CAT-D: why shouldnt I buy?

stueng said:
people must buy these otherwise they simply wouldnt exist?
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Well they'll always exist because cars will always be written off? :confused: It's not like CAT D cars are created to satisfy some sort of demand.

On a car like this at this age it's almost always going to be quite a substantial amount of damage to write it off. I guess the very worst thing that could happen is that the repair was bodged and the car is a death trap, being less dramatic you could have issues with wind noise because of poor repairs along with corrosion from poor body repairs. All these risks are reflected in the price and you'll find in the future the car will be hard to sell and you won't claw anything as much back as you would from a straight example.

Unless it's a rare car, you really know what to look for and you have full details of the write off it's not worth it. Years ago I stupidly bought a CAT D Escort (it was only £500) after being told it was just a door skin, after digging deeper I found a whole host of more sinister issues and I got shot of the car almost immediately. Going through that on a 9k car would probably give coronary failure.

On top of all this, it looks like the car has dodgy tints, stupid badges on the back, no interior shots and the chap hasn't quite worked out that the camera can't see through his finger.
 
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It's a multitronic (CVT), it's pre facelift, there's no mention of history and it's a Cat D? I don't think I've ever responded to a thread like this with "OMG don't buy it" but seriously....

A6s are plentiful on the used market - it's flooded with ex lease cars. Shop around, spend a few k more and get something much better.
 
I'm asking about cat-d in general, this car was just an example... My concerns we're what janesy wrote... Potential to be a death trap, someone at work was bigging up cat-d as a way to save money which why I was asking on here as I am no mechanic and don't know any to ask about these things

As you say if it was something really rare or special, something to drive around town perhaps but to buy a cat-d as a commuting vehicle would just be stupid in my mind
 
I am no expert on this but my understanding is cat Ds are insurance right offs for fairly minor stuff.

For example if you damage every panel of a car it would be very expensive to put right but does that affect the way it drives or its safety ?

On rarer cars it can simply be a part is difficult to obtain so it gets written off.

Insurance companies simply make a judgement call on if a car is economic to repair and it can be really quite minor what make a car fail the grade all the minor fail ones will be CAT Ds.

The real problem is it is very difficult i think to find out why a car was made CAT D.
 
A Cat-D Multitronic with no history? You must be REALLY desperate for that Audi keyring. If all you can find meeting your criteria are cars like this, rethink your criteria.
 
Domi said:
Insurance companies simply make a judgement call on if a car is economic to repair and it can be really quite minor what make a car fail the grade all the minor fail ones will be CAT Ds.
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Minorly damaged £14,000 cars do not become Cat D easily.
 
Domi said:
The real problem is it is very difficult i think to find out why a car was made CAT D.
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That's the key point - you're right in that if for example every panel was keyed with a couple needing filler it would not be difficult to write a car off, a sprayer to buy and sort it for less than a grand then sell on in no worse mecahnical condition than it was before.

For something at say even £5-7k in value that makes sense - given the price of a new A6, if it was made cat D a couple of years ago real alarm bells start ringing. In general unless you can get detailed before and after pictures and you're happy to get next to nothing back at the end of your usage it's not worth it.
 
Doesnt the car become worth a lot less to the insurance company as well? Say you bought a 10K CatD car and the next week you write it off the payout on the car will be less than half its actual value?
 
We've had a few Cat-D, all been fine.

Recently picked up a 07 Subaru Impreza for 2k, it only had 7k on the clock when i got it, had it up on the ramps and you could see it had a hit on the front right but the whole lots been replaced. The whole cars brand new basically, the engine and underside was even still shiny.

I just use it for taking the dog down the park, bit over kill i guess. Should really think about selling it on
 
Kimi said:
We've had a few Cat-D, all been fine.

Recently picked up a 07 Subaru Impreza for 2k, it only had 7k on the clock when i got it, had it up on the ramps and you could see it had a hit on the front right but the whole lots been replaced. The whole cars brand new basically, the engine and underside was even still shiny.

I just use it for taking the dog down the park, bit over kill i guess. Should really think about selling it on
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Those figures seem a bit off!
 
Muffin` said:
Those figures seem a bit off!
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Yea i know, its a strange one, i mean for the age of car the mileage should be a lot higher, and it was bought as a non runner sold for spares because the bloke couldn't get it going, had it sat on his drive for 2 year apparently, when getting it MOT'd the mileage matches, but anyhow, its been perfect, good enough to run the dog around anyway:p
 
Kimi said:
Yea i know, its a strange one, i mean for the age of car the mileage should be a lot higher, and it was bought as a non runner sold for spares because the bloke couldn't get it going, had it sat on his drive for 2 year apparently, when getting it MOT'd the mileage matches, but anyhow, its been perfect, good enough to run the dog around anyway:p
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In for pics
 
yeah im not gonna buy a CAT-D I was just wondering what the arguments for/against are.. I find the point about how a £14k cars wont be written off for minor damage an interesting and valid point
 
I would wnat to know exactly why it was cat D
But tbh, If I see a cat d car, i just close window. Look for another....
Which is what plenty others will do when its time to sell up
 
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