Cat B car for sale?

Cat B car for sale?

Author
Discussion

daemon

Original Poster:

35,795 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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I'm looking at a motor trade site from one of the big dealer groups and theres an Audi for sale on there with a marker on the V5C of "Damage:Recorded against VIN and VRM, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2011, Category B Insurance Loss. Bodyshell Should Have Been Crushed Vehicle Should Not Be On The Road"

The car has a current MOT running to next May.

It looks like its going to go ridiculously cheap as the motor trade seem afraid of it

Retail price of the car in question is around £7000 and trade on it is around £4000. It looks like under £2K would own it.

Potential bargain or run a mile?

TooLateForAName

4,744 posts

184 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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will you be able to register it?
Insure it?

wolf1

3,081 posts

250 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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I may be wrong but I suspect you may struggle to get dvla to issue a logbook. Customer of mine bought what he thought was a cat c bike (even came with the assessors report with cat c written on it) the third party insurance company however logged it as cat b in error. He's spoken to dvla and they won't issue a logbook for it.

daemon

Original Poster:

35,795 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
quotequote all
TooLateForAName said:
will you be able to register it?
Insure it?
Its registered and MOT'd currently. Thats the surprising thing. It seems to have been back on the road since its was declared Cat B in 2011.

So its got a proper V5C with that declaration on it, and its been through the MOT process at least once.

Tyre wear looks even, decent spec car, bodywork good, running well...

daemon

Original Poster:

35,795 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
quotequote all
wolf1 said:
I may be wrong but I suspect you may struggle to get dvla to issue a logbook. Customer of mine bought what he thought was a cat c bike (even came with the assessors report with cat c written on it) the third party insurance company however logged it as cat b in error. He's spoken to dvla and they won't issue a logbook for it.
Sorry, i should have been clearer - it has a V5C and it looks like the previous owner has had it taxed and MOT'd for several years since the Cat B status marker.

DuraAce

4,240 posts

160 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
quotequote all
daemon said:
Sorry, i should have been clearer - it has a V5C and it looks like the previous owner has had it taxed and MOT'd for several years since the Cat B status marker.
That's no guarantee DVLA will issue a new V5 to you though is it?
Tread very carefully.

daemon

Original Poster:

35,795 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
quotequote all
DuraAce said:
daemon said:
Sorry, i should have been clearer - it has a V5C and it looks like the previous owner has had it taxed and MOT'd for several years since the Cat B status marker.
That's no guarantee DVLA will issue a new V5 to you though is it?
Tread very carefully.
Hmm... good point.

Its a shame because i'd happily have bought the car at regular trade price. Its an A4 TFSI Avant S Line, dark grey, black leather, driving well and seems in good shape.

As you say, you could end up with a very expensive scrapper....

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

184 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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If it was cat B'd in his ownership they won't have taken the V5 from him if he bought the salvage, so at the next change it could be a problem, unless perhaps it was shelled.

The bike scenario above, category can be changed if hpi for example are sent supporting docs I believe. Although some vehicles have been hit more than once of course

PAUL500

2,634 posts

246 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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Plenty of Cat b cars n the road, its an insurance marker only, not illegal to use, some do escape the system.

Value wise its worth the sum of its parts and that's all, in the event of a claim the insurance co would give you buttons

GC8

19,910 posts

190 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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TooLateForAName said:
will you be able to register it?
Insure it?
You could before. You cant now: not since October last year.

Krikkit

26,515 posts

181 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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PAUL500 said:
Plenty of Cat b cars n the road, its an insurance marker only, not illegal to use, some do escape the system.

Value wise its worth the sum of its parts and that's all, in the event of a claim the insurance co would give you buttons
This.

Insuring it will be quite tricky, but it's certainly possible to keep and insure one.

Wonder what the hell happened to it to be written off Cat.B? Definitely not a fire as that's a different category...

sorin1987

152 posts

111 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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I would never buy a car that was involved in a serious car accident. You don't know how good the repair was....You might have trouble insuring it and I would always worry that it is not safe or reliable.. I don't want that headache..

HustleRussell

24,640 posts

160 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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If it was a Cat 'B' in 2011 and the trade value of a similar car without the write-off marker is around £7k, then it must've been quite a new / valuable car when it was written off. It's a big accident, flood damage or stolen / recovered.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

126 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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GC8 said:
TooLateForAName said:
will you be able to register it?
Insure it?
You could before. You cant now: not since October last year.
Yep. It's one of the changes that happened at the same time as they got shot of the VIC.

Cat C can now be returned to the road without a VIC.
Cat B cars will not now have a V5C reissued.

Not a problem if you want to export it or track it, of course, but...

Turkish91

1,087 posts

202 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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What car is it? I don't understand how these things work at all. Someone was selling an RS4 saloon a while back that was Cat B "repaired" - someone had been shot dead in it, car had all new interior and panels repaired etc... Baffles me as to how they stay on the road!

ikarl

3,730 posts

199 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
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Turkish91 said:
What car is it? I don't understand how these things work at all. Someone was selling an RS4 saloon a while back that was Cat B "repaired" - someone had been shot dead in it, car had all new interior and panels repaired etc... Baffles me as to how they stay on the road!
if the car is roadworthy, why shouldn't it be on the road?

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

126 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
ikarl said:
Turkish91 said:
What car is it? I don't understand how these things work at all. Someone was selling an RS4 saloon a while back that was Cat B "repaired" - someone had been shot dead in it, car had all new interior and panels repaired etc... Baffles me as to how they stay on the road!
if the car is roadworthy, why shouldn't it be on the road?
Because the terms of the insurance payout for it have included that the owner of the car (remember, the insurance own it once it's written off) has deemed it only fit for breaking for spares, broken by an authorised breaker. The bodyshell has been required to be crushed.

The entire insurance industry agree to abide by that. Yet somebody has taken it out of that, and put it back on the road.

While that carries no legal weight, DVLA have now agreed that they will never issue another V5C for any car that's been tagged as CatB.

cj2013

1,357 posts

126 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
I once "bought" a car from an Auction in the North West (as a private buyer, which I was charged for a HPI check as part of the "buyer's fees"). Got it home and noticed there seemed to be a good 8mm of filler around most of the car, noticeable by the areas where the bodywork would otherwise be hidden (between bumper and body, for example).

I paid for my own check, and it came back as a Category A write off in 2001. The car was on a 'W'. The more I looked at it, the more filler I could see, and the more dodgy paint.

I took it back and the lady in the auction house went mental at me asking why I'd done my own check, and said that it was my problem. Trading standards got involved in the end and I was asked, by said company "what is the original owner supposed to do with it now?" like it was my problem.

I'm not sure they're still in business, but they were for a long time. It was a rough setup in a rough area.

ikarl

3,730 posts

199 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
ikarl said:
Turkish91 said:
What car is it? I don't understand how these things work at all. Someone was selling an RS4 saloon a while back that was Cat B "repaired" - someone had been shot dead in it, car had all new interior and panels repaired etc... Baffles me as to how they stay on the road!
if the car is roadworthy, why shouldn't it be on the road?
Because the terms of the insurance payout for it have included that the owner of the car (remember, the insurance own it once it's written off) has deemed it only fit for breaking for spares, broken by an authorised breaker. The bodyshell has been required to be crushed.

The entire insurance industry agree to abide by that. Yet somebody has taken it out of that, and put it back on the road.

While that carries no legal weight, DVLA have now agreed that they will never issue another V5C for any car that's been tagged as CatB.
So if the owner of the car (the insurance company) have deemed it fir for breaking for spares only, how do these cars get into circulation? They're the owner so surely it would be impossible for the ownership to transfer without their agreement.

cj2013

1,357 posts

126 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
ikarl said:
So if the owner of the car (the insurance company) have deemed it fir for breaking for spares only, how do these cars get into circulation? They're the owner so surely it would be impossible for the ownership to transfer without their agreement.
They'd sell to a salvage company, who sold to a scrap yard, who sold to a "dodgy geezer"