A direct buyer with its own precious metals laboratory. Choose transparent grading with same-day payment, or assay settlement on verified platinum, palladium and rhodium. Buying from commercial suppliers across the United States.
Some loads are worth closing on the spot. Others are worth finding out exactly what they hold. You choose, load by load.
Your converters are graded unit by unit, in front of you. You see every call we make and what it pays before anything is signed, and payment is issued the same day.
Material is decanned, milled and homogenized until a sample represents the whole load, then analyzed in our laboratory. You are paid on measured platinum, palladium and rhodium, with up to 80% advanced once the load is weighed.
E-waste and other scrap are sorted, graded and settled without the assay route.
Catalytic converters are the core of what we do, and they are rarely the only thing worth selling off a vehicle. Everything below is bought from the same suppliers, on the same terms, often on the same collection.
Ceramic, metallic foil, diesel DPF, loose ceramic, truck and off-road units – whole, decanned or crushed. Graded unit by unit in front of you with same-day payment, or sent through full assay and paid on verified platinum, palladium and rhodium content.
Servers, circuit boards, networking and telecom equipment, drives and control modules. Sorted by grade, not by gross weight.
Automotive and heavy-duty, any condition. Whole units are fine.
Automotive and heavy-duty starter motors, priced separately from alternators.
Automotive climate control units. Refrigerant must be recovered first.
Cast aluminum wheels, priced by cleanliness. Best rate with tires, weights and valves removed.
Part numbers for converters, weights and photos for everything else. Enough for a price the same business day.
Part numbers, photos or a rough count by type. Enough for a price the same business day.
Grade pricing for direct purchase, or an estimated value if the load is going through assay.
We collect, you drop off, or you ship in. Freight covered on qualifying volumes.
Every load weighed and logged on arrival, with seller documentation recorded before anything is processed.
Direct loads are graded in front of you. Assay loads are decanned, milled, homogenized and sampled for laboratory analysis.
Direct purchases are paid the same day. On assay, you receive 80% up front and the balance once the report is issued.
Watch every unit as it's called. Question any grade, and we'll show you the comparison behind it.
Same day on direct purchases, 80% advanced on assay. We quote dates we can hold, not the earliest we can imagine.
Identification, sorting, OEM versus aftermarket, and board grades. Free to our suppliers.
Sample preparation and analysis stay within TDA — not at a third-party lab, and not on someone else's schedule.
Most operations lose money on converters they cannot identify — not to a bad buyer, but to their own sorting. That is the single largest gap between what a load is worth and what it pays, and it is why we train the people we buy from rather than quietly benefiting from the difference. Suppliers who can read their own material sell more of it, more often, at better numbers.
Catalytic converter values move with the metals markets, the substrate inside the unit and the part number it was built to. Here is what actually moves yours.
The ceramic or metallic honeycomb inside, not the steel shell. Shell weight adds nothing to what a converter pays.
Platinum, palladium and rhodium per unit of substrate. Loading varies widely by manufacturer, engine and the emissions standard the unit was built to meet — which is why two converters of identical size can return several times what the other does.
Those three metals are quoted daily on the London and COMEX markets. Rhodium alone has historically moved enough to change a converter's value within a single quarter.
This is why a converter that paid one figure last quarter may pay another today. What we can do is show you the number behind it.
Catalytic converter theft is the reason this industry is regulated, and we work on the assumption that every legitimate operation wants a clean paper trail as much as we do.
Every seller is verified before a first transaction. Every load is documented with seller identification and origin records, and those records are retained and made available to law enforcement on lawful request.
We do not buy converters or electronics presented loose by walk-in individuals, and we do not buy material we cannot trace.
If you run a legitimate operation, this protects you — it means the buyer you sell to isn’t the weak link in your own compliance chain.
Quick answers on what we buy, how grading works and when you get paid.
TDA Midwest Corp buys catalytic converters of all types — ceramic, metallic foil, diesel DPF and loose ceramic — along with e-waste and circuit boards, alternators, starters, AC compressors, aluminum alloy wheels, and copper wire and cable. We buy from registered businesses only, including auto recyclers, dismantlers, dealerships, fleets and auto wreckers.
Direct purchases are paid the same day your load is graded. On assay purchases, we advance up to 80% of estimated value once the load is weighed and sampled, then settle the balance on the assay report — typically within 3 business days for smaller lots and up to 14 business days for larger ones. Payment is by company check or wire transfer.
Direct purchase means your converters are graded visually on site and paid immediately at the grade price. Purchase by assay means the material is processed at our facility and analyzed in our own laboratory, and you are paid on verified platinum, palladium and rhodium content. Direct is faster; assay usually returns more on large or unusual lots because it pays on what the material actually holds.
There is no minimum for material delivered to our Aurora facility, though deliveries are by appointment. Collection minimums vary by material type, volume and location — call us and we will confirm whether your volume qualifies for a scheduled pickup.
Send us the part number stamped on the converter shell, or a clear photo showing it, and we will price it from our catalog and come back the same business day. For mixed loads, a rough count by type is enough to quote against. Prices move with the precious metals markets, so quotes are held for a stated period.
Yes, by appointment. Deliveries are scheduled so your load can be weighed, graded and paid while you are there rather than waiting behind other material. Call (908) 381-8263 to book a window. TDA Midwest Corp buys from registered businesses only.
Send us a part number, a photo or a rough count. You’ll have a price back the same business day.
471 NE Industrial Drive
Aurora, IL 60505
We buy from registered businesses only. Please include your company name when you get in touch.
