Cat C / Cat D cars - why do we avoid them?

fRostiE

fRostiE

fRostiE

Soldato
Joined
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Hey,

I've always been brought up to just ignore any car advertisements with Cat C or Cat D repaired listed in the item details...

I was just wondering why we avoid these cars, and if there is anybody on here that doesnt really mind.. or specifically looks for these types of cars.

Are they more costly to insure? Less structurally sound due to being repaired?

Cheers
 
I literally think it's because people don't want their pride and joy to have been smashed up previously. Also they're worried (rationally or irrationally) by bad repair jobs or potential problems and i think many people are willing to stump up the extra money to get one which hasn't been crashed.

Personally, if i saw a cat D car which was perfect, cheap enough and i got it independently inspected i wouldn't have a problem with it at all.
 
They cost no more to insure. People are naturally wary of a car they know has been in an accident - this is why Cat C and D cars are less sought after and as a result cheaper. The problem is you've no idea of the provenence of the car. Who repaired it? Are they competent? Was it done on the cheap? Who knows.

A Cat C or D car was written off by the insurer - so the insurer will not have repaired it themselves. It'll have been bought as salvage and subsequently repaired privately. Though some people chose to repair such cars at main dealer bodyshops this is considerably rarer than the plethora of 'FULLY REPAIRED BY MERCEDES' adverts you find.

I'd buy one depending on the car in question. The older a car is the less big a deal is, remember a £500 car will be written off for want of a £50 wing. Whereas it takes a PROPER smash to write off a £20,000 car.

This doesn't include undamaged stolen/recovered stuff which is written off simply because the vehicle is not found until after the insurer has paid out.

A properly repaired car is as good if not better than an undamaged car - remember, many of the competents will be newer and thus in better condition than an undamaged car. It's just a case of... do you know how well it was repaired?
 
just wondered, im looking into getting a Type R (2007-present model)... which is more likely to be written off because someone of a young disposition flipped it into a field or some such...

Stick to non written off cars then :-)
 
I purchased a cheap cat D car, when I got it home I took the front bumper off and found a mass of mangled metal, on further inspection the gear lever was slightly bent due to the impact and a few other niggles. I wouldn't bother, the risk outweighs any benefits. I did get my money back in the end due to the sellers lack of honesty but the experience left me vary weary. Unless there was any documented proof of a top notch repair and the car was a damn sight cheaper then I would consider, otherwise, walk away.
 
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fRostiE said:
just wondered, im looking into getting a Type R (2007-present model)... which is more likely to be written off because someone of a young disposition flipped it into a field or some such...

Stick to non written off cars then :-)
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You got a link to the advert?

The thing is, there are PLENTY of Type R's on sale (i assume you're talking about the Civic) and subsequently, it'd have to be suitably cheap enough for me to consider it over an uncrashed example.
 
Totally depends, my GTO was a cat C but I had a full photographic history of the repair and a breakdown of costs by a reputable garage. That was worth my while. I would by another cat c that was owner-bought off the insurance and properly repaired. I would be less certain on salvaged and repaired by a 3rd party
 
It depends on a case by case basis but generally it's people not being well prepared or knowledgeable enough to examine the quality of the repair themselves.
 
I bought a Cat C once and I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Cat D if the factors were right. Remember, Cat D is economical to repair, its just that other factors are taken in to account which pushes the overall cost of repair higher than the value of the car (hire car charges whilst waiting for a part, etc).

The Cat C car we bought was a 1986 Golf Cab Clipper. It had flood damage but on inspection only the carpets and a few electrical components needed replacing. The water never touched the engine. Great little car too.
 
I think I would be perfectly comfortable buying an unrepaired model with the intention of having it repaired but the lack of knowing if the repairs were up to scratch would bother me on an expensive previously written off car.
 
Gaygle said:
I'd say it's definately worth calling the guy to find out what is what.
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Problem is im nowhere near as mechanically minded as a majority of the people who are in the motors part of this forum, as far as i can see from the pictures it looks completely fine, but as was said above - take a bumper off and it could be an utter mess.

Probably why I've been brought up to just ignore these kinds of cars, although it could save you money there's potential for some heart/wallet ache down the line when some accident damaged item decides to give up the ghost.

On the phone they're bound to tell me its been done to the highest standards :p
 
Buying a Cat D is a false economy too because you will lose just as much as you're saving when you come to sell it on yourself, together with all the added hassle from writing off the large portion of the market who won't touch it with a bargepole.

That being said I would probably buy a Cat D if I was absolutely confident that the seller was being straight about how it came to be Cat D. If they bought it themselves and/or couldn't answer simple questions about how it came to be on the register I'd walk away.

e: That Civic looks pretty well repaired, though obviously you'd need to look closely in the boot & under the bonnet. If I had to guess I'd say it was stolen/recovered.

Have you done an HPI check on it yet? It would make a big difference whether it was written off last month vs 2 years ago.
 
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all depends on the date of the write off in relation to the date the car was born. that will show the rough value of damage to the car

i could cat C/D my car if a smashed my windscreen and keyed a few panels

dont make it a bad car does it? people are generally just a bit clueless, ie relying on low mileage to try and ensure they get a good car
 
Durzel said:
...you will lose just as much as you're saving when you come to sell it on yourself
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:confused: :confused: :confused:

Say you intend to buy a £4k car but find a CAT D car 25% less at £3k so purchase that.

Keep it a few years and sell it for 25% less of it's market value. i.e. £2k sold for £1.5k. How have you lost money?

Obviously these figures are all made up but plug anything in and the answer is the same.
 
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Well for starters we're not talking about a £4k car are we. Also, if you keep anything for "a few years" to the point where it would be written off if it just needed a new door then the Cat D part becomes less and less relevant. See [TW]Fox's post.

If the guy bought that Type-R for £9500 thinking "I've made a great saving here" then tried to sell it shortly afterwards he'd get about that much or less from people in the exact same shoes he was in. He hasn't lost money, but he's not made a killing either - ergo a false economy to assume that saving big to begin with.

That's the point I was trying to make - it's a fallacious argument to look at the car in terms of how big a saving you're making, unless you intended to keep it for long enough that the Cat D status makes negligible difference to the price anyway. Plenty of people will take a punt on a £3k Cat D car... but a ~£10k one? Not so much.
 
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I'd find out more about the seller. Nothing wrong with a properly repaired CAT D/C assuming the price is a good enough reflection of this.

There's a lot of people out there that buy insurance write offs, fix them up and sell them. They may have the original documents of the insurance accessment.

A stolen CTR would have been taken by first stealing the keys so either they banged it up or the car was recovered a long time after it was taken (unlikely as anyone with sense would have stripped it/flogged it). IT could be the car was damaged very early in its life and the insurance comapnyu just replaced it. This would mean the car may have been in storage or on the road since late 07, early 08.

It's a minefield, much like buying a privately sold car, but at least in this case it's CAT D status has been declared and there is hope that the seller is genuine. If you can knock it down to as close to 8k as possible and get a vehicle check made by the AA or RAC you might be OK.
 
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