Hi people, sorry if this isn't the correct format but this is my first time owning a car.

Anyways, I just bought a 2012 CT200H F Sport from craigslist, the car is in pretty nice shape in both the exterior and interior and has about 137,000 Miles on the ODO and average 39.5 MPG. After negotiating and agree on $8000 since the car needs a pretty expensive fix.

So I took it for a used car inspection and the mechanic said it just need some new brake pads, wheel realignment and tune-up/maintenance which are affordable enough but the biggest problem with the car is it in need of a new Catalytic Converter which is pretty darn expensive. The mech quoted about $1.5K which was wrong of course since when I called up Lexus they wanted $2700 after tax + $300 labor. I asked if there are any aftermarket option and he said it's a very specific parts and probably isn't any other option beside OEM from Lexus.

If you guys got any tips or advice for me it'd be great, if there are aftermarket options do you guys thing it's wise to go for it? Do I even need to worry about it right now? keep in mind that it is a used car.

Also the check engine light is on and showing code P0037 and P0038.

 

Do you know what the P0037 and 38 are? If you erase, does it come back?
With that mileage, you shouldn't need a new CC, did the mechanic tell you? My wife's 2002 Camry threw a CEL and OBD indicated CC and mechanic said needed a new one. But I changed the PVC and O2 sensor and it's now fine and not throwing CEL. Check youtube, there are some good suggestions to determine that other things that could be changed out as a solve.

 

Yeah the codes has something to do with the Oxygen Sensor and Heater Control, I'm really hoping those two codes confused the mech into thinking the CC needs replacing because ouch Idk if my wallet can handle this for a while.

Anyways when I called Lexus, they told me they rarely if ever have to replace the stock OEM CC and I'm was certain 139K is pretty measly compare to how much other people drive. I have an appointment with Lexus tomorrow but I'm probably going to cancel it and try to have a local shop fix the Oxygen and Heater control to see if it'll get rid of the problems.

If it matters, the car drive great, I don't really regret purchasing it at all. There was another person selling the same model and year but in a much more basic config and he was asking $14,400 with 98K miles on it and has been throw 3 owners and has a really badly scratch interior and noticeable scratches on the outer. Although I had one major gripe with it yesterday, the old owner warned me about its weak 12v battery and if I parked it for more than 5 days it'll need to be jump or something but after purchased and getting tabbed and transferred title, it wouldn't start the next day so I was freaking out and had to broke out our 07 Camry to jump it and emergency ordered a new Prius Optima battery for it; let me tell you it was such a pain to remove and replace, I had to asked the guy from autozone to do it for me, the positioning is probably the worse I've seen in any car, like man how are you suppose to work in such a tight corner.

 

I'm going to take a guess and assume it's the O2 sensor. The mileage on your car isn't even close to when a CC should fail. Raidin has 300,000miles+ on his CT and he has the original CC. Bring it to a local shop, and have them assess and fix it. It's not worth bringing it to Lexus.