OEM cats are $120 on ebay. The error code for emissions is typically an intermittent failure and will not trigger the CEL constantly. My CEL has been coming off and on for the past 50k miles. I've passed one smog test with my "bad" cat.

Cracker, that's definitely not how you reset a CEL. The correct method is to pull the Clock fuse in the passenger side panel for about 5 minutes, allowing the ECU to reset.

More misinformation...the light will only come on if an error code is triggered. You can easily find out what the code is by yourself and diagnose it from there with a Helms. Don't blame your stupidity/unknowning on the dealership please. I've seen way too much dealer bashing in here lately.