Buying a Category S Car
Discussion
Hi guys, wondering if anyone can help.
Looking to buy a 1-year-old car for £8,500. Its category S, the owner has shown pictures of previous damage and the repair job looks sound.
However, it only comes with one key and its the spare key, not the fob.
Is this something to be worried about?
I'm most likely going to offer less because a new key fob will probably set me back a few hundred quid.
Any help would be appreciated!
Looking to buy a 1-year-old car for £8,500. Its category S, the owner has shown pictures of previous damage and the repair job looks sound.
However, it only comes with one key and its the spare key, not the fob.
Is this something to be worried about?
I'm most likely going to offer less because a new key fob will probably set me back a few hundred quid.
Any help would be appreciated!
ZX10R NIN said:
Lost keys is quite normal so as long as you've done your checks & are happy with the repair then go for it, on the few occasions I've purchased a Category car I've found getting the tracking checked before buying is a good way of checking how well the repair has been done.
Cheers for the help! I'll get the tracking checked over for sure then. Thanks again.
Saleen836 said:
That is a big price difference but in reality you are saving £500, IMO I would rather spend the extra and buy a non Cat car
You're right, I'm going down later with a mechanic to get it checked over. He says it's had a Vauxhall healthcheck (the car is an Astra), and if all is good, I'm going to offer a lot less than the asking price. Thanks for the help!Mr Tidy said:
I'd have said selling it on WILL be an issue!
For the sake of £500 I'd give it a miss at that price level - I really don't like buying cars with only 1 key either. The others are probably still around somewhere, which has to be a concern.
I've had a chat with Insurance company and they said they'll contribute £300 to the reprogamming of the locks and a new set of keys - just awaiting a quote back from Vauxhall to see how much I'll be looking at. Thanks for the help!For the sake of £500 I'd give it a miss at that price level - I really don't like buying cars with only 1 key either. The others are probably still around somewhere, which has to be a concern.
ninjag said:
charltjr said:
Price difference is way too low to justify getting a Cat S car IMO.
Unless you’ve a fully itemised damage report and bodyshop repair bill how do you know what’s been done to it and what it needed? How do you know it’s not been repaired as cheaply as possible with dodgy shortcuts being taken - e.g. welding new bits into the crash structure rather than completely replacing it.
They are cheap for a reason, it’s all about how comfortable people are with risk vs cost and an awful lot of buyers are (not unreasonably) extremely risk averse.
This is the thing, many moons ago I bought an Astra SRI saloon (back when SRI actually meant better performance) from a local mechanic but unknown to me the chassis had been welded, and obviously badly because it ripped apart on a corner - thankfully not high speed. Just not worth it when structural. Unless you’ve a fully itemised damage report and bodyshop repair bill how do you know what’s been done to it and what it needed? How do you know it’s not been repaired as cheaply as possible with dodgy shortcuts being taken - e.g. welding new bits into the crash structure rather than completely replacing it.
They are cheap for a reason, it’s all about how comfortable people are with risk vs cost and an awful lot of buyers are (not unreasonably) extremely risk averse.
wack said:
If you can get a straight one for 9k that's a 6k car on a Cat S , 12k I'd go to 8-9k but no more , also you'll have to keep it or there's no saving to be made in the short term
If you know the history and have seen pictures and the price is right CAT cars can be a considerable saving but in reality the saving is lost when selling on if you don't run it into the ground, as an example I have a 2015 mercedes B class ,cat C bought at just under a year old fully repaired, had it 2 years so thought about changing it
a straight one is 12k , they offered me 6k against a 35k Mustang which I declined.
The exact car I was looking at would most likely be around £10,500 non Cat S, but it would've definitely had higher mileage. If you know the history and have seen pictures and the price is right CAT cars can be a considerable saving but in reality the saving is lost when selling on if you don't run it into the ground, as an example I have a 2015 mercedes B class ,cat C bought at just under a year old fully repaired, had it 2 years so thought about changing it
a straight one is 12k , they offered me 6k against a 35k Mustang which I declined.
It comes with full service history and I've seen pictures, look very minor.
Thanks for your help.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff