Scotty we spoke previously about my 2012 Tacoma 80k miles and the stolen cat. Went to an independent mechanic who quotes a price of around $1300 to do the work. The dealer wants $2300. My fear is going to the independent mechanic and getting a cheap converter and it doesn’t run right and I end up spending even more money to do it over. Can I use an aftermarket converter that’s rated OEM or should I use the dealer and pay their price?
An OEM converter is an OEM converter, regardless of who installs it. What you want to make sure of is that the independent mechanic isnt using a universal converter as those often cause issues on newer vehicles like yours.
Direct Fit OEM is the ideal. One of my friends had to replace the cat on their Prius. They live in California, but took it to Nevada to get the job done?
Why? For that car, you could only get the car from the dealer and they were charging up the wazoo. And there are OEM aftermarkets available, but it is illegal to sell them in California.
So they had the OEM car shipped ro Nevada and had a Nevada shop put it on.
In general, there are aftermarket cats in CA that are CARB approved and on their list, so will pass inspection. They are still pricey but cheaper than OEM. Does the Prius not have that list of approved aftermarket cats in CA?
If I understand my friend correctly, they went out of state because the CARB one was significantly more expensive in state. And at the time, it seemed the dealer only had them.
And they took trips to Nevada often, so it made sense foe them.
If you look up prices, the CA approved cat is about 7 to 8 times more expensive than the 49 state model. What a joke!
