Cat D car - advice appriciated
Discussion
Just wondering if I could get peoples advice on buying a Cat D car...
has anyone ever bought one?... I have been looking at a S3 on autotrader... he has told me it is a Cat D but is up for alot less than the market price because of that....he has told me I can see the photos of the damage which was just a new wing + door...
If i did buy it I was going to get a RAC check done just to be sure its all ok...
anybody have any thoughts on this?
if its all ok whats the bad points about owning a Cat D.... is it just selling it at end?
Ive been told its not a problem to insure but is there a problem in them paying out in case if I have a crash etc?
cheers
has anyone ever bought one?... I have been looking at a S3 on autotrader... he has told me it is a Cat D but is up for alot less than the market price because of that....he has told me I can see the photos of the damage which was just a new wing + door...
If i did buy it I was going to get a RAC check done just to be sure its all ok...
anybody have any thoughts on this?
if its all ok whats the bad points about owning a Cat D.... is it just selling it at end?
Ive been told its not a problem to insure but is there a problem in them paying out in case if I have a crash etc?
cheers
mrsail said:
I was hoping to keep it for at least 2 years... but thought at the end of that I would have proven that the car is ok and have details of car incident and RAC report...
It'll always be Cat D and for every potential buyer who thinks "Oooh what a bargain" there'll be 10 who won't touch it. It's not an issue if you're keeping it forever... It's not like S3s are rare.
I had a cat D E36 M3 evo and the only real problem was resale. Mine was approximately £4k (30%) less than similar examples when I bought it.
I'm not sure how common it is to get service records etc with a cat D so confirming millage & vital service items might be difficult
If it's a fairly cheap, older car which is not likely to be worth a great deal when you come to sell it then it might be worth going for but don't think you'll get a bargain and then sell it for market rate in 2 years.
I'd also say it's worth looking at when the car was written off for your own piece of mind, if it happened when it was a fairly new car it's likely to have been a large accident, where as an older car with expensive parts or parts which are no longer available may have been written off due to a relatively minor accident.
I'm not sure how common it is to get service records etc with a cat D so confirming millage & vital service items might be difficult
If it's a fairly cheap, older car which is not likely to be worth a great deal when you come to sell it then it might be worth going for but don't think you'll get a bargain and then sell it for market rate in 2 years.
I'd also say it's worth looking at when the car was written off for your own piece of mind, if it happened when it was a fairly new car it's likely to have been a large accident, where as an older car with expensive parts or parts which are no longer available may have been written off due to a relatively minor accident.
Edited by andye30m3 on Monday 9th August 16:29
Depends on the car.
This is for two reasons. Partly, as inferred above people might as well buy an unmolested version if its a common car. Cars which are slightly more unusual - and particularly those where they're all likely to have had work - are a slightly different matter.
Secondly, you have the structural aspect. Cars with a seperate chassis are thought to be a safer bet than monocoques if they'ev had a bump - I know people are often suspicious of allegedly non-structural damage on the Lotus Elise, for example.
I've had two Cat Ds. The first was a relatively ordinary mass produced car (a 205 GTI), I didn't know what I was buying (I thought it was clean) and I lost a shed load. The second was a TVR S3. Itw as in great condition and I'd seen bags of photos and two engineers reports before I bought it for close to going rate (i.e. non-Cat D price), I documented all of this openly when I came to sell it a year or so later and got my money back.
This is for two reasons. Partly, as inferred above people might as well buy an unmolested version if its a common car. Cars which are slightly more unusual - and particularly those where they're all likely to have had work - are a slightly different matter.
Secondly, you have the structural aspect. Cars with a seperate chassis are thought to be a safer bet than monocoques if they'ev had a bump - I know people are often suspicious of allegedly non-structural damage on the Lotus Elise, for example.
I've had two Cat Ds. The first was a relatively ordinary mass produced car (a 205 GTI), I didn't know what I was buying (I thought it was clean) and I lost a shed load. The second was a TVR S3. Itw as in great condition and I'd seen bags of photos and two engineers reports before I bought it for close to going rate (i.e. non-Cat D price), I documented all of this openly when I came to sell it a year or so later and got my money back.
I'd want to be very sure nothing was bent when it was Cat D as I reckon it'd drive like s
t if it was bent anywhere. If possible get a full 4WD allignment before buying to see if it's out.
I guess the one thing to bear in mind is repairs on these cars can very easily write them off, mine wasn't that badly damaged but they came up with an estimate to fix of over £6k which in the end was slightly more than they gave me for it's write off value.
t if it was bent anywhere. If possible get a full 4WD allignment before buying to see if it's out.I guess the one thing to bear in mind is repairs on these cars can very easily write them off, mine wasn't that badly damaged but they came up with an estimate to fix of over £6k which in the end was slightly more than they gave me for it's write off value.
nonuts said:
I guess the one thing to bear in mind is repairs on these cars can very easily write them off, mine wasn't that badly damaged but they came up with an estimate to fix of over £6k which in the end was slightly more than they gave me for it's write off value.
My old Tiv was literally written off for a bonnet and a radiator. There were stacks of photos before and after and I even managed to track down the bloke who did the work. Also had full laser chassis alignment.
The thing is, by that age there are two types of low volume manufactured fiberglass cars: Those that have been rebuilt and those that need to be. The fact mine was prompted by a documentably minor accident rather than simply age is neither here nor there really. I suspect plenty left the factory in a worse state if it happened to be Friday afternoon at Bristol Avenue.
If you don't pay much for it, the fact that you won't get much when you sell it is irrelevant.
In one sense, you're better off - you know a cat d has had accident damage. Many non-cat d cars have also had accident damage but you may not realise this before buying. If you can, get photos of the pre-accident damage and receipts to show what's been fixed.
As far as insurers are concerned, most simply require the car to have a valid MOT certificate. As to what would happen in the event of a crash, I guess they would pay market value for the car in question. How they decides what market value for a cat d is, I'm not sure.
In one sense, you're better off - you know a cat d has had accident damage. Many non-cat d cars have also had accident damage but you may not realise this before buying. If you can, get photos of the pre-accident damage and receipts to show what's been fixed.
As far as insurers are concerned, most simply require the car to have a valid MOT certificate. As to what would happen in the event of a crash, I guess they would pay market value for the car in question. How they decides what market value for a cat d is, I'm not sure.
Edited by Risotto on Monday 9th August 16:50
Cheers for all your reply, the car is just 3 years old and is a top spec S3, looking to pay 14k, the market value is 18-20k i would say... so its about 30% cheaper which is roughly what one of you said....
My only worry was the insurance payout would be tiny in comparison to what I paid, so as long as there is no problems with this it sounds like it should be a ok... I did hear someone say that an insurance companies dont like to pay out twice!...
My only worry was the insurance payout would be tiny in comparison to what I paid, so as long as there is no problems with this it sounds like it should be a ok... I did hear someone say that an insurance companies dont like to pay out twice!...
If the market value is 20k ish, it probably had a accident which was estimated at least £14k to fix, I seam to remember insurance companies work on around 2/3rds of value before writing it off.
IMHO £14k's worth of damage is going to be more than a few panels, I suspect it's had a fairly major accident.
IMHO £14k's worth of damage is going to be more than a few panels, I suspect it's had a fairly major accident.
Is it this one?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
personally I would spend a couple of grand more for a car that was easier to sell, cheaper to insure....
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
personally I would spend a couple of grand more for a car that was easier to sell, cheaper to insure....
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...
Fidgits said:
i'd echo the advice above.
walk away unless:
a. its massively underpriced and you are confident its all straight now
and
b. you plan on keeping it for a long time/not worried about a difficult resale.
I know I'm biased but I would suggest a suitably interesting car doesn't have to fall into either of those. I sold the TVR to the first viewer a matter of hours after I put it up in the PH classifieds and everything was declared and above board. The price was a little down on a similarly mint example without the history, but we're talking hundreds not thousands.walk away unless:
a. its massively underpriced and you are confident its all straight now
and
b. you plan on keeping it for a long time/not worried about a difficult resale.
The Pug on the other hand, well I'd rather not talk about that...
Going against the naysayers above, a CatD or a CatC is a great way to get into some metal that you wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford. (i.e. the chance of affording an S3 when you only have a '2.0d' budget).
Providing it has been properly repaired, there shouldn't be a problem with it (you need to satisfy yourself that this is the case, as you need to assume that when you sell, your 'buyer' will want the same reassurance).
Yes, you'll get less for it when you sell it, but that shouldn't be a problem as you will have paid less for it in the first place (it's amazing the amount of people that can't seem to be able to grasp this concept). In fact, as cars tend to lose a percentage of their value over time (rather than a fixed £X per year) a CatD will in theory lose less than a 'normal' car.
Buy with your eyes wide open, negotiate hard and you'll be on to a winner.
Providing it has been properly repaired, there shouldn't be a problem with it (you need to satisfy yourself that this is the case, as you need to assume that when you sell, your 'buyer' will want the same reassurance).
Yes, you'll get less for it when you sell it, but that shouldn't be a problem as you will have paid less for it in the first place (it's amazing the amount of people that can't seem to be able to grasp this concept). In fact, as cars tend to lose a percentage of their value over time (rather than a fixed £X per year) a CatD will in theory lose less than a 'normal' car.
Buy with your eyes wide open, negotiate hard and you'll be on to a winner.
yes it is blue one in AT... well im prob going to see it tonight...
it has a much higher spec than the grey one... but that does look good also
the reason Im going for a S3 is cos I need to tow a small boat,
this is the only fast car I can find i can fit a towbar on.... and will get me to and from work each day
any other suggestions welcome before I buy one!... think an S3 is nice (although it is a bit boring) (cant afford to run 2 cars before thats suggested)
it has a much higher spec than the grey one... but that does look good also
the reason Im going for a S3 is cos I need to tow a small boat,
this is the only fast car I can find i can fit a towbar on.... and will get me to and from work each day
any other suggestions welcome before I buy one!... think an S3 is nice (although it is a bit boring) (cant afford to run 2 cars before thats suggested)
edo said:
insurance can be a problem
Are you sure about this? Never owned one myself but know two people who bought recently. Insurers were fine. In fact one of them gave him full details of the damage as they'd paid out on it.edo said:
will sell for less too.
As my daughters are fond of saying to me "Well duuuhhh" 
If he buys it for less then he'll expect to sell for less, non?Chris71 said:
Fidgits said:
i'd echo the advice above.
walk away unless:
a. its massively underpriced and you are confident its all straight now
and
b. you plan on keeping it for a long time/not worried about a difficult resale.
I know I'm biased but I would suggest a suitably interesting car doesn't have to fall into either of those. I sold the TVR to the first viewer a matter of hours after I put it up in the PH classifieds and everything was declared and above board. The price was a little down on a similarly mint example without the history, but we're talking hundreds not thousands.walk away unless:
a. its massively underpriced and you are confident its all straight now
and
b. you plan on keeping it for a long time/not worried about a difficult resale.
The Pug on the other hand, well I'd rather not talk about that...
but anyway, you pays your money, you takes your chance...
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