Cat S - Seat Ibiza FR TSI 16 - 3K mileage - To Buy or not..

[Houghtie84]

Hi,

First post - thanks in advance for anyone that reads/replies!

I'm looking for advice with regards to potentially buying a CAT S Seat Ibiza FR TSI 2016 - got 3k on the clock

It was originally listed at £8k in Jan 2019 and has most recently been reduced to £5.5k...

Enquired with the seller about the damage and repair - it was repaired prior to the current seller acquiring it and the damage was on the passenger side door (was replaced as per initial conversation). Seller has no pics of damage (before or after)
Looking at the pics (link below) it looks as though the panel above the wheel arch has been replaced as well (slightly different shade and the panels don't quite match up straight over the wheel.

https://autosmarts.co.uk/vehicle/name/seat-ibiza-t...

I've had a look at cars of this age/spec/mileage and they seem to be going for £8-9k so the current price to be expected based on it being a Cat S.

I'm interested, but have never bought a Cat S car before and after doing a bit of research realised you need to be thorough with the checks and proceed with a bit of caution!

I'm not a experienced car person (*shame*) so have been recommended to the forum as you are knowledgeable folk!

I was (at the very least) considering getting a extensive pre purchase check done on this but wanted to see if you guys could give me any advice on whether you think this is even a good idea and whether to steer clear or not?! (I live 70 miles from the seller so though this would be best)

I've had contrasting views from friends/family on buying a Cat S and the old adage of "if it's too good to be true, then it probably is" mentioned!

any advice/views/thoughts would be greatly appreciated! if you need any other details then please let me know

Cheers

Andy

[SteBrown91]

If you can see the repair run a mile.
If you can’t see pics of the pre repair damage run a mile.

That car breaks both of those rules.

[strath44]

I personally would like to see pics of the before, the front bumpers been replaced and the colour match isn't great (darker grey tone than the rest), not sure but the bonnet colour might be off as well but hard to tell!

There was a chap on here a while back that bought a Golf Gti in very similar circumstances and it had a rattle in the headliner, when he tried to fix it, it turned out the curtain airbags had issues (I think they were actually not even there!) and the seller had just disabled a lot of the errors via the obd (computer). Thats a very abridged version but you get the idea. I'd tread carefully, if you stcak the car into something then you want the airbags to go off!!

The drop in price........its not unusual for a dealer to buy a car at auction or take a trade in and then find out its got a ins Category designation they then have (should) to disclose that fact - normally by hiding the phrase cats in ridiculous small print hidden in the ad text etc!!

Edited by strath44 on Monday 29th April 16:15

[PSRG]

While it’s a later model than the one you’re looking at, this is a picture of our Ibiza, written off as Cat S after 3k miles back in May last year. I wouldn’t buy it in repaired form, no matter how cheap...[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/dTCNyDOv[/url]

[Sc0tchland]

Houghtie84 said:

Whatever you do, please check this link
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mr Tidy]

For a car of that age I just wouldn't if I couldn't see how it looked before it was repaired.

Cat N I just might be tempted, but I'd take someone with me who had some experience of looking at repaired cars (a mate of mine used to be in the car salvage business).

[joropug]

Don't buy.

All Cat cars miraculously have Silly low mileage. Whoopsie the service history is missing! Silly me.

It'll always be worth £x000 less than a non cat car so do yourself a favour and buy within your means or spend more for a non Cat car. You'll get it back when you sell it.

A lot of cat cars have also stood for ages exposed to the weather if windows smashed etc.

And aside from all of that, unless Honest MC Honestface personally handled the repair corners will have been cut and you could be playing with your life.

[rallycross]

Without photos of the car with its damage then don’t touch it, cat S on a late
Model car is a more than likely to be extensive - that’s why it was written off.

[ninjag]

Can insurance also be an issue?

[ZX10R NIN]

Hi Andy 5.5k buys you a lot of non cat'd metal:

170 Giulietta Veloce

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

120 if insurance is an issue:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Astra GTC 180 SRI

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

All of which are better long term prospects than the car you're currently considering.

[Mo28]

Not too sure on whether the seller is being completely honest with where the damage occurred. Its quite clear that the front end has been replaced and with the wrong parts. The car has the wrong headlights, the post 16 (maybe earlier) Ibiza's came with led drl's.

[SteBrown91]

Run the reg through on vcheck it may pull back the original salvage advert

[PSRG]

SteBrown91 said:

Run the reg through on vcheck it may pull back the original salvage advert

Agreed - I saw ours on the Copart website, and the add is still there, albeit sold and archived...

https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/34895818

Oh, and as a correction it only had just over 2k miles on the clock, not 3k. And 300 of those were picking it up from the CarWow dealer in Liverpool

Edited by PSRG on Tuesday 30th April 20:05

[Houghtie84]

Thanks to everyone who has replied! Really appreciate the thoughts/comments and feedback!

I think that’s massively helped make my mind up! Going to avoid this one - especially as there are no pics of the damage and also the repair looks iffy / seller has been vague.

Some eye opening pics on the thread about the BMW repairs!! 😳

Thanks for the the alternative suggestions for the price! Interesting what you can get for the ££

Cheers

Andy

[Lukas239]

Correct me if wrong but Cat S is the new Cat C? If so, they normally require a document for proof of roadworthiness following an inspection, with detailed repairs. At least they did a good 5 years ago.

I unwillingly (and unknowingly) bought a Cat D car in the past. 2 lessons from that;

- do a HPI check for god sake
- you will struggle to sell/price the car well on the used market.

[Richard-390a0]

Lukas239 said:

Correct me if wrong but Cat S is the new Cat C? If so, they normally require a document for proof of roadworthiness following an inspection, with detailed repairs. At least they did a good 5 years ago.

VIC checks haven't been carried out for quite a few years now. Cat S = Structural damage & Cat N = Non structural damage.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

It had a pretty good whack in the side then. And by looking at the pictures of the damage the front bumper was always off colour.

[ZX10R NIN]

That was a hard hit.

[dwol]

You really need pics of the car during the repair as there is lots of panel bonding/mig brazed areas on modern cars like these. To repair correctly manufacturer/thatcham methods need to be followed so the car reacts how it should if it has a similar impact in the future. Unfortunately there's dozens of garages buying from salvage auctions and repairing them incorrectly.