CAT C or D, would you buy

[Chim]

Ok, looking for the daughters first car. Trawling through the various adds have came across some CAT C and D's at half the price, what are the drawbacks here and what should I be looking at if I think about picking one of these up

As an example have found this one on flee bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321200359861?ssPageName=...

[HaloGen8]

It's been discused many times but thesecdatscuts so easy for a car to be written off even to Cat C with very little damage especially with older cars. My opinion is to yes but one but I'd but one BEFORE its been repaired. Therefore if its Cat C because of a bumper scrape or damaged wing you can see the extent if the damage and choose then to do the repair yourself and say a fortune in the process.

Clearly suspension damage and structural stuff keep away from but basic dings equal some cheap motors.

Just my take on it.

[SMcP114]

It depends on the age and value of the car at the point it was written off.

But I personally have no issues buying a damaged car and would treat it no differently to buying any other car.

[kiethton]

For that car to be written off, especially due to its age, would have been a rather serious bump.

Also remember that they are near impossible to sell on again. I personally would only buy one if it was cheap <£1500 or I planned on keeping it until it gets scrapped as nobody wants a cat C/D car.

[northandy]

I guess id want to know its been repaired properly, any check paperwork. I think id want to see the pre repair pictures as well.

If she intends to keep it a long time then probably no issue, if she wants to swap it in a year prepare to have grief selling it.

[s p a c e m a n]

If you buy that you will have to get your moneys worth out of it, it will be worth peanuts in a couple years time if you want to sell it.

Nothing wrong with cat vehicles, inspect the repair before you buy it. I personally only buy them when they are something a bit special or under £2k as I wouldn't want to take the hit when selling them on.

[RobM77]

It's a similar issue to buying a high mileage car, in that even if you know that a particular car is actually in great condition (eg a minor Cat C), they're a bugger to sell on afterwards because of what the average car buyer thinks. Therefore unless you're going to be the car's last owner and if you view the car as an asset, buy something sellable and avoid Cat C or D, an import or high mileage. I speak from bitter experience: Those latter two categories of car have cost me thousands after I bought a minter, but couldn't sell or even trade in a few years down the line.

[Chim]

My thinking is two fold, one safety, as long as its ok on that front I am fine. As to resale value, really don't care, its a gift and will be getting no return on it down the road. If daughter sells in three of years anything she gets would just be a deposit on her next car.

[Scootersp]

Question..if that Corsa had sustained very slightly less damage then it would have been repaired and had no category against it?

What I'm getting at is you could have a Corsa with a hard'ish front quarter bump that because it is just one side the parts and labour is lower than if the bump had been more central and effected both side wings, headlights etc etc.

Neither car is more or less strong/decent/poor after the repair but one will have a Cat C and be worth far less than the one with an approved repair and no category, correct?

Also as alluded to by someone above the exact same crash damage on a older car could give it a cat C when on a newer car it's just repaired.

So it's difficult to gauge the damage the cat c/d may have sustained but i'd certainly be more weary of one that is still new'ish.

[Al U]

My second car was a cat d that i bought not knowing, i didn't bother checking as it was £500. However after seeing the state my lupo gti was after being rear ended at 50mph while stationary, i was amazed that the insurers only deemed it a cat d write off, there is no way i would of wanted it repaired given the shape it was in. This has put me off buying any written off car no matter the circumstance. Unless we are talking a very serious saving like an audi r8 for less than £10k for example.

[anonymous-user]

Al U said:

My second car was a cat d that i bought not knowing, i didn't bother checking as it was £500. However after seeing the state my lupo gti was after being rear ended at 50mph while stationary, i was amazed that the insurers only deemed it a cat d write off, there is no way i would of wanted it repaired given the shape it was in. This has put me off buying any written off car no matter the circumstance. Unless we are talking a very serious saving like an audi r8 for less than £10k for example.

Agreed. I might consider a Cat D if it was cheap and a rare car however I wouldn't even consider a Cat C!!!

[issey23]

HaloGen8 said:

It's been discussed many times but thesecdatscuts so easy for a car to be written off even to Cat C with very little damage especially with older cars.

My landy had a bump and the insurance classed it as cat C (uneconomical to repair) 1 broken headlight, dented bumper, crease in bonnet, they went to Land Rover for the parts and plus their paint and labour the final bill was over £500+ more than book value

It could have been vandalised and needed repainting ?

[s p a c e m a n]

Well then, my thoughts are to find one where..

• The owner knows where the damage was, there are a fair few people who say that they don't know. That suggests to me that they're trying to hide something or have no idea about anything, I wouldn't want to buy from either.

• Preferably have some photos of the damage, you might spot the big clump that happened at the back but miss the knock on the front that happened at the same time. Know what you're looking for, panel gaps and plastic fittings are are big give away that things have been forced back into shape rather than properly repaired.

• Not been fixed just to be sold on, it's amazing what you can hide and bodge if you're just trying to do it on a budget. Damage under bumpers, cable ties, pulling out the compression shocks on the bumpers rather than replacing, handfuls of seam sealer, filler and silicon holding things on, bodging airbag and srs lights.

• I always get someone to drive it whilst following from behind, spend so much time looking at little details that you miss some big things that you spot when it's on the move. Trying to look at it under some strip lighting is a good one too, I sold a silver 5 series that looked the nuts in daylight but every panel was a different colour when you looked at it on a petrol station forecourt

[Yazza54]

As long as it's been repaired properly, or you buy damaged and repair properly yourself I see no issue. Resale value will be lower but you will buy cheap and factor in repair cost so its irrelevant.

[T16OLE]

I wouldn't not again...unless it was repaired somewhere with a good reputation, even then I probably wouldn't

[ambuletz]

better to buy something that's been given a cat C or D and vic tested then to buy a repaired car that's not been recorded under that system.

[toerag]

Chim said:

Ok, looking for the daughters first car

no.

[andymc]

well its not a private sale as judging by the key tags he's trade

[andymc]

well its not a private sale as judging by the key tags he's trade

[jamiebae]

In my experience a lot of sellers lie about how severe the damage was, so personally I wouldn't buy unless I had absolute concrete proof of what the damage to the car was. I looked at a Polo a few months back, the seller said it had a bumper and boot lid but the car was written off because of non-fault hire charges. In fact, the car had a big whack on the rear corner and needed a rear wing, wheel, all suspension on that corner, boot, bumper, door and had to go on a jig.

There's no real way of confirming what work was done without photos pre and during the repair, even invoices can be faked so for that reason I wouldn't touch one.