Second hand cars - Cat D write offs - best avoided?

Vonhelmet

Vonhelmet

Vonhelmet

Caporegime
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
48,298
Location
On the hoods
I'm looking at picking up a new car this month, and I've come across some cars that are described as "Cat D". I understand that this refers to insurance write offs which aren't economical for the insurer to repair, but are worth their selling to a garage or dealer to do up. Obviously these come in cheaper than other comparable cars.

Am I best avoiding these cars? Is it a false economy to save a couple of grand now, if it's going to fall apart later? What sort of damage would you be talking about for it be treated in this way?

Also, are car dealers obliged to inform you if it's been written off in the past? Or am I now going to have to worry that any car that looks a bit of a bargain has a dirty history? Well, more so than with any other used car anyway...

Cheers.
 
If they are selling as Cat D then most likely somebody has already bought the wreck and done the car up and fixed the problems with it. Otherwise you'll find the wrecked cars being sold on auto salvage sites.

The car could be good as new with lots of new parts, equally it could have been bodged by some cowboy. If your not in a position of experience to tell the two apart they are best avoided.

Plus they are harder to shift on as 75 % of joe public will just walk away when you say its a cat D making it much harder to sell.

If you want to know if a car you are buying is a cat C/D then get a HPI check done. this will show up on HPI.
 
If I intended on keeping it for a while, and I could verify the repair was done properly then I wouldn't be put off by a Cat D. In fact, a car I'm considering right now is Cat D and is a good £2k less than others.
 
MikeHiow said:
If I intended on keeping it for a while, and I could verify the repair was done properly then I wouldn't be put off by a Cat D. In fact, a car I'm considering right now is Cat D and is a good £2k less than others.
Click to expand...

Then you sell it for next to nothing as well, if you can actually shift it.
 
vonhelmet said:
I understand that this refers to insurance write offs which aren't economical for the insurer to repair
Cheers.
Click to expand...

Cars can be written off as a catagory D for relatively insignificant things, say damage to a door skin or wing, a damaged bumper, kerbed wheel and busted wheelarch, or an airbag deploying. Given the cost of bodywork/hirecars/replacement parts it really doesn't take much to give the insurers an excuse to write the car off and save themselves a few quid - so some times bargains can be had, just pick carefully.

Catagory D is typically non-structural stuff - mainly just panel, trim, glasswork or mechanical/suspension related - so it usually means that it's been subject to vandalism, glass damage, a low speed shunt, driven into something or something has driven into it at parking speeds. Some cases a car will be Cat D if someone damages the paintwork too, i.e. by pouring thinners on it or keying the length of the car.
 
Last edited:
Lashout_UK said:
Don't forget that cars can be written off as a catagory D for relatively insignificant things, say damage to a door skin or wing, a damaged bumper, kerbed wheel and busted wheelarch, or an airbag deploying. Given the cost of bodywork/hirecars/replacement parts it really doesn't take much to give the insurers an excuse to write the car off and save themselves a few quid.

Catagory D is non-structural stuff so it usually means that it's been subject to vandalism, glass damage, a low speed shunt, driven into something or something has driven into it at parking speeds.
Click to expand...

Surely that depends if it was CAT D when it was 1 or 10 years ago?
 
Janesy B said:
Surely that depends if it was CAT D when it was 1 or 10 years ago?
Click to expand...

You mean in terms of vehicle age? Obviously if it was catagory D when it was a younger car then it is likely the damage could have been more considerable - say a pair of damaged doors and a wing from a side impact - but even so it doesn't take much to write off a brand new car as a catagory D - as mentioned, taking into account the cost of main dealer or franchise work, the cost of new parts, paintwork etc. In some cases it may well be economically viable to repair the car but for the insurance company it's just easier, and less time consuming, to write it off and move on, hence why people buy them, do them up themselves then sell them on with an aim to making a profit.

The majority of new cars (say under a year and 10k) that are accident damaged lightly will end up being repaired so you'll never hear about it otherwise but most cars after about 3 years and 30k only retain 40% of their value anyway so it takes very little to write one off as a catagory D. After 6 years any kind of noteable damage would probably lead to it being a writeoff for the insurers.

Cat D applies to stolen recovered stuff as well so it may not necessarily have been crashed...
 
Last edited:
Janesy B said:
Then you sell it for next to nothing as well, if you can actually shift it.
Click to expand...

So? I don't get why people say that.
Of course you sell it on cheaper when you let it go, everyone knows that. Doesn't mean the it's not worth buying.
 
Because the you save money (On the purchase) but lose nothing when you weigh the car in after 10 years.

Of course, as already said, you could buy cheap and sell cheap. But, for example you buy a cat D example of a £4k car for £3k and keep it for 4 years. After 4 years the straight example might be worth £2k, but now you've hit this sort of money you'll barely be able to give the Cat D away because it'll only be worth about a grand and there is so much available in this price range most people will just buy a straight car.

Drive it till it expires and you lose nothing.
 
20% is the average reduction for cat d isn't it??
So a £4k car get bought for £3.2k, when you come to sell it. It's worth £2k so £1.6k sale.
You actually save money on the cat d!
 
Morba said:
20% is the average reduction for cat d isn't it??
So a £4k car get bought for £3.2k, when you come to sell it. It's worth £2k so £1.6k sale.
You actually save money on the cat d!
Click to expand...

Well I was close with the initial calc :p

I still think once you hit £2k for the straight version you're less likely to find someone whose either not going to find another £400, or just buy a straight car for £1600.

Obviously this depends entirely on the car.
 
Fortunately you are wrong. Bloke who sits next to me in work buys quite a few cheap cat d cars from eBay, makes money from them worryingly!
 
It entirely depends on the car, what the damage was, how it was repaired and how it is priced now. Hire car charges are often enough to write off many cars if the repair can't be done very quickly.
 
Cat D stigma is akin to the year put on number plates. 90% of people don't understand it and will happily pay more to avoid.

That doesn't mean that a Cat D is a means to getting a bargain, just like buying a 12 month old car isn't either.
 
I have been burnt by a Cat D - essentially it was involved in a fairly minor accident (hence Cat D) which had been repaired.

Unfortunately it had suffered damage to several hidden areas that weren't accessible until large amounts of suspension components had been removed. Given other stuff I have read around the net it seems to be a case that some places will just focus on getting the car to look right again so it can be flogged on again quickly.

If you find one from somewhere that will guarantee the quality of the repair, then it might be worth a punt, but for me buying a cat D from a private sale is a definate no.
 
Last edited:
there are properly repaired cat d cars and ones that have been rush repaired to make a profit and sell it on.

Sadly there are more around of the latter which makes it an easy pitfall to fall into. Only worth it if you or somebody else is going to be able to get it on the ramps and properly check out the repairs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom