Buying a Category S Car

Buying a Category S Car

Author
Discussion

ZX10R NIN

27,654 posts

126 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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You won't get anywhere near a sensible price if you plan to part ex, honestly OP with such a small price difference I'd be buying a non cat'd car.

sja360

50 posts

108 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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What make / model of car are you looking at btw ?

MathewPurewal

Original Poster:

11 posts

66 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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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.
Thanks for this. I'm really considering whether to go for it now, as I'm not really looking at keeping it for too long, but want something that will be reliable. Thanks again.

MathewPurewal

Original Poster:

11 posts

66 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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sja360 said:
What make / model of car are you looking at btw ?
Vauxhall Astra 1.4 SRI, ideally a Turbo.

MathewPurewal

Original Poster:

11 posts

66 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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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.
It comes with full service history and I've seen pictures, look very minor.

Thanks for your help.

Earthdweller

13,616 posts

127 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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Sister bought a 9 month old Astra SRI from motorpoint with 6k on the clock .. like new for 10k only a few months ago

There are loads and loads out there .. 9k for a structurally damaged repair is way too much

Earthdweller

13,616 posts

127 months

Sunday 2nd December 2018
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On a bmw forum a couple of days ago someone was looking at an older car that was cat d

WBAC valuation £2k without cat d declared

£300 with cat d declared

nobrakes

3,001 posts

199 months

Monday 3rd December 2018
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Chap, you say your not planning on keeping it long, but you might be keeping it long if no one wants to buy it - or you take a bath and lose a shed load.

If you really really want the car I’d have your mate say straight off that he thinks it a minger whether he does or not to try and un-nerve the seller.

Or some other strategy to peg it down as that’s what you’ll be faced with in 6 months when y want shot.