Subaru Repair: Subaru check engine light, legacy outback, garuantee

Question
I have a 96 Legacy Outback with 121,000 miles that I plan to give to my daughter when she turns 16 in March.  Have only had minor problems, except for a very minor oil leak.  Have had the O ring replaced twice and it probably needs replacing again.  But my problem now is the check engine light came on a year ago.  I took it to the dealer and they said it was the catalytic converter.  They reset the switch and said if it happened again the converter would need to be replaced.  Now a year later, the light has come on again.  Just returned from the dealer who said the converter needs to be replaced at a cost of $1700.00.  My questions are:  1) Can I continue to run the car until the check engine light comes on again and then make the decision about replacing the converter? 2) We don't have emissions inspections in this state so what are the possible problems if I don't have it replaced and just continue to run the car?  I don't want to further damage anything else in the car.  My daughter will only be driving the car to school and back and I just want the car to continue to run for 3 more years.  Thanks for any help you can give me.

Answer
Hello Stacy,
 
    Obviously, I can't garuantee what might happen, but you should be ok. The CEL(check engine light) come on because it falls below the threshold for state emmisions tests. As long as you don't have those tests you should be ok, and should be able to keep driving. The CEL will just become annoying is all. But I do recommend having the CEL checked everytime it comes on, just in case soemthing else goes bad, because it does monitor all the sensor in your car.  I hope this helps.

                               Thanks,     
                                 Frank