catalytic converter failure

Did you buy the car from a private seller?

 

Did you get a smog certificate from him when you bought it? Did he provide you with a receipt stating that the car is sold as is?

 

The cars need to be smogged now.

 

I know you did not buy it as is, but did the seller give you a receipt for the bill of sale and state sold as is?
merged

Have you shopped around for a catalytic converter as you should be able to find one cheaper then $2K?

 

You bought a used car off craigslist from a private seller.
When you say you didn't buy it "As Is" what do you mean?
You got anything signed in writing from the seller that states the condition of the vehicle and/or promises a warranty or return period?

 

lol you buy a 10 year old used car and didn't get it inspected than you want to sue the seller...
did he force you to buy it? no
did the sellers have x ray vision to see the internal defects? no
every used car has issues, none are perfect and if you don't understand that you should not have any car at all.
you are an adult that made a bad purchase, take responsibility for it, don't cry about it..
maybe you watch too much judge judy, not every mistake is a law suit .

merged

its not electric, its a hybrid..if it has a gas motor it needs to be smog checked,thats just common sense.

clearly you don't know what you bought and all car sales are as-is unless you have a written warranty.
next time pay for an inspection before you buy..

you will not win, courts don't reward you for your mistake

 

In some states, purchasing a pre-own vehicle from a dealer automatically comes with certain legal protections from this very thing happening. In this case, from a private seller this does not apply.

Small claims court is an interesting venue. As one attorney said to me one day "anything goes." I once won a case in court as the plaintiff did not stand up when the judge entered the courtroom. Who knows, maybe the defendant will not show up and you win by default! Good luck!

 

Up until April 2015, Hybrids including the Prius were exempt from smog checks in California.

Find a new exhaust shop. Your being ripped off. Unless your buying OEM midpipe from Toyota which includes the two cats and midpipe... your paying way too much.

 

Try not to talk.

In addition to your having a very marginal case....at best, most people don't realize how cram packed the court schedule is and they think that they can talk their way into a favorable judgement, something that universally does NOT work.....and they usually wind up irritating the court with useless, irrelevant crap.
The burden of proof is pretty light in SCC, and there's a 0.0000000000000000000000000213 (est) percent chance that the court will not blame you for buying a ten year old car, on Craig's list, without bothering to have it inspected, and without a detailed sales agreement, and also blaming the seller for a subsequent failure, and with the presumption that a ten-year-old car should be excused from a smog check....electrical car or otherwise.
Yes.....the cat probably failed before the car was sold, but based on your lack of due diligence in this purchase, and what you're posting so far, I think that I would get somebody else to state your case before the court, like...in 20 words or less.

Good Luck!

You're going to need it!

PS...I'd make sure that whatever killed the cat wasn't oil or throttle body cleaner related.
You may not be done fixing this car.

 

Before we go too far we need to verify it is over 150k mile and over 10 years from when orig owner bought it

We are all assuming the seller sold after warranty ran out, which is of course likely but not proved

On costly stuff like this helps to go to Toyota for diagnosis fee...they may help you or you may be under warranty, or they may make a mistake in your favor. And you've stopped the clock running if you're close to warranty.

 

option "B" order one on line and have it installed
option "C" take a road trip out of state and have it replaced for a lot less
option "D" remove it and try to clean it with laundry soap (videos on you tube, mixed results on how long its works for)