Cat 'B' for sale....legality?
Discussion
Ola peeps,
I've been looking for a cheap small FWD shed to pootle about in for the winter. I found a Corsa SXi that was very very cheap for an '03 with 50k miles. Although the seller mentioned in the ad he was moving to Oz and needed the car sold asap "hence the price", I thought £500 was a bit suspect. I did a quick Text Check and it turns out it was a Cat B write off in May'09.
So, what are the legalities of this? Can a Cat B be legally repaired and put back on the road? Cat B, as far as I'm aware, means "break for spares if economical". I know some insurance inspectors undervalue cars so that a write off is more likely, what with using new parts and dealer labour rates etc. So is it possible for a Cat B to be repairable on a car that would be fairly cheap anyway if it was un-damaged?
Also, the guy never mentioned it in the ad, but he may have done had I 'phoned and asked. Benefit of the doubt and all.
ETA I'm not thinking about buying it now BTW!
I've been looking for a cheap small FWD shed to pootle about in for the winter. I found a Corsa SXi that was very very cheap for an '03 with 50k miles. Although the seller mentioned in the ad he was moving to Oz and needed the car sold asap "hence the price", I thought £500 was a bit suspect. I did a quick Text Check and it turns out it was a Cat B write off in May'09.
So, what are the legalities of this? Can a Cat B be legally repaired and put back on the road? Cat B, as far as I'm aware, means "break for spares if economical". I know some insurance inspectors undervalue cars so that a write off is more likely, what with using new parts and dealer labour rates etc. So is it possible for a Cat B to be repairable on a car that would be fairly cheap anyway if it was un-damaged?
Also, the guy never mentioned it in the ad, but he may have done had I 'phoned and asked. Benefit of the doubt and all.
ETA I'm not thinking about buying it now BTW!
Edited by irodger on Friday 5th November 08:56
Category B Insurance Write Off - the vehicle must not be used again but non- structural and roadworthy parts and components may be recovered for use in other vehicles. Care must be taken to ensure that they are not critical components with important safety functions.
That's just taken from some random website, but everything seems to say the same - a cat-B cannot be put back on the road. Whether you could replace the entire chassis and refit the mechanical components and reregister it as the same car, I don't know, but I would have thought it would be prohibitively expensive anyway.
That's just taken from some random website, but everything seems to say the same - a cat-B cannot be put back on the road. Whether you could replace the entire chassis and refit the mechanical components and reregister it as the same car, I don't know, but I would have thought it would be prohibitively expensive anyway.
Edited by kambites on Friday 5th November 08:51
Dont buy it!
Officially a cat B damaged car will not go back on the road. And certainly a low value thing like a corsa would not be worth fixing.
However
A repairer can in fact request a vosa inspection on a cat B and if deemed ok by the vosa inspection chap it can then be put back on the road, its very rare to see one, and on something low value like a corsa I cant see why they would have bothered.
The only other way to get a cat B back on the road is if the damaged car is taken overseas, repaired, registered, overseas then brought back in a re-registered here it can go back on the road, and some dodgy characters do this between uk and ireland.
Officially a cat B damaged car will not go back on the road. And certainly a low value thing like a corsa would not be worth fixing.
However
A repairer can in fact request a vosa inspection on a cat B and if deemed ok by the vosa inspection chap it can then be put back on the road, its very rare to see one, and on something low value like a corsa I cant see why they would have bothered.
The only other way to get a cat B back on the road is if the damaged car is taken overseas, repaired, registered, overseas then brought back in a re-registered here it can go back on the road, and some dodgy characters do this between uk and ireland.
Don't worry, definitely not buying! Just wondered on the legality of it thats all!
Thanks for the replies, intersting about the shipping of abroad and then re-registering it etc. Though, as you say, not worth it on an old Corsa!
So, if I understand what you're saying, then: A write-off is a write-off no matter whether its a Cat A, B, C or D. This usually means the cost of repair is over 50% of the car's retail value.
The categories come into it to assess the extent of the actual damage and not just the cost of repair. So, for example a TVR Chimera worth £5k is involved in a bump and the fibreglass bodywork at the front is damaged, along with some ancillaries like lights, radiator etc. But there is no chassis damage or any underlying damage, so to speak. The cost of repair is £3k including bodywork, lights, paint, labour etc so its a write-off. But it can be repaired, just not economically. So, Cat C/D.
But if the car is pinged off a kerb at 60mph and the bodywork is relatively straight, but the chassis, suspension etc and a lot of other parts underneath are goosed. So this is also a write-off due to cost, but would warrant the car not safe to repair. Hence a Cat B.
If its deemed not safe to repair a car, it could then be passed as safe by another (as mentioned above, VOSA) inspector?
If this is the case, then surely it must've been seriously expensive to fix this Corsa. Either that or something fishy's going on and its not been inspected before being put back on the road.
Thanks for the replies, intersting about the shipping of abroad and then re-registering it etc. Though, as you say, not worth it on an old Corsa!
So, if I understand what you're saying, then: A write-off is a write-off no matter whether its a Cat A, B, C or D. This usually means the cost of repair is over 50% of the car's retail value.
The categories come into it to assess the extent of the actual damage and not just the cost of repair. So, for example a TVR Chimera worth £5k is involved in a bump and the fibreglass bodywork at the front is damaged, along with some ancillaries like lights, radiator etc. But there is no chassis damage or any underlying damage, so to speak. The cost of repair is £3k including bodywork, lights, paint, labour etc so its a write-off. But it can be repaired, just not economically. So, Cat C/D.
But if the car is pinged off a kerb at 60mph and the bodywork is relatively straight, but the chassis, suspension etc and a lot of other parts underneath are goosed. So this is also a write-off due to cost, but would warrant the car not safe to repair. Hence a Cat B.
If its deemed not safe to repair a car, it could then be passed as safe by another (as mentioned above, VOSA) inspector?
If this is the case, then surely it must've been seriously expensive to fix this Corsa. Either that or something fishy's going on and its not been inspected before being put back on the road.
Edited by irodger on Friday 5th November 10:27
It isn't illegal per se. It is in the ABI Code of Practice, not any legislation. The legal bit covers the registration of salvage co's and disposal of end of life vehicle, rather than anything like "thou shalt not drive a Cat b on the road".
So it is pretty difficult to do, but possible.
So it is pretty difficult to do, but possible.
GestapoWatch said:
Moral obligation to shop the seller? Could be a complete liability for whoever buys and a danger to the rest of us 
What about naming and shaming rules on here? I suppose I'm only posting a link to an ad if I do this....http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/94/67937394.htm...
If this is wrong, then mods please remove, ta
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff