noob question about V-car Category D

Time to consult you knowledgeable people in here!

My parents are looking at a car which I've read in the description as 'recorded on v-car cat D'. Did a bit of googling and would I be right in thinking this could be any of the following: stolen recovered, water damage, bodywork damage etc.

I just called up the dealer to ask what happened to the car and was told a bit hazily that it was 'front bumper and headlight' about a year ago (so accident then), not sure who it was repaired by.

A bit of browsing on Honestjohn didn't help:

Think of Cat D like this:

A car is worth £6,000, but sustains some minor cosmetic damage.

The damage will cost £2,500 for an (inflated price) insurance repair that includes the cost of a courtesy car for the owner while the repair takes place.

But the insurer can sell the car off as it is for £4,000.

So the insurer 'writes it off' as a Cat D, saving itself £500, even though the car may be perfectly drivable and suffers only cosmetic damage.

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Cat D is usually fairly minor damage but insurer didn't repair. If the car is a few years old it doesn't take much damage for the bodyshop costs to write it off or the car was stolen and eventually recovered but the insurer had already paid out.

It is not an insurance approved repair - standard accident damage that is repaired on your insurance is not recorded. If you are not 100% sure what you are doing i would not contemplate buying the vehicle.

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Also read various advice on how selling on in future will be even harder.

Of course I will always err on the side of caution and assume whatever damage was worse than whatever this dealer will tell me. But it is fully repaired so is this car a definite 'avoid'? Or can Cat D genuinely be pretty minor and just fine?

Anyone else had experiences with Cat D (or higher) vehicles?

Any advice appreciated!

My take : whatever car it is, there will be another one that isn't Cat D and you should buy that instead.

It's not that simple - it is very dependent on price, the previous damage and the quality of the repair. If you get a great deal on it, the previous damage was fairly superficial and repaired at a proper bodyshop that you can trace the reputation of, then I see no problem, especially if you don't care too much about residuals. If it was done in dodgy dave's bodge and filler shop for £20 and a crate of lager, then leave well alone.

Also VERY dependent on the car. Cat D Mondeo...err, maybe not. Cat D Elise, worth a look.

personally i'd only be happy buying a car before the damage is repaired - that way i could ensure its repaired well.

Thanks for the posts so far! Well, the dealer didn't seem to much about it other than it was new front bumper and headlight about 1 year ago, great.

It's an 06 Audi A4 S-line for ~£9k... I'm guessing probably not worth it?

Is it an audi dealer?
Any warranty?
How much are you saving over a non cat d car?

stokecity_m said:

Is it an audi dealer?
Any warranty?
How much are you saving over a non cat d car?

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Dealer is an independent. Warranty is available but I don't know specifics atm.

As a comparison, I've found an identical model at Arnold Clark, 06 A4 S-line which is ~£14k, but has lower mileage 8500 miles (vs 30,000 miles for the Cat D), so ~£5k difference?

WhatCar and Parkers online valuations say about £12-13k for the Cat D one (obv not taking into account the Cat D status...)

Get an AA inspection done and take it from there? It has to be worth the cost of a visit for some peace of mind from an expert...

I would guess that the saving made when buying a cat D is reduced a good deal when you come to sell it on. From what I can see used Audis dont depreciate as bad as some brands, I would assume that this isnt the case for what is effectively a salvage job.

Doohickey said:

Thanks for the posts so far! Well, the dealer didn't seem to much about it other than it was new front bumper and headlight about 1 year ago, great.

It's an 06 Audi A4 S-line for ~£9k... I'm guessing probably not worth it?

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err no !

obviously we don't know all the details of the car your looking at but a quick look on autotrader gets a 06 a4 tdi avant for £8995 and thats not on Vcar, and also you won't get a full value settlement if it's written off again when you have it

also generaly write offs don't have the service manual so you can't easily validate milage and dealer service, if you know where the car was originally purchased you can ring that dealer and see what service records they have of the car.

if yours does have service book I'd defo ring the dealers envolved to confirm records. it may well be faked.

I'd say £7k max for that car and it'd have to be fully loaded and MINT!

TBH it must have had a bit of a smack for a £9k car to be written off(even more so if 12k value!). the best option of why it got written off was it was stolen and totally striped.