Ever Consider a Cat C/D?

Scottland

Scottland

Scottland

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,723
Location
North Wales
Just wondering if any one has ever ever bought or thought about buying something previously written off?

Someone has put me in contact with an acquaintance who repairs write-offs, and has something I would be interested in. I don't think I'm really considering it seriously, but I'm curious to what others think...
 
Had one.
Very much depends on price and what you want. Some blinding savings to be had, especially in sub 1k bracket. If you want mechanically fine, but maybe slightly off paint/panel lines.
Even really well done ones, I would want a significant discount.
 
Is it true that insuring on a Cat C/D car will be more experensive and / or not even accept policys on them?
 
Wouldn't recommend it, always appealing because of price.

I've own one CAT C and all seemed well for a week. Then everything just started going wrong. And also the trim/panels etc had all been tampered with, so depending on the damage expect broken clips and missing screws from the interior ...Which bugged the hell out of me!
 
my old vectra DTI was a cat D, was fine.

but i dont think i would buy one if i intended to sell it on in future, i just run it into the ground and scrap it.
 
Having just repaired my girlfriend's car which was classified Cat C I woud say yes but only knowing the damage it had and the extent of repairs. If you dont intend to sell on and just want a bargain car then it could be a great way to go provided you know what to look out for.
 
[TW]Fox;21238224 said:
No.
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Actually that's not strictly true. You have to read the small print; my old car was written off and a few people wouldn't insure it, despite it only being a Cat D (dented door skin of all things!). If memory serves Swiftcover were one of them.
 
I've had a couple, bought a Saxo 1.4vsx about 4 years ago with a football sized dent in the passenger door for £270. It ran without fault for 8 months (strange for a saxo) until a Mondeo pulled out into traffic on a dual carriageway, and the Volvo on my inside swerved to avoid it and rammed me into a central reservation lampost at 60 mph. The insurance first offer was £1100 so I snapped their hand off ;)
The car I'm running now is actually a Cat C, 2001 Fiat Bravo JTD. It's got a hand sized dent on the hatchback. Cost me £350, it's done 99K and has been remapped and lowered with Fiat Coupe Turbo alloys on it. I'll just run it till it dies then send it for scrap.
Never had any problems with Insurance on them.
 
I had a Cat C Omega.
You could tell where the damage was, mainly because of the substandard paint on the front bumper and no fog lights.

Mechanically sound and had no problems with it :D

Found no problems trying to get insurance, and went with Admiral.
 
Lowe said:
Actually that's not strictly true. You have to read the small print; my old car was written off and a few people wouldn't insure it, despite it only being a Cat D (dented door skin of all things!). If memory serves Swiftcover were one of them.
Click to expand...

Agreed - Greenlight do not insure cars which have been declared a total loss either.
 
It depends entirely on the level of damage.

This is a cat C write off.

neonfail.JPG


I didn't even repair it, I just drove it for a year.

EDIT: It had already been declared cat D by the bloke at the car wash.
 
Do some people not take pics and document the work done when repairing a CAT D ? I think if I were ever to repair one I would document it all so that I could show any potential future buyer the extent of the damage to enable me to sell it easier, so long as the damage wasn't horrific and I repaired it sub-standard of course ;)
 
I've just bought a cat D car very cheap which was written off because of a scuff to the rear bumper. I think it depends on the extent of the damage and how it was repaired which would help me decide if it was worth buying. Obviously you can save quite a bit but selling them on is the tricky part.

I purchased a cat c which even stated on logbook it had been damaged repaired about 3 years ago, it was a bmw m3 convertible, the passenger side door gap with the rear panel was a little odd but i had the car quite cheap at the time and never complained. I had no problem selling it either but some buyers will be very fussy over things like this.

If the price is right and the damage has been repaired properly i don't see the issue.
 
Philz0r said:
my old vectra DTI was a cat D, was fine.

but i dont think i would buy one if i intended to sell it on in future, i just run it into the ground and scrap it.
Click to expand...

Yep. It can be fine but I wouldnt bother unless its cheap.
Dented panels and needs new door = Cat D I would mostly be concerned about checking it brakes straight from speed, no bias in the steering, check tyres for strange wear and obviously since its end of life it should cost hundreds imo
 
I bought a written off volvo 240 for parts for my father's working 240 about 10 years back, it was in great condition apart from the fact the windscreen was cracked, but the windscreen was worth more than the car so it was written off.

As said above, sub £1k and knowing the issue I would, otherwise no.
 
It depends entirely on the value of the car. Some people on these boards will have no problem in buying a cat C/D write off at the low end of the market, stating a minor bump can dictate a car as cat C/D, so it's not going to be that broken, and cheap to buy.

That's a flawed approach. You buy a cheap car in the hope that nothing goes wrong with it, or has gone wrong with it. If it's had an accident, and even repaired at the main dealer, issues from the previous accident can crop up.
 
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