What are the pitfalls when buying a Cat. D car?
Any advice much appreciated.
How does insurance costs compare?
What paperwork needs to be available concerning the repair etc.
How big is the sell-on deficit likely to be.(or how much below book price should a Cat D car be?)
Is the damage/repair detail likely to be available or not. (or does it have to be available from seller)
I don't have a car in mind, but it would be good to know what the disadvantages are likely to be. I'm assuming that the AA etc would be willing to inspect a at. D car , the same as any other?
Unless you know why it was written off, and have seen the repairs for yourself, I'd simply steer clear. The whole write-off category is p**s-poor really. Sure, a cat C or D can be put back on the road . A Cat D needs no checks at all, a Cat C needs a VIC check, but this DOES NOT confirm the car's been repaired well. It's a nonsense. What is the point of having the system if no detailed information on why the car has been written off is kept?
Some insurers just require a new MOT others want an engineers report which can be costly.
Some insurance companies wont touch you some will only insure you 3rd party - i also found insurance to be more expensive.
As for resale dont even think about it you are in this for the long term with a cat D or C so only buy a car you are planning to keep a long time.
I bought my Xantia back off the insurance company because it was a good car and drove it round for years with a dent in the door and wing. But by the time i got rid of it it was not worth selling so i gave it my mate and he ran it for two more years.
Yes, exactly. This is why the system is ridiculous. There's no record kept of *why* it was written off for cat D or C, only that it was, and it was repairable.. it doesn't check if it's been repaired properly, which I'd see as important for a cat C. It's just a ballache to be avoided IMO.
A Cat D car can be a great buy if you plan to keep the car for a long time. I've just bought a 2013 (October) C5 Exclusive with Techno Pack which was a Cat D write off.
My previous 2003 C5 Exclusive was also a Cat D write off and was also about 2-1/2 years old when I bought it. At the time (May 2005) I paid £5000 for it I had to do some further work on it (headlamp washer covers - which fell off and were never replaced, some bits of trim on the inside and a seat air-bag) but nothing that was legally required. It had some 75,000 miles on the clock and I have now brought that up to 225, 000. It's up for sale now at £500 with 9 months MOT. So not bad for 10-1/2 years' use.
The new car is much better and needs no work doing. It's done 32,000 miles and to be frank the paint job could have been better - but then again I notice these things as my job used to be a motor vehicle body repairer and paint sprayer. I paid £9,500 for it and I would guess a "straight" car would have been half as much again at least.
I was forwarded photos of the car after it was damaged, panel damage to both RH doors and probably F and R wings. No glass broken. It was only about 3 months old when damaged. I would guess there was some new replacement insurance agreement for it to be written off. The chap I bought it off bought it damaged from Copart and then drove it to Poland, where came from, and had it repaired over there. He then drove it for the next two years and, if his plans hadn't changed and he had to move back to Poland, would probably still be driving it now.
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My Activa was a Cat C, i didnt recieve a logbook when i bought it as the DVLA effectivly confiscated it, i drove the car, taxing it online and going through a couple of MOT's for a couple of years and before selling it i got a VIC done for £50 and recieved the logbook, i sold it for very good money compared to most Activae back then.
Insurance premiums are higher but i never told the insurance, i wasnt asked if it was a write off and i did not give up the information.
As mentioned the catagory of writeoff is for the purposes of repair only not future buyers, a 15 year old car could be a CAT C for a broken headlight and scratched bonnet, a one year old car would require the side of the car to be torn off or in the case of a friend and his Boxster S which he bought to repair, rolled over and the rear suspension ripped of.
As you see, how much the car is worth at the time of the acident will dictate how much damage is required to class it as a CAT C or D and i also would not buy an expensive CAT writeoff unless i was repairing it, i was looking to keep it for a long time and i couldnt otherwise afford that vehicle or if it was so cheap to buy and repair i would still make money on it when selling.
Of course we are not even touching on the unclassified writeoff's that can be bought and repaired with no mark against them.
My c5 was a cat c after I bumped it. Basically a headlight and bumper would have fixed it. Problem was a headlight at £1500 and a bumper at £1800 from Citroen, on a car valued at £2250.
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daviemck2006 wrote:My c5 was a cat c after I bumped it. Basically a headlight and bumper would have fixed it. Problem was a headlight at £1500 and a bumper at £1800 from Citroen, on a car valued at £2250.
Rule or thumb - stay clear unless you were there when it was written off. I can guarantee that 99.9% of sellers will come up with stories about how minor the damage was (not the actual one - but the one they want you to believe happened) and some will even produce receipts (again not related to the actual damage).
