Cat. D purchase?

[Paul-R]

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).

That's a bit dogmatic to tar all (sorry 99.9%) of sellers as dishonest. Have you actually been involved in the purchase of a Cat D or C car? Have you had an unhappy experience as a result?

As I said earlier, both my last two cars have been write-off repaired and I have not been misled at any point by either of the sellers. With my most recent car the seller even provided the photos of the car taken in the Copart compound showing the damage.

[angle]

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.

I always hear this but it's definitely not my experience. I have a Cat C and both AXA and Admiral have had no problems in insuring it fully comp, with no difference in price and no need for me to provide anything as long as it was VIC checked (although as mentioned earlier, even that's not a problem now). The only thing they've said is that if I made a claim, any payout would reflect the fact that Cat C cars are worth less.

[qprdude]

Well there's an easy way for me to find out. I'll pick a cat D from Autotrader and ask for a quote on compare the market. I'll do it later though, I'm off to the Ideal Homes exhibition at the Kensington Olympia right now.