Cat C cars

[T40ORA]

Long story short, the minor cosmetic damage to my Mk1 MX5 is 'uneconomic to repair' so the insurers have decided to write the car off, giving me a wedge of money. I can then buy the car back and repair it myself. All familiar stuff of course. And leaving a nasty taste in my mouth.

But my question is, what difference to sale price will being Cat C make to a 17 year old car? As an alternative, I can take an agreed price of about 75% of the full value which would avoid the car going on the register, but am I likely to get that 25% back when I come to sell it?

I'm trying to balance factors here; least amount of aggro along with best financial option for me. My heart says take the 75%, get it repaired well and hang the cost. But it was only ever meant to be a temporary drive until my P&J comes back from the engineers.

Oh, the car is in otherwise extremely good condition inside and out and has very low mileage. So it would be criminal for it to not be used and loved.

Any thoughts?

[Loplop]

It's down to the quality of the repairs and how good at paying attention any buyer will be.

If I saw a car I really liked that was a Cat C or D, went to look at it and could see that the repairs had been done well, or weren't noticeable then I'd have no problem paying the same for that car as I would any other, but it being on the register is good ammo for chipping down the seller.

[aka_kerrly]

If you want to keep the car get it repaired and the resale value is more or less unimportant, just be sure you are happy with the standard of the repairs.

If you want to buy it back and flog it then lets face it most people still don't HPI cars especially old ones worth a few hundred quid.

[Bear Phils]

If you do register as CAT C then make a record of everything including pics. Will make it much easier sold.

[HustleRussell]

Take cash in lieu, keep the car, keep the damage. Run into the ground doing trackdays

[Adrian E]

Bear Phils said:

If you do register as CAT C then make a record of everything including pics. Will make it much easier sold.

+1 - I'd only consider a cat car if there are pre-repair pics to show how extensive the repairs needed were, plus paperwork from the bodyshop. You can expect to have a quarter to a third knocked off the value for it being on the register in the first place - not such an issue if it's worth buttons anyway.

Is it really worth the agro though? Could you put the money from this one into something equally as good pre-accident?

Has the car been properly inspected with a view to establishing the likely cost to repair, rather than a few pics sent by the storage facility to your insurer and somebody at the other end going 'that's gonna cost, so write it off'? Even with a minor knock you could be looking at needing it jigged to straighten it and that adds to cost and complexity of repair.

[GreaseNipple]

With Cat C and D cars is it right to assume that if they were Cat D/C write offs within the first year of manufacture then the damage must be much greater than if it was written off at 17 years old due to it's declining value.

[Yell_M3]

Very few people buy cat (d/c) cars. Some insurance companies never insure cat (d/c) cars. Your audience is small if you're doing it to move it on. Investment potetial nil...

[mez3]

GreaseNipple said:

With Cat C and D cars is it right to assume that if they were Cat D/C write offs within the first year of manufacture then the damage must be much greater than if it was written off at 17 years old due to it's declining value.

Good point

[Nick1point9]

Take the smaller pay out to avoid it being registered. Will make it much easier to sell.

[Chris71]

Tricky one. MX-5s are ten-a-penny currently and even the straight ones aren't worth a huge amount. A minority of buyers realise that a lightly damaged Cat C/D can (in some cases) be a great way of getting an old car with a 'free' rebuild, but many don't.

If it was something rare and sought after then I'd suggest keeping it. But for a relatively numerous car I probably wouldn't bother unless you plan to run it into the ground and/or track it.

As others have said, if you do keep it get as much information and as many photos as possible of the rebuild. And please tell people it's a Cat C when you come to sell it - many people don't and it's borderline fraud IMHO.

ETA On the plus side, I've owned two Cat Ds and never had so much as a fiver loaded on my insurance premium...

[GC8]

Ive skimmed this only, but are the insurers offering a reduced payout in exchange for not recording the car?

I thought that this sort of disreputable bartering had been dealt with years ago.

[jds32]

GreaseNipple said:

With Cat C and D cars is it right to assume that if they were Cat D/C write offs within the first year of manufacture then the damage must be much greater than if it was written off at 17 years old due to it's declining value.

That's right. I think it's if the repair bill will come to 65% of the value of the vehicle.