Cat D / N Bikes

[V8RX7]

I'm looking around for another bike around £3k, am coming across quite a few recorded bikes

I've owned a few recorded cars in my youth and wouldn't bother again as there frequently lots of little things that aren't right.

However from what I've seen from the salvage bikes on ebay, bikes are generally written off for a few minor cosmetics.

I'm not bothered about a few scuffs (although many are visibly, fully repaired) how hard are they to sell on / how much less would you expect them to be ie £500 on a £3k bike ?

[kiethton]

This is exactly what I buy to commute on. However I generally spend < £1,200, get them directly from Copart/salvage agents and try to avoid anything with fork/frame/mechanical damage. I do the minimum to get an MOT (often nothing) and then run them until their dead/about to die, selling as spares/repairs on gumtree and getting +80% of initial purchase price back a good 10k miles/2 years later.

[Drezza]

I bought a CAT C FZS600, was written off years ago when a crack in the fairing was a write off, so was actually in really good condition.

It's a lot harder to disguise issues on bikes so wouldn't put me off.

[V8RX7]

Drezza said:

It's a lot harder to disguise issues on bikes so wouldn't put me off.

Yes that's what I was thinking, particularly nakeds, you'd be hard pressed to miss anything and any bike that's been in a decent crash would be a C / S / B

But many bikers seem to be fussy so I wondered about resale

[Lee540]

I bought a Cat D bike yesterday.

Date of first registration 09/12/2002
CAT D Recorded 21/12/2002

Its been fine for the last nearly 18 years.. no worries!

[Fundoreen]

What is the insurance situation though? If the bike is repaired and passes an MOT do you even have to tell them?
Never seen that option box on the insurance websites when looking for quotes.

[Krikkit]

Fundoreen said:

What is the insurance situation though? If the bike is repaired and passes an MOT do you even have to tell them?
Never seen that option box on the insurance websites when looking for quotes.

I don't think it matters with the normal categories, they'll just reduce your pay out of you have an accident. Contingent on it being roadworthy of course.

[seismic22]

In the last 14 years I have bought damage repaired cars, bought damaged cars and repaired them and also helped my dad buy a MT07 that was damaged and recorded.

The insurance companies don't care. Never known an insurance company to be bothered. One time (in 2015) I bought a CAT D damaged BMW 320d for £2700. Spent £1000 repairing it. 6 months later a bus drove into the side of it and the insurance company paid out £6,200 for it. The conversation went, Sir, I see your car is registered as a Cat D, I've had a look around and would value the car unregistered at roughly £6,600 so we would offer you £6,200......Thank you very much I said.....

Like the poster above, stay away from anything that could have frame damage and you will be fine. If a bikes been ridden and MOT'd for many years/miles then there's really no problem just make sure you are paying 30 ish % less than a unrecorded one. Having said that, I'd rather have a well looked after, plenty of history minter than a unrecorded dog......

Bikes get written off so easily and subsequently there are many bargains to benefit from if you do your research.

[V8RX7]

seismic22 said:

just make sure you are paying 30 ish % less than a unrecorded one.

I'd agree that at 30% less they're definitely worth having but I'm not seeing them that cheap

Admittedly I'm not actively looking for them, just seen a few on ebay - even ones that haven't been fixed yet, some described as non running are going far closer to retail value.

[seismic22]

Its true, a lot of the recorded stuff thats sold on ebay by the likes of "surreymcsalvage" and similar salvage agents seem to sell for strong money, particularly sports bikes and adventure bikes. Was watching a 2005 cbr600 sell on there the other week that need all front fairing replaced at a minimum and it went for £2.2k. A week later an identical bike on ebay with 12,000 less on the clock, tidy, no damage and uncategorised went for £2.8k. Doesnt make sense but thats ebay. Your best bet is direct from one of the big salvage agents (not on ebay of course) or on Facebook/Gumtree etc.

Edited by seismic22 on Tuesday 28th April 15:13

[myvision]

seismic22 said:

Its true, a lot of the recorded stuff thats sold on ebay by the likes of "surreymcsalvage" and similar salvage agents seem to sell for strong money, particularly sports bikes and adventure bikes. Was watching a 2005 cbr600 sell on there the other week that need all front fairing replaced at a minimum and it went for £2.2k. A week later an identical bike with 12,000 less on the clock, tidy, no damage and uncategorised went for £2.8k. Doesnt make sense but thats ebay. Your best bet is direct from one of the big salvage agents (not on ebay of course) or on Facebook/Gumtree etc.

I bought a bike from surreymcsalvage back in 2016 and put them on my watch list if anything pops up i'd fancy having a bid on but lately the prices seem to have gone through the roof and don't make the bikes worth a chance on now.

[ar-em-en]

Fundoreen said:

What is the insurance situation though? If the bike is repaired and passes an MOT do you even have to tell them?
Never seen that option box on the insurance websites when looking for quotes.

I have a cat n bike, I was the first owner after it was bought from auction by the guy who repaired it to sell on. The insurance wanted an 'engineers report' to say the bike was fit to go back on the road and said that an mot alone wasnt enough. When I asked what criteria I needed to meet they had no idea. I ended up getting a separate invoice from the mot tester which simply acknowledged the bike had been repaired to a satisfactory condition.
They printed it off straight after the mot certificate and I put a fiver in the charity box and sent a copy of it to the insurer.