Cat C & D - Good value or not?
Discussion
Could one of our experts explain what needs to be done to return a Cat C or D car back to the road please?
Seems to be plenty around at the moment with relatively light damage that should make for an amateur repair.
Thinking of something '99 - '01 which I can repair myself as an extra family runabout then sell on say a year later. At that age it seems that quite simple things can reneder the car uneconomical to repair in the usual way so ideal for DIY.
However... Life's experience tells me that things are rarely that simple!!
Seems to be plenty around at the moment with relatively light damage that should make for an amateur repair.
Thinking of something '99 - '01 which I can repair myself as an extra family runabout then sell on say a year later. At that age it seems that quite simple things can reneder the car uneconomical to repair in the usual way so ideal for DIY.
However... Life's experience tells me that things are rarely that simple!!
as is always said, you buy it cheap... you sell it cheap.
if your willing to live with the fact it might be tough to shift, and that you might have to sell it pretty cheap to get it to sell at all. + you know its been repaired, or in your case you will repair it to a high standard then there isn't a reason not to. If your repairing it, try taking photo's before and after etc, to give any perspective buyer some peace of mind that it isnt a cut/shut.
Go into it with your eyes wide open.
ETA: i think its only the more serious ones you need to get inspected. a simple google should tell you!
if your willing to live with the fact it might be tough to shift, and that you might have to sell it pretty cheap to get it to sell at all. + you know its been repaired, or in your case you will repair it to a high standard then there isn't a reason not to. If your repairing it, try taking photo's before and after etc, to give any perspective buyer some peace of mind that it isnt a cut/shut.
Go into it with your eyes wide open.
ETA: i think its only the more serious ones you need to get inspected. a simple google should tell you!
Edited by S3_Graham on Wednesday 19th May 22:00
I had a cat-D Renault Megane Scenic (yeah I know). The happiness at getting one with leather, DVD screens etc for a good price soon trickled away when a drive shaft fell out twice and the accelerator pedal stuck down on the motor way. That was "properly repaired" also.
If you know the history of the vehicle and trust/know the people repairing it (or trust your own skills if you're repairing it) then they can be a good buy. Otherwise I would steer clear, especially if it's to be used for transporting the family around in. As mine was.
If you know the history of the vehicle and trust/know the people repairing it (or trust your own skills if you're repairing it) then they can be a good buy. Otherwise I would steer clear, especially if it's to be used for transporting the family around in. As mine was.
Edited by erolb on Thursday 20th May 11:03
I probably wouldn't touch cat c but I've owned a couple of cat d cars. Anything gets cat d these days. There's a guy with a mint Evo8 that had a very very small bump into a wall (similar to misjudging your drive). IIRC he cracked a headlight, dented drivers wing, bumper had a little chunk out and that was it. Repair bill was something like £5500 because they quoted for using brand new parts, wing and lamp are a grand each or similar.
You buy it as a cat d then use second hand or better sourced parts for next to nothing.
You buy it as a cat d then use second hand or better sourced parts for next to nothing.
Tony*T3 said:
52classic said:
Hope you don't mind a bump on this. I really would like some help!
is that a Cat C bump? Of a more cosmetic only, Cat D bump?EDIT To clarify:
Cat C - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car, no more, no less. A £90 car with car cracked headlamp costing £100 would be Cat C.
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200 salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Thursday 20th May 11:17
Mr2Mike said:
Tony*T3 said:
52classic said:
Hope you don't mind a bump on this. I really would like some help!
is that a Cat C bump? Of a more cosmetic only, Cat D bump?EDIT To clarify:
Cat C - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car, no more, no less. A £90 car with car cracked headlamp costing £100 would be Cat C.
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200 salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Thursday 20th May 11:17
I had a Cat D cavalier. I had owned it for a week when some twunt decided he'd use the back of my car instead of his brakes to stop. The insurance company worte it off for £2200 (I had only paid £1600 for it) I repaired it with mostly second hand parts and some welding for £500, kept it for a few years and sold it on cheap, so it can work out.
I personally wouldn't touch one unless it was cheap, I wouldn't trust myself to know what was damaged and if it was now OK or not.
I personally wouldn't touch one unless it was cheap, I wouldn't trust myself to know what was damaged and if it was now OK or not.
Mr2Mike said:
Tony*T3 said:
52classic said:
Hope you don't mind a bump on this. I really would like some help!
is that a Cat C bump? Of a more cosmetic only, Cat D bump?EDIT To clarify:
Cat C - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car, no more, no less. A £90 car with car cracked headlamp costing £100 would be Cat C.
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200 salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Thursday 20th May 11:17
Staring to look around and my initial observations are that cat C & D offerings tend to be inconsistently priced so it does seem that another factor like the cost of a temporary replacement car is being taken into account.
Mrs C could do with a small automatic but will do very low mileage in it.
First car we looked at was a '51 plate A Class Auto, Elegance spec. I would have valued it around 2.5K undamaged at auction and this one has a side swipe on passenger side. all doors open, shut and lock OK. no damege to a,b or c posts or any of the glass.
Reckon a bid around £600 would buy it, so a secondhand front passenger door, DIY repair of rear door and rear quarter panel with a 'trade' respray of one side would see a decent car which owes us around a grand, excluding my labour.
Then I would expoect to be able to sell it privately for say 14or1500 this time next year with a decent album of repair pictures.
The 'profit' would cover the tax & insurance so it sounds like free motoring to me.... Unless I'm missing something!
Mrs C could do with a small automatic but will do very low mileage in it.
First car we looked at was a '51 plate A Class Auto, Elegance spec. I would have valued it around 2.5K undamaged at auction and this one has a side swipe on passenger side. all doors open, shut and lock OK. no damege to a,b or c posts or any of the glass.
Reckon a bid around £600 would buy it, so a secondhand front passenger door, DIY repair of rear door and rear quarter panel with a 'trade' respray of one side would see a decent car which owes us around a grand, excluding my labour.
Then I would expoect to be able to sell it privately for say 14or1500 this time next year with a decent album of repair pictures.
The 'profit' would cover the tax & insurance so it sounds like free motoring to me.... Unless I'm missing something!
Mr2Mike said:
GC8 said:
Its far more complicated (and random) than that.
That was straight from an insurance assessor who's been in the business for a very long time.This means that a £50 part that will take a month to get hold of can write off a car when a £500 part that will be there next day will not.
I think people are overly paranoid about Cat D & C when talking about cheap cars. A car can have a massive smash early in it's life and be repaired without any Cat markers because it's value is still high. Once the same car is 10 years old a much smaller bump could get it to Cat C. That's without taking into account all the dodgy back-street repairs that get done outside of the insurance, which are far more likely to cut corners.
As long as you buy with your eyes open (preferably with information about what was damaged and what was replaced) then the only major issue is the resale value, which can be overcome by getting a good enough deal.
Mr Will said:
Mr2Mike said:
GC8 said:
Its far more complicated (and random) than that.
That was straight from an insurance assessor who's been in the business for a very long time.This means that a £50 part that will take a month to get hold of can write off a car when a £500 part that will be there next day will not.
I think people are overly paranoid about Cat D & C when talking about cheap cars. A car can have a massive smash early in it's life and be repaired without any Cat markers because it's value is still high. Once the same car is 10 years old a much smaller bump could get it to Cat C. That's without taking into account all the dodgy back-street repairs that get done outside of the insurance, which are far more likely to cut corners.
As long as you buy with your eyes open (preferably with information about what was damaged and what was replaced) then the only major issue is the resale value, which can be overcome by getting a good enough deal.
People are overly paranoid about Cat D cars these days, it should not have the cut n shut/wrapped around a tree stigma of old!
I bought my Maserati Gransport (CAT D) it had a new wing, door repair and wheels refurbed. The damage is soooo minor, I'm over the moon as i got it for at least £4-5k under non cat price and the car is now mint.
(My brother had the same sort of damage to his old Q7 and that was just repaired)
The price of new parts is crazy and then factor in price of like for like hire cars etc and then the price it can still fetch in its damaged state means the slightest damage can result in CAT D.
Just use yer loaf and buy with your eyes open! (Pictures of previous damage is a must IMHO and info on the repair)
If your keeping the car a long time its worth get it re inspected at Autolign who can remove the CAT D classification and it then becomes 'CAT inspected'
Should be 10-20% cheaper only IMHO
Edited by chillo on Friday 21st May 13:11
musclecarmad said:
I would walk away from anything even a Cat D light repair as it's still a Cat D
my advice is - don't buy a crashed car
Why? A few years ago my wife liked the new MX5 but I didnt have £15k to spend on her new car so I bought an accident damaged one that had only done 4k with lady doctor owner. The car had been involved in a, what looked like, a 5mph bump because it cracked (not destroyed) the headlights and cracked the nose cone with a tiny bit of damage to the bonnet and the same to the drivers wing. No structural damage and the reinforcement wasnt touched.my advice is - don't buy a crashed car
The total cost of repair if done at Mazda was £6,500. I had it repaired at Metcalf Motorsport which used to deal with Britcars that have had a visit into the pit wall or similar so it was easy for them to do a cracking job.
Total cost of the car to me (repaired and purchased) £7,000 when the book price was £14,700. I had the remains of the Mazda warranty (2 and a half years), had the car until it was 4 years old and sold it for the same as it cost me.
Not worth doing?
Who registers a car as CatD?
A garage recently decided to take my girlfriends car for a spin, and managed to do £4000 worth of damage.
The car is being fixed under their insurance, and is in a bodyshop just now.
Will this damage be recorded anywhere,, for instance if she was trying to sell the car on and someone checked the history?
Stephen.
A garage recently decided to take my girlfriends car for a spin, and managed to do £4000 worth of damage.
The car is being fixed under their insurance, and is in a bodyshop just now.
Will this damage be recorded anywhere,, for instance if she was trying to sell the car on and someone checked the history?
Stephen.
Edited by scottishninja2 on Friday 21st May 13:22
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