger hold in this business. All the muffler shops, and garages will already have buyers contracted to pick up the converters they replace. Here is a link I Googled. It’s not the best, but it’s all I could find: http://www.adccatalytic.com/ In the top left, is a tab that says pictures. I could not get it to work well for me. Good luck.


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 21, 2011)

A man I know recently bought a supposedly up-to-date very accurate list of values of all the catalytic converters for $6000.


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## skippy (Oct 21, 2011)

Glad you've found it useful mic. It's got pictures of most all of them I believe. 

Different places seem to grade things slightly differently. Some places might only have one category as 'domestic' whereas another might subdivide them further into domestic and domestic high grade. Some might have a small breadloaf category, or just pay them as large gm. It gets kind of complicated. Ebay is a decent guide in some ways, in that when you add the shipping to the winning bid you usually will find the person is paying the same as a higher level cat buyer would.


http://www.adccatalytic.com/page/398486284

Above links to a grading system, that is claimed to be standard. It seems pretty good, but I am not an expert.

Learn to identify pre cats, aftermarket cats, low grade foreign cats so you aren't accidentally overpaying. You wouldn't want to buy precats or aftermarkets as regular cats, nor low grade foreign as regular foreign. Then learn what the various domestic cats look like and how they are categorized and you'll be seem fairly knowledgable to potential clients.


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## skippy (Oct 21, 2011)

Jimmy, that's a pretty negative attitude from someone who claims to do the difficult immediately and the impossible just shortly after!


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## Tomac1 (Oct 21, 2011)

skippy said:


> Jimmy, that's a pretty negative attitude from someone who claims to do the difficult immediately and the impossible just shortly after!



Lol


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## jimmydolittle (Oct 22, 2011)

Whatever, I'm speaking from experience. Give me a report in 6 months.


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## skippy (Oct 22, 2011)

Jimmy, I just thought your tone was a little defeatist and maybe a little dismissive. 

I think a better message is you may be dealing with established competition, there's a lot to learn, you might not make that much money. You'll be buying large quantities of valuable scrap in order to make a living, which may attract attention from the crowbar hotel crowd. Security will be important.
It may be ill advised to jump into it on the basis of meeting a guy in Vegas who made it sound good.


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