When money is invovled and the economy is tight these are the types of things your going to see.
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Right now the price of a junk catalytic converter is through the roof. Scrap yards are paying in upwards of 200 dollars PER CAT for the paladium and titanium thats in cat material. This acctually caused a rash of cat converter thefts here in Albany NY. People were climbing under parked cars and cutting out the cats then turning around and selling them to the scrap yards.
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Here at the VW dealer that I work for were having a terrible time beating back the hoard of “scrappers” begging to get our used converters. So if your local garge says you need a Converter make them prove it to you. Have them give you a print out of the codes it has telling you that it needs a Converter. Some shady garages are scamming there own customers to get in on the deal as well.