Bought used car with catalytic converter removed - any comeback?

shaun_from_Africa

Is it legal for the dealer to sell a car with no CAT?

As a cat is standard equipment, it should either be fitted when sold or any potential buyer informed that it has been removed.
It's no different to buying a car that has antilock brakes fitted when it leaves the factory.
These aren't a legal requirement, but if a car of a certain specification should have this system, I would expect to pay less if it doesn't work or has been totally removed before I buy the car.

pulliptears

I have an 04 plate diesel PT Cruiser that was decatted come years ago, always flown the emissions test

The only issue I have had is that the guy who welded in the bit of pipe where the cat came from didn't do it especially well, leaving a hole which eventually caused the engine management light to trigger and a few weeks of head scratching as to why.

Rover_Driver

pulliptears wrote: »

I have an 04 plate diesel PT Cruiser that was decatted come years ago, always flown the emissions test

Diesels will pass the MOT without the cat as the only emission test for them is for smoke, which is not affected by the cat.

pulliptears

Rover_Driver wrote: »

Diesels will pass the MOT without the cat as the only emission test for them is for smoke, which is not affected by the cat.

Improved MPG too

poppasmurf_bewdley

AnythingButChardonnay wrote: »

How do you know it wasn't wire-cutted out in the middle of the night after the car was bought?

Just as tiles are being nicked off churches, cats are being cut out for the valuable heavy metals. It may not necessarily be the dealer, who sounds by many standards quite not too bad. Given the likelihood of a buyer checking for a catalytic converter being attached before driving off, I can't quite believe the dealer would take such a risk.

Something tells me that a thief, scrabbling under the car in the middle of the night, would not take the trouble to remove the Cat and then reweld another piece of tube into place. That is unless the thieves down your way are much nicer and honest than the thieves around here.

Wig

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

As a cat is standard equipment, it should either be fitted when sold or any potential buyer informed that it has been removed.
It's no different to buying a car that has antilock brakes fitted when it leaves the factory.
These aren't a legal requirement, but if a car of a certain specification should have this system, I would expect to pay less if it doesn't work or has been totally removed before I buy the car.

You can ignore this, there would be no legal requirement for a dealer to notify the buyer of a missing cat.

Wig

AnythingButChardonnay wrote: »

How do you know it wasn't wire-cutted out in the middle of the night after the car was bought?

Just as tiles are being nicked off churches, cats are being cut out for the valuable heavy metals. It may not necessarily be the dealer, who sounds by many standards quite not too bad. Given the likelihood of a buyer checking for a catalytic converter being attached before driving off, I can't quite believe the dealer would take such a risk.

I don't think a thief, who after cutting out a cat would then repair the exhaust to be seamless.
EDITpoint already made by the smurf

AnythingButChardonnay

Good point(s). My mistake for replying while in a rush .

meanmum

Strider590 wrote: »

Dare I ask if the dealer put a fresh MOT on it for you just before you bought it? If so, then report them for falsifying an MOT.
It really gets my back up how these guys often pass cars without even looking at then, JUST to get a sale.

Yes, this was the case - but it seems it would only fail the MOT if it failed the emissions test (there is no record of this test done at the time). Even if it failed an emissions test now, I guess that is no proof that it would have done so then.....

meanmum

pulliptears wrote: »

I have an 04 plate diesel PT Cruiser that was decatted come years ago, always flown the emissions test

The only issue I have had is that the guy who welded in the bit of pipe where the cat came from didn't do it especially well, leaving a hole which eventually caused the engine management light to trigger and a few weeks of head scratching as to why.

So is it possible that the engine management light really is actually due to a hole in the exhaust (as the garage originally said - although not telling the whole story).......& is this doing any harm?
Is there any good reason to refit the CAT if the car otherwise passes an emissions test? Or will just the absence of the CAT be an MOT failure issue in itself soon?
How is a missing CAT likely to affect fuel consumption? It's a petrol engine.