Whats the deal with people offering insane money for stock downpipes?

So I've been hearing about offers for stock down pipes as high as $900 over FB marketplace and craigslist lately on reddit, Nasioc and Craigslist. Anyone have any idea what this is or whats driving it? (Scam, cat prices, out of stock part, etc)

 

Scrap prices are still crazy. I scrapped two complete downpipes last spring/early summer and was pretty pumped when I got like $400 for the pair, because that was "high" at the time. Then like a month or two later they're going for $400 each. Then $500. Then $650. It's so annoying to sit and watch it go up. Ugh...

 

Also, if you'll notice there's a local guy on Craigslist offering to trade "brand new, aftermarket stainless" exhausts for stock exhaust, making it sound like an awesome trade deal if you were unaware of the scrap value of the stock downpipes.

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/pts/d/minneapolis-wrx-full-stainless-exhaust/7280495671.html

 

Interesting, might need to haul my couple of cats in from parts cars then. Didn't know scrap shot up like that

 

Yeah definitely the same guy at the minimum.

 

Yep, Cats are bringing in huge money these days. Which is why theft is rampant lately.

Apparently there's a specific year Prius , and a lot of Hondas that are worth about a grand each. A Subaru down pipe has 2 cats in it. I'd bet worth ~$1200 between them.

I took a walk around the yard and scrapped every cat I didn't think I'd need this winter.

 

I'm sitting on an 03 WRX factory up/downpipe. Recommended place to scrap?

 

wow. holy cow, sign me up

 

Don't take it to a "place". That's where I messed up. There's a ton of people that will either pay cash in person or you can even box them and ship them and they'll pay you via PayPal or whatever. It's getting crazy out there.

 

Timely thread, I'm in the same boat as Euro. I totally appreciate avoiding the cat scrapper places, i took an OEM cat from an old Olsmobile to one and it was one of the shaddier places I can recall.

Any advice for avoiding the scammers? Either someone folks have worked with or just a good place to start to get in contact with someone reasonably on the up and up?

 

Do you have Facebook? I know it's kind of a dumb question but seems like a lot of people here don't. Either way I'm in a few Subaru specific groups and see people asking about cat prices and where to sell them and I routinely see a couple of the same names pop up saying they'll pay cash locally. Had I known I totally would've gone that route instead.

FWIW, I actually went through Alter in Anoka after getting a referral of sorts from a guy who's a buyer there (also a member of one of the Subaru groups, coincidentally). At the time I thought I was getting a pretty good price but even a week or two after I was already regretting it, after seeing others posting what they were getting for theirs. Haha. Win some ya lose some I guess.

 

Do we need to start a non-facebook group thread called Methy's hookups for cat scrapping .

Joking aside i dont have a facebook either but i threw mine up on craigslist to see what i get.

 

Glad I sat on my Supra downpipe and rear cat. Time to go make money

 

Keep us posted on your findings.

 

I suppose I could cut the one off my car and use that money to go to the gun range.

 

400 bucks for the 2 of them. Not 'huge money', but I'll take 400 bucks all day.

 

where?

 

converter king in st. paul

 

Going to the gun range isn't expensive...unless you actually want to shoot. The wife and I got pistols (first time owners) a couple months ago and finally ordered some ammo online just so we could make sure the guns actually work. I hate to even admit what we paid for range ammo.

 

makes me want to pull the cats off the buick rainier before we scrap that though. may as well get an extra couple hundred bucks lol

 

I would, probably double your returns

 

It's a ridiculous time right now.

 

I just sold a few more, the guy I go through says now is the time. Values have been increasing for some time, but they're starting to make it difficult to sell these (in an attempt to prevent theft....), so many guys are starting to shy away.

 

My friend just had hers cut out in the middle of the night.

 

my sister had it happen too.

i'm gonna be removing the cat from the buick rainier i have sitting in my driveway (probably today) and selling that before the rest of it gets scrapped.

 

For anyone that was wondering where to get top dollar. This is f**king absurd... I've seen multiple people mentioning $1300 this last week.

 

You won't get good money for them if you bring in a complete downpipe in person, either. You have to cut the pipes off on either side of the cat so you can easily see in there and make sure they're not blown out.

I still wouldn't ship them out, though...seems like too much opportunity to get screwed. Then again, that's getting hard. I had to send a copy of the title with my last one.

 

Thanks chux, i will have to do that before i turn in next week

 

I took the time to cut mine up even when I took them in to Alter in person, for like $200 each last year. This has gotta be the worst case of seller's remorse ever... Haha.

 

time to pull the one off the buick rainier before it gets scrapped.

 

If it sits outside it may be gone already.