Trading in M3 with a tune

[PurpleMonk]

I am planning to trade in a 2011 M3 to a Porsche dealer. I have a front cat delete with an Evolve tune. Would it matter to trade in as is or do I need to turn it back to stock? The car runs fine. Thanks.

[mapster37]

i ran into a similar situation trading in my car. legally you cannot sell a car without catalytic converters. so you could run into an issue depending how far the dealer inspects your car....

[PurpleMonk]

Originally Posted by mapster37

i ran into a similar situation trading in my car. legally you cannot sell a car without catalytic converters. so you could run into an issue depending how far the dealer inspects your car....

Thanks. I still have the rear cats. Would that make any any difference?
And what happened to your situation if you don't mind me asking?

[MPizza]

There's no law in any state that I'm aware of that says you can't sell a car without cats. It's up to the buyer to notice these things. Unless the dealer has some kind of trade-in agreement that has specific language regarding the emissions system, the sale is usually "as-is". That doesn't mean they won't try to sue you anyway though haha.

The responsible thing to do would be to disclose the missing cats to the dealer. It's possible they will offer you less money for the trade. You don't need to say anything about the tune, if dealers were concerned about this then they would reflash all ecu's before sale (they never will).

[mapster37]

its against federal law to remove catalytic converters. dealers cannot legally sell a vehicle without a catalytic converter installed. but it all depends how much they scrutinize your vehicle. they looked closely at my car b/c it was traded in at a bmw dealer, car was lowered, and sounded "mean"during the used car managers test drive. i ended up reinstalling the oem exhaust..(my aa race xpipe is listed for sale on this forum)

[MPizza]

Originally Posted by mapster37

dealers cannot legally sell a vehicle without a catalytic converter installed.

not true - it may be illegal to remove cats (but the dealer didn't do that), anyone can sell anything if you say "as-is," however you can always try to sue them. Welcome to capitalism.

[Davisca455]

I'm pretty sure the law in California states that a title transfer requires a passed SMOG inspection and that it is the Seller's responsibility to provide one.

When my son was 17, he bought an '89 Dodge 4x4.
(It broke down on the drive home and had to have it towed the last 15 miles, I was SO mad at my son)

Although the seller provided a clean SMOG certificate, when I opened the hood, I noticed that all of the SMOG equipment had been removed.
Told my son to contact the seller and tell him to bring the money and a tow truck and get this piece of crap out of my driveway.
He told my son to pound sand.
Told the seller we'd contact BAR and snitch out his buddy at the SMOG shop, that gave him the phony certificate.

I guess he called his buddy at the SMOG shop, because the shop owner showed up with a tow truck and the money a couple of days later.

[PurpleMonk]

I'm in Washington state and they no longer have emission test now. I actually passed the emission test when I had to do them also.

[SilverSlug]

+1 in Cali for seller's responsibility to provide a smog check.

However, the dealer may still accept it, and sell it at a dealer's auction (where they do not have to provide smog) if they are selling it as a red light or yellow light car.

Only green light cars require to be DMV ready and roadworthy (airbag, horn, brakes, lights, etc).

Best bet would be to just ask the dealer… and say it's worth more with the catless exhaust.