Would you buy a Cat D car?

[andy97]

I think I have missed the bottom of the market and Elise' appear to be rising in value!

Thinking of a weekend car but can't afford/ justify current prices, but spotted a couple of Cat D cars for sale. This one seems to be the cheapest around:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-LOTUS-ELISE-1-8-SAL...

A bit leggy, too.

Would you?

Is it an easy repair?

Same dealer has another one at 10,450 with a side scrape and no mileage info.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-LOTUS-ELISE-1-8-SAL...

A Cat D car will always be worth less re-sale but that might not matter if you intend to keep it a while, and I have owned a Cat D Porsche 944 before so that wasn't an issue.

Still seems a bit high priced with those miles?

Thoughts?

Edited by andy97 on Thursday 28th September 07:05

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

I can't comment on value for money RE Elises, or if the mileage is anything to worry about. What I can add is that I have no problem with many a cat d - we've got one, a previously (heavily) vandalised 2015 Insignia, which we got for £10,400, which would have otherwise been £14k ish (we bought repaired, unlike this)
£10k was our budget, and its newness and low miles (24k then) meant it seemed a better proposition than a 7 year old, maybe 60k 320d M Sport which was a strong contender then.

At least with this one you know the before damage 100%, and you can control the quality of repair. If you plan to hold on to it then I say no problems. Just make sure you document well the before, and the repair, to assist you should you sell at some point.

You just need to satisfy yourself RE mileage and price.

[AyBee]

It's very easy to write these cars off. I had a 111R which ended up getting new front and rear clam following 2 minor bumps - both were probably c.£8k repairs. As long as the damage is just bodywork and somebody who knows what they're talking about gave the car the ok, I'd be fine buying one. In that first example, I'd be asking why they're not repairing before selling on - why advertise a broken car, say you car repair it up to a point for £XXX but not actually do it?

[tharriso]

I dont even need to click on those ebay links to know who the seller is and you should run a mile. There will be more than meets the eye with those cars.

I would not be put off generally by cat c/d though.

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

tharriso said:

I dont even need to click on those ebay links to know who the seller is and you should run a mile. There will be more than meets the eye with those cars.

I would not be put off generally by cat c/d though.

Just out of interest, do you care to elaborate? Intrigued.

[tharriso]

Log on to SELOC and search.

[kambites]

Yes I'd buy a cat-D, but those both look significantly over-priced to me. In both cases you'd be looking at replacement body panels; unless you're capable of doing paintwork yourself, it's not going to be cheap to repair.

[andy97]

tharriso said:

I dont even need to click on those ebay links to know who the seller is and you should run a mile. There will be more than meets the eye with those cars.

I would not be put off generally by cat c/d though.

Interesting, many thanks!

As I said, i have had a Cat D 944 before but I knew the car and the dealer well.....

[andy97]

kambites said:

Yes I'd buy a cat-D, but those both look significantly over-priced to me. In both cases you'd be looking at replacement body panels; unless you're capable of doing paintwork yourself, it's not going to be cheap to repair.

Agree with that. I seem to remember reading somewhere that a Cat c/d car was usually worth 20-30% less than if not damaged.

The 100k miler would be worth, what, 11-12k if it was in decent condition and had a FSH?

Let's call it 11k and take 20% off, and it's worth 8800 AFTER repair. Well, that's my maths anyway

ETA, just done a "webuyanycar" valuation on that very car and they have it at 6k. Now i do realise that they give low valuations based on easy options for people to sell quickly, and perhaps not relevant on rarer cars, but I find it an interesting barometer. I assume that they know that it's cat d. Maybe my £8800 view isnt far out.

Edited by andy97 on Thursday 28th September 18:40

[The Bandit]

Am I missing something here as you can buy a newer non Cat registered 111S with the 156bhp VVC engine from a well respected dealer for another grand with some haggling(basically the cost of the repairs to the linked car)?
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

[andy97]

The Bandit said:

Am I missing something here as you can buy a newer non Cat registered 111S with the 156bhp VVC engine from a well respected dealer for another grand with some haggling(basically the cost of the repairs to the linked car)?
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

No you are not missing anything! The point was 2 fold, 1) to see what people's views were on a cat c/ d Elise and whether it was a big risk, and 2) to discuss the pricing of these ones. I think we all agree that these are well over priced and your link proves it. I still think the first one I linked to is worth circa £9k after it has been properly repaired.

[kambites]

Cat-D repaired, assuming good documentation, doesn't have anywhere near as much effect on "enthusiast" cars as on mainstream ones. If that car was repaired properly and is in otherwise good condition, you'd might get 11k for it; but a proper repair is going to cost a good £5k.

I can't see that car being worth more than £5-6k in that condition.