very light fresh water damage

[Dr House]

Really how light could it have been for car to be registered as a Cat C?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2830823.htm


What sort of damage would water do to the engine assuming it was not running when it got wet?

Note I am not thinking of buying this car nor am I looking at buying a M3.

 

[mjt]

Maybe driven into flood water?

My mate ruined a Mini's engine by driving through flood water.
Engine blew up 150 miles down the road. Cat D I think it was.

 

[Maccapacca]

How much cheaper is this than BMW s/h retail? it needs to be so much cheaper as at a guess I'd say BMW won't warranty it or honour recalls, and I guess you'd struggle to get a independent warranty that would honour any claim.

 

[ScoobyDoo69]

So the engine is all that's basically been replaced?

If my engine blows I will feed water into it and claim water damage to get a replacement

 

[Kenai]

You don't write off a £30,000 car due to 'very light' damage :/

 

[naefeart]

I saw this add. Nice that he includes no details of the damage whatsoever.

It looks around 10-12 grand cheaper than a car that hasn't been swimming.

 

[Durzel]

You don't write off a £30,000 car due to 'very light' damage :/

Add another £10k+

09 plate M3 is going to be a lot more than £30k.

 

[Maccapacca]

So the engine is all that's basically been replaced?

If my engine blows I will feed water into it and claim water damage to get a replacement

It may not have had anything replaced, doesn't say, it could just have been caught up with a flood and up to the wing mirrors in water for a week, or rolled into a lake etc.

I'm assuming it'd get written off because no one could warranty the car, I know if it were mine I'd be fighting for a write off than having it back

 

[fewfe3]

You don't write off a £30,000 car due to 'very light' damage :/

was just thinking that, i thought Cat C was it being repairable but the cost of the repair is more than the car is worth.

 

[DM]

Id rather have something smashed and repaired than that.

That just looks like a life time of electrical problems to me and a dodgy smell recurring over and over.

 

[Dr House]

Id rather have something smashed and repaired than that.

That just looks like a life time of electrical problems to me and a dodgy smell recurring over and over.

Yep. I would say there is a good chance it will just get exported and sold on as a normal non damaged car.

There is a easy 20k profit in it for someone sending it to Cyprus

 

[naefeart]

... and a dodgy smell recurring over and over.

That alone would kill it for me, regardless of the saving

 

[Dr House]

Also I have always wondered, if you own a cat d car and it gets stolen will your insurance pau out as if it was a normal car or will they pay you less due to the fact the it is a cat d and worth a lot less.

 

[naefeart]

pay you less due to the fact the it is a cat d and worth a lot less.

 

[Westyfield2]

Local Audi garage was flooded a few years back. All the cars basically stood in a foot of water, about up to the door sills IIRC. They sold them all of dead cheap.


Dad wrote off our Audi about five years back. We'd been going through a load of flooded lanes but this one was deeper than the rest. Air intake got under water and water doesn't compress very well . It drove out then conked out. Got it started after about 10 minutes where it limped home belching black smoke (even more than the dagdag thing did normally ). Engine damage was terminal. I didn't see it myself when it was opened up but apparently all the rods and valves were bent .

Insurance company took the cost of a brand new shrink-wrapped engine from Audi , and the labour cost of Audi main dealer fitting it (more complicated because it had the Quattro option) and the costs made it a write off... without a scratch on the paint .

We asked the insurance company about buying back the salvage as we'd get a recon engine & change it ourselves and flog it on... funnily enough it had already been sold. To the assessor who wrote it off I bet!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Also I have always wondered, if you own a cat d car and it gets stolen will your insurance pau out as if it was a normal car or will they pay you less due to the fact the it is a cat d and worth a lot less.

If its on record as being a Cat D then it'll be the value of it in Cat D.

 

[Matt82]

the ad says

has no paint work

lolwut?

 

[panthro]

I saw that ad too and was thinking the exact same thing.

You dont write off a 60k car at CAT C for "light water damage".

 

[naefeart]

Maybe we are being too pessimistic here. The add says fresh water, so perhaps all that has happened is that the owner on the way back from Sainsburys - with a months supply of Perrier water in the back - has been forced to brake hard and toppled the water.

No paintwork required and no nasty smells (not saying anything about the electrics).

Does it seem more of a bargin now?

 

[panthro]

It must have been at least 20k's worth of damage as thats a ~40k car. Then it would have had to pass inspection before re-registering so the damage must have been much more than light water damage.