Buying a Cat S
Discussion
Looking at buying daughters first car and noticed that most small 'first time driver' cars like Aygos, Fiesta's etc the majority out there for sale all seen to be Cat S cars,
I can see why, the neighbours daughter went into the back of someone in her Fiat 500 and the car was written off with just some bumper and wing damage.
Given that she will likely end up denting, scraping her first car, is there any value in getting one that's already had a knock- given that most of these are a new bumper and a wing away from a write off?
Clearly is it does get damaged it won't ( I presume) be worth a much as much if written off again due to panel damage, but its going to be a year to 18 months before she can insure something a bit bigger/better.
Anyone done the same?
J
I can see why, the neighbours daughter went into the back of someone in her Fiat 500 and the car was written off with just some bumper and wing damage.
Given that she will likely end up denting, scraping her first car, is there any value in getting one that's already had a knock- given that most of these are a new bumper and a wing away from a write off?
Clearly is it does get damaged it won't ( I presume) be worth a much as much if written off again due to panel damage, but its going to be a year to 18 months before she can insure something a bit bigger/better.
Anyone done the same?
J
mmmunch said:
Looking at buying daughters first car and noticed that most small 'first time driver' cars like Aygos, Fiesta's etc the majority out there for sale all seen to be Cat S cars,
I can see why, the neighbours daughter went into the back of someone in her Fiat 500 and the car was written off with just some bumper and wing damage.
Given that she will likely end up denting, scraping her first car, is there any value in getting one that's already had a knock- given that most of these are a new bumper and a wing away from a write off?
Clearly is it does get damaged it won't ( I presume) be worth a much as much if written off again due to panel damage, but its going to be a year to 18 months before she can insure something a bit bigger/better.
Anyone done the same?
J
t's a good way of getting a nicer car for your budget but they need to (but ti doesn't seem to be the case lately) be a fair bit cheaper than the non cat version.I can see why, the neighbours daughter went into the back of someone in her Fiat 500 and the car was written off with just some bumper and wing damage.
Given that she will likely end up denting, scraping her first car, is there any value in getting one that's already had a knock- given that most of these are a new bumper and a wing away from a write off?
Clearly is it does get damaged it won't ( I presume) be worth a much as much if written off again due to panel damage, but its going to be a year to 18 months before she can insure something a bit bigger/better.
Anyone done the same?
J
Also do a VCheck, as in most cases you'll get to see the damage before the repair was carried out.
I'd say yes buy a CAT car but as always do your checks
Green1man said:
Surely just a bumper or similar would be a cat N. S indicates some form of structural damage. Remember as well that it has to be declared to the insurance company and they are typically more to insure than non cat cars.
My current runaround car is a cat s. This was due to damage on the bootlid and it wouldn't open. The reason it wouldn't open was because the linkage had been knocked off so the handle didn't work.No other damage to the car at all. The assessors aren't allowed to investigate beyond what the can see with their eyes so assumed the worst.
p4cks said:
Just the first bit and second bit.
First Bit - “Surely just a bumper or similar would be a cat N.”Category N (formerly Category D)
Vehicles graded accordingly haven’t sustained structural damage, so the issue may be cosmetic, ….
Second Bit.- “S indicates some form of structural damage.”
Category S (formerly Category C)
The new Category S means the vehicle has suffered structural damage….
Not sure how you think my comments were absolute rubbish.
Green1man said:
p4cks said:
Just the first bit and second bit.
First Bit - “Surely just a bumper or similar would be a cat N.”Category N (formerly Category D)
Vehicles graded accordingly haven’t sustained structural damage, so the issue may be cosmetic, ….
Second Bit.- “S indicates some form of structural damage.”
Category S (formerly Category C)
The new Category S means the vehicle has suffered structural damage….
Not sure how you think my comments were absolute rubbish.
mmmunch said:
Thanks all.
So Cat N- not so bad.
Cat S on a small car- not so good.
I did a couple of test quotes on Cat S- nothing untoward with regard to getting a quote.
Noted On VCar- thanks all.
Car Vertical was recommended to me to check the damage on a Cat N I was looking at recently. It had photos of the damage - to a completely different corner of the car than the dealer was claiming. Worth the c£14 it cost.So Cat N- not so bad.
Cat S on a small car- not so good.
I did a couple of test quotes on Cat S- nothing untoward with regard to getting a quote.
Noted On VCar- thanks all.
mmmunch said:
Thanks all.
So Cat N- not so bad.
Cat S on a small car- not so good.
I did a couple of test quotes on Cat S- nothing untoward with regard to getting a quote.
Noted On VCar- thanks all.
Just to clarify - the service you want to use is VCheck (https://www.vcheck.uk/) not VCar or Car Vertical. So Cat N- not so bad.
Cat S on a small car- not so good.
I did a couple of test quotes on Cat S- nothing untoward with regard to getting a quote.
Noted On VCar- thanks all.
Don't know how much truth there is in it but I heard a lot of cars were getting deemed Cat S as a worst case/arse covering exercise during COVID so the assessors could social distance or maybe they were furloughed.. something COVID related anyway, can't remember where I read that, could be b
ks.
ks. Yazza54 said:
Don't know how much truth there is in it but I heard a lot of cars were getting deemed Cat S as a worst case/arse covering exercise during COVID so the assessors could social distance or maybe they were furloughed.. something COVID related anyway, can't remember where I read that, could be bks.
I'll go with bks. ks. 
They could just choose Cat N to write the car off. They don't need to upgrade the damage level to S.
I've seen the excuse a million times that the car only suffered minor damage to be a Cat S. Time and time again when the car is inspected, or pictures from Vcheck, the truth becomes clear.
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