Cat D cars - Worth the risk?

Cat D cars - Worth the risk?

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Discussion

Original_NT

Original Poster:

7 posts

95 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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Morning,

Recently I've been looking to change my car for a something a bit more practical. I know what i wanted and the only one I've found that ticks all the boxes and comes in under budget is advertised as formerly being a CAT D write off.

Its currently on at £7k when similar cars come in at £10-11k. If i go to check it out what should I look for, or due to impending fatherhood should I avoid it completely?

My gut is saying wait it out for the right car, but with said baby I can't help but consider the potential savings for what might actually be a good car.

Thanks guys!

anothernameitist

1,500 posts

134 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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It would help to find out what it was like straight after the accident, that should help you decide.

BuzzBravado

2,944 posts

170 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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Entirely depends on what wrote it off.

Original_NT

Original Poster:

7 posts

95 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
quotequote all
I also looked into the AA inspection that you can do, but the website told me that as it was a Cat D, they wouldnt do it. Bit pointless really, i suppose they don't want to be held accountable for anything.

Register1

2,129 posts

93 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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A cat "D" could be for example,
It may have been keyed, all the way around, and needed a full respray.
The cost of a good respray could turn some great cars into a cat "D"

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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BuzzBravado said:
Entirely depends on what wrote it off.
This.

CatD is just few months of depreciation, a hire car or a grumpy assessor away from having been repaired by the insurance with no paperwork trace.

wack

2,103 posts

205 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
quotequote all
Look at pre accident pictures, buy or walk away , no pictures available, walk away, they've all be photographed somewhere so if the seller hasn't got any why not ,

Evolved

3,553 posts

186 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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Wouldn't have an issue with either a cat C or D assuming it's priced accordingly and there was picture evidence to prove he damage. I've just bought a cat C as it turns out and it is a great car, it had had a front end bump but was deemed to expensive to repair so was written off. It's been repaired now and was priced accordingly.

Matt UK

17,649 posts

199 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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An old sub-£1k Cat D wouldn't bother me too much, but I'd not go for it much above that. I'd rather just find an older / higher mileage version to suit my budget.

And it would have to be really cheap vs the others for me to even consider it and I'd be wanting to run it a while to get my value out of it.

Even if the repair is 100% OK (and beware as you enter the murky world of used car repairs and lost paperwork...), they are often a pain when it comes to insurance and when you sell on it's a small pool to go fishing in.


Get2Jaime

210 posts

127 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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Agree with everything said, but 3rd Cat D in and to be honest all is well in the world. If they are repaired properly then nothing to concern yourself with.

Many insurers will take them on (Admiral, LV, etc.) and there definitely is a market out there. Just make sure you have all the details as to write off event, etc.

itaa

148 posts

98 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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I always ask for pictures of the said damage, most of the time they have it.. if not .. walk way!
If it's just some body damage than heck yes i will take it, but the car HAS to be cheap, because you will have serious trouble selling it on. Infact I would try to get it 2x cheaper than a car without a sticker. just 20-30% isn't enough for me for problems in selling it in future and knowing it has been in collision.

Valgar

850 posts

134 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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It's ok if you are willing to live with possible defects, I've owned a few accident repairs and every single one of them had mis-aligned panels somewhere on it so look carefully, they can be quite hard to see but once you see them you always notice.

I'm not sure I would spend the amount you're looking to spend on a cat D personally.

As others have said, it pays to find out what exactly happened, and don't ask the seller as they might just lie.

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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OP, I might be wary at that sort of budget - I'd certainly want to see photos of the damage and have a good look at the car, and get someone with some body repair experience to look at it if you aren't confident checking it out yourself. Also depends how long you plan to keep it, as they can be tricky to sell.

Knowing when it became a Cat D also helps - if it happened when the car was 1 or 2 years old it will have been significant damage, but if it happened after the car was 5 or more years old it doesn't take that much damage.

I saw a Cat D 2001 325ti Compact on AutoTrader this week for £1,000 - wouldn't be too worried about a Cat D on a car that old and that cheap.

You need to weigh up the risks and see if you feel the benefits outweigh them.

Good luck anyway!

f1nn

2,692 posts

191 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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A cat D will likely have been a family light accident, and as long as you are happy with the car, that it was repaired to a good standard, accept that it is cheap because it is a cat D and will be worth less when you come to sell it, I can't see that there is any risk.

By means wait for a Non Cat D car, spend another 3-4K or whatever but that is no guarantee that car will be any better or more reliable.

wack

2,103 posts

205 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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f1nn said:
By means wait for a Non Cat D car, spend another 3-4K or whatever but that is no guarantee that car will be any better or more reliable.
Or indeed any guarantee it's never been in an accident , Cat D just means the insurance company added up the repair costs, likely timeframe , hire car costs , accident management fees then decided it was cheaper to write a cheque.

Luxury cars get written off with minor damage because parts take weeks to arrive from abroad while the owner is cruising round in a £1000 a week hire car because it's a similar value when new to his 15 year old Audi A8

A replacement car is about keeping you mobile while yours is fixed, not keeping you in luxury at any cost

Edited by wack on Sunday 24th July 00:45

daveofedinburgh

556 posts

118 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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Wish I'd been more open to Cat D cars in my 20s when I was simply looking for as much performance/ bang-for-my-buck as I could get, and was less concerned about resale value than I am as a boring >30y/o PHer. Back then I didn't even open the Cat D ads...

As stated already, it depends on what the nature of the damage was that 'wrote it off'. Was it something 'daft' like being heavily keyed/ vandalised? If it was accident damage, what records exist of the damage and subsequent repairs? I bet there are Cat Ds out there with photo records/ receipts from well-regarded garages which document the damage/ work carried out to repair and the parts used etc in some detail.

Many years ago I bought a mkiv Supra from a (now) known-to-be-dodgy/ cowboy trader which had no Cat D recorded damage, but on close inspection had clearly had a not-insignificant front end shunt repaired on a budget. It was a Jap import, and likely 'slipped through the net' because of this. I was lucky in that the damage happened to be repairable without great cost to myself, but now recognise I could have saved £££s buying a similar Cat D car. UK resale value may have been less for a Cat D car, but the Swedish chap who flew over to buy it likely wouldn't even have known what 'Cat D' meant.

Had I held onto either of my mkiv Supras, would any of the perspective USA/ 25y/o-import-rule buyers who are coming along in a year or so have made a similar distinction? I doubt it, even if the accident-damaged 6-speed HAD been a Cat D.

All of this import/ export chat is irrelevant to OP ofcourse. Assuming there is enough documentation to verify that it has been repaired to an acceptable standard, isn't the main concern then that certain insurers won't touch Cat Ds/ charge high premiums for them? Entirely possible that thats an outdated prejudice (or is there an insurance work-around) now?


motoroller

657 posts

172 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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I don't mind for a runaround. It can really change the type of car that's within your reach, you need to ensure proper repairs as I had an Audi A4 3.2 quattro which was repaired by some cowboys and for that reason it worked out expensive for me.

daemon

35,720 posts

196 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
quotequote all
Register1 said:
A cat "D" could be for example,
It may have been keyed, all the way around, and needed a full respray.
The cost of a good respray could turn some great cars into a cat "D"
TooMany2cvs said:
BuzzBravado said:
Entirely depends on what wrote it off.
This.

CatD is just few months of depreciation, a hire car or a grumpy assessor away from having been repaired by the insurance with no paperwork trace.
Absolutely.

And likewise it might have looked like this....



TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
quotequote all
daemon said:
Register1 said:
A cat "D" could be for example,
It may have been keyed, all the way around, and needed a full respray.
The cost of a good respray could turn some great cars into a cat "D"
TooMany2cvs said:
CatD is just few months of depreciation, a hire car or a grumpy assessor away from having been repaired by the insurance with no paperwork trace.
Absolutely.

And likewise it might have looked like this....

...which would still have been repaired, without trace, but for paperwork factors. If the damage was more than the value, it'd be CatC.

TBH, get the bonnet and bumper off that, and I don't think it's going to be half as bad as it looks.
http://www.copart.co.uk/uk/Lot/17218806?searchId=7...

OTOH, £11,500 PAV, £1,700 bid so far, with a day to go - and reserve not met. I think that's going to be fed back into the food chain for breaking.

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Sunday 24th July 2016
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About 5 years ago I had an E30 M3 with a Cat D marker for an uneconomical repair. Some years earlier, when good cars could be had for £5k, someone had reversed a box trailer into the side quarter and it tore the metal like a can opener. I had photographic records of both the damage and the subsequent repairs, that were done by a BMW main dealer. In fact, the car had undergone a full and expensive restoration with documentation to prove. Despite this though, people simply wouldn't see past the insurance marker. In the end, a chap from Germany flew over with £10k cash and drove it home. He even rang the following day and told me how he couldn't believe no-one in the UK had even viewed it, let alone made an offer!

I guess what I'm saying is you should judge each car on its own merit. Ask lots of questions and get as much relevant information as you can. Don't just discount a car because of an insurance marker.

This was actually as good as it looks in the photo!