Advice Please on a CAT D Write-off
Discussion
My first reaction to buying a car that has been “condition inspected” following insurance CAT D write-off was to keep looking.
However, having looked at other cars and considered this over a number of weeks I think there may be value in exploring the purchase of this car.
The car has low mileage; a well-respected engineer within the TVR community has inspected it and recommended it. The car is the colour I want and drove well on test. I have fallen in love with it.
My main reservations are about insurance implications e.g. hassle factor of getting an engineers report annually (which may be a condition of the insurance) and whether an insurance company would undervalue it because of the previous write-off. I’m not particularly concerned about the resale value since I intend to keep it long-term.
I requested an HPI check, and the verbal feedback from this confirms the information above. I await more detailed information re the extent of the damage leading to the write-off.
Has anybody had experience of buying a car like this? Alternatively, know of any problems not mentioned above that I should consider?
However, having looked at other cars and considered this over a number of weeks I think there may be value in exploring the purchase of this car.
The car has low mileage; a well-respected engineer within the TVR community has inspected it and recommended it. The car is the colour I want and drove well on test. I have fallen in love with it.
My main reservations are about insurance implications e.g. hassle factor of getting an engineers report annually (which may be a condition of the insurance) and whether an insurance company would undervalue it because of the previous write-off. I’m not particularly concerned about the resale value since I intend to keep it long-term.
I requested an HPI check, and the verbal feedback from this confirms the information above. I await more detailed information re the extent of the damage leading to the write-off.
Has anybody had experience of buying a car like this? Alternatively, know of any problems not mentioned above that I should consider?
No doubt the overall response will be dont touch it. However, my view, for what its worth....
the price MUST reflect its condition. Whether you have fallen in love or not, use your head not heart if the price is anything more than about 75% of the "normal" value.
if the price fits then go for it. i assume from your profile its an S we are talking about so you arent spending fortunes either way. My first S3 was a Cat D repair and was a perfect car for far less ££s than I would have paid for a non Cat registered car. It served me brilliantly and on resale I had 7 calls within 24 hours having advertised it honestly and pricing it accordingly.
In a market for a more mass produced model, such as the chimaera, i wouldnt buy a Cat registered model. Why? Because at the moment I am finding out how hard it is to shift a reasonably priced A1 straight car. I dread to think how you would sell a recorded Chim, without practically giving it away.
the price MUST reflect its condition. Whether you have fallen in love or not, use your head not heart if the price is anything more than about 75% of the "normal" value.
if the price fits then go for it. i assume from your profile its an S we are talking about so you arent spending fortunes either way. My first S3 was a Cat D repair and was a perfect car for far less ££s than I would have paid for a non Cat registered car. It served me brilliantly and on resale I had 7 calls within 24 hours having advertised it honestly and pricing it accordingly.
In a market for a more mass produced model, such as the chimaera, i wouldnt buy a Cat registered model. Why? Because at the moment I am finding out how hard it is to shift a reasonably priced A1 straight car. I dread to think how you would sell a recorded Chim, without practically giving it away.
If its Autolign "Condition Inspected", that's meant to mean there are no problems with it and the car has been repaired properly, and taken off the Cat D register and can be insured easily. You should be able to get a copy of this report, so won't have to get one done each year.
You need to find out what happened to the car - if it was involved in a crash and has been repaired, no problems. But if the previous owner couldn't afford the finance and pushed it into a lake or set fire to it and the Brigade put it out, the electrics will be quickly rusting away and you will have problems.
The car will be cheaper to buy and you'll get less for it when you sell it (unless you keep it a long long time). But if the price is right, you can make quite a saving on a Cat D car.
You need to find out what happened to the car - if it was involved in a crash and has been repaired, no problems. But if the previous owner couldn't afford the finance and pushed it into a lake or set fire to it and the Brigade put it out, the electrics will be quickly rusting away and you will have problems.
The car will be cheaper to buy and you'll get less for it when you sell it (unless you keep it a long long time). But if the price is right, you can make quite a saving on a Cat D car.
If your talking about that 5.0 Chim in the classifieds then to me it looks
like a pretty good deal. Providing the seller can provide you with good details of the damage and the repair and all else is sound it would be a good buy. Cat D is likely to be body only so chassis etc should be good.
like a pretty good deal. Providing the seller can provide you with good details of the damage and the repair and all else is sound it would be a good buy. Cat D is likely to be body only so chassis etc should be good.
zippee said:
If your talking about that 5.0 Chim in the classifieds then to me it looks
like a pretty good deal. Providing the seller can provide you with good details of the damage and the repair and all else is sound it would be a good buy. Cat D is likely to be body only so chassis etc should be good.
Get the chassis geometery checked,I bought a Cat D all be it for racing.
The insurance company had signed it off as having no chassis damage,however when I recieved it,it was bent as a banana!
Luckily the company I purchased it from paid for it to be staightened.
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