Category D cars - your thoughts?

[New World Order]

Hey,

I've always just ignored any car advertisements with Cat C or Cat D repaired listed in the item details.

I was just wondering do we all avoid these cars, and if there is anybody on here that doesn't really mind or specifically looks for these types of cars.

Are they less structurally sound due to being repaired, More liking to run into problems down the line?

Down to the difference in price, I would be able to buy a better model which makes it temping.

Would you run a mile or be interested in the below pictured car repaired and priced right?

Spoiler

Cheers

 

[[TW]Fox]

Cat D on a 2002 Mondeo last year because it needed a new rear light cluster? No problem.

Cat D on a 2014 Mondeo in 2015? Run away.

Cat D on a tatty looking Celica that's thousands under budget? Run away screaming.

 

[Diddums]

^

 

[Skyboat]

Cat D on a 2002 Mondeo last year because it needed a new rear light cluster? No problem.

Cat D on a 2014 Mondeo in 2015? Run away.

Cat D on a tatty looking Celica that's thousands under budget? Run away screaming.

What Fox said.

Looks like an Ibiza?

 

[matthab]

Cat D on a 2002 Mondeo last year because it needed a new rear light cluster? No problem.

Cat D on a 2014 Mondeo in 2015? Run away.

Cat D on a tatty looking Celica that's thousands under budget? Run away screaming.

Damn

 

[eazyrider]

Cat D on a 2002 Mondeo last year because it needed a new rear light cluster? No problem.

Cat D on a 2014 Mondeo in 2015? Run away.

Cat D on a tatty looking Celica that's thousands under budget? Run away screaming.

This

 

[snapdragon69]

Not a fan of blue wheels.

 

[insane200]

Cat D on a 2002 Mondeo last year because it needed a new rear light cluster? No problem.

Cat D on a 2014 Mondeo in 2015? Run away.

Cat D on a tatty looking Celica that's thousands under budget? Run away screaming.

Not often i laugh at something Fox has said but

 

[DereksDontRun]

that pic is a quite decent impact - the way the front of the bonnet is bent down and the angle of the panel with the bonnet catch suggest it's been compressed in a bit more than shown and the bumper has relaxed back making it not look so bad. Presumably the crumple-zones and even main chassis have taken a good % of the impact. even if it's straightened out then wouldn't the crumple-zones now been weakened and ineffective? if so, then wouldn't that make it less safe in a future crash?

 

[New World Order]

What Fox said.

Looks like an Ibiza?

It's a 62 plate seat Ibiza 1.2 fr tsi listed for £3700. The seller purchased it from the insurance company and states it comes without any service history.

Considering getting a mobile inspection that would hopefully find anything majorly wrong with it. But also part of me thinks stay well clear.

 

[rodenal]

That particular picture tells you little tbh - you need to see chasis legs, bumper bar and proper slam panel etc to have any real feel for it.

Doesn't exactly look like a "new bonnet and away you go"

Who are you going to get to inspect it? Not sure your average AA guy has a clue about repairing crash damaged cars

Also consider how you are actually going to get it repaired - there's a minimum of bonnet, two wings, bumper, grilles, covers, probably rad, crash bar, at a guess some other anciliaries that have been damaged as a knock on from the front impact, then you'll need to attend to any actual structural damage it has, you'll need to buy new plastic covers for the arches at least one new wheel get everything aligned etc etc

If you can't do the majority of that yourself there's an easy couple of grand

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's a 62 plate seat Ibiza 1.2 fr tsi listed for £3700. The seller purchased it from the insurance company and states it comes without any service history.

Considering getting a mobile inspection that would hopefully find anything majorly wrong with it. But also part of me thinks stay well clear.

Walk away. What's the point?

Why didn't the insurance company fix it?

A non Cat D one is only a couple of grand more.

 

[Voxination]

It's a 62 plate seat Ibiza 1.2 fr tsi listed for £3700. The seller purchased it from the insurance company and states it comes without any service history.

Considering getting a mobile inspection that would hopefully find anything majorly wrong with it. But also part of me thinks stay well clear.

Surely the question is why would you bother going through all that hassle for something so ordinary? Not meaning to sound elitist or anything but for a family hatchback sub £5k there's tons of choice, you'd be mad to take on something like this. It's not like it's some ultra rare Celica or something that's worth financially ruining yourself over

 

[New World Order]

That particular picture tells you little tbh - you need to see chasis legs, bumper bar and proper slam panel etc to have any real feel for it.

Doesn't exactly look like a "new bonnet and away you go"

Who are you going to get to inspect it? Not sure your average AA guy has a clue about repairing crash damaged cars

Also consider how you are actually going to get it repaired - there's a minimum of bonnet, two wings, bumper, grilles, covers, probably rad, crash bar, at a guess some other anciliaries that have been damaged as a knock on from the front impact, then you'll need to attend to any actual structural damage it has, you'll need to buy new plastic covers for the arches at least one new wheel get everything aligned etc etc

If you can't do the majority of that yourself there's an easy couple of grand

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough on the OP. The car has been repaired and more or less looks visually looks fine. If you look at the pictures closely enough it's clear that the bumper has been replaced, cosmetic imperfections would't bother me to much.

Inspection would be typical AA guy level, so hopefully would be able to check it's been repaired to a good standard. I was looking at scotia vehicle inspection or click mechanic for the inspection. Do you think they wouldn't have sufficient expertise in looking at CAT D vehicles?

Surely the question is why would you bother going through all that hassle for something so ordinary? Not meaning to sound elitist or anything but for a family hatchback sub £5k there's tons of choice, you'd be mad to take on something like this. It's not like it's some ultra rare Celica or something that's worth financially ruining yourself over

I'm under 21 therefore insurance is a big consideration. Can't find anything with equal performance that doesn't cost twice as much to insure It's cheaper for me to have this 1.2 engine with a turbo then a bog standard slower 1.4.

 

[koooowweeee]

How much would the car be worth before the damage? £6000? Not worth messing about with unless you knock him right down on price

 

[yaboydom]

Current car 2008 bought in Jan is a Cat D had light scratches to the bumper and front wing as well as a damaged fog light i saw the before pictures , car has had a full front bumper respray as well as wing fog light wasn't repaired.
I bought it because it was well under what the book price for that year model was , As long as i can see a before picture of the repair before i buy and it's only light cosmetic i would buy another Cat D vehicle.

I do tend to hold onto Cars for a long time so im not bothered by the resale value , my previous car was made a Cat D while i was on holiday in America and as i bought it back and ran it for another 5 years due to the only damage being a scratch running from rear quarter to front wing i knew mechanically it was fine.

 

[Skyboat]

All that work to repair it and they haven't even bothered to buy a new front number plate?

 

[rodenal]

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough on the OP. The car has been repaired and more or less looks visually looks fine. If you look at the pictures closely enough it's clear that the bumper has been replaced, cosmetic imperfections would't bother me to much.

Inspection would be typical AA guy level, so hopefully would be able to check it's been repaired to a good standard. I was looking at scotia vehicle inspection or click mechanic for the inspection. Do you think they wouldn't have sufficient expertise in looking at CAT D vehicles?

I'm with you now sorry

I'm not sure whether you'll get much in the way of valued opinion onnrepairs from an inspection, they tend to look at the current physical condition of items, so I would expect them to effectively say "looks like it has been in an accident and repaired" but they probably won't be able to see many of the items that are important to have been repaired properly on a modern car without removing covers, slam panel etc

You could always phone and ask though, I suspect a chat with the actual visiting engineer would be more useful than the call /booking centre

If it's close to you then the best place to start is to go see the thing, though tbh even from pictures the standard of cosmetic repair leaves a bit to be desired - why not line things up properly? Also consider how the thing has been put back together if the bits you can actually see haven't been finished right.

I'd want a photographed documentation of all the damage and parts repaired, which is a bit unlikely tbh

 

[mjt]

That's had far too big a smash for my liking. Structural rigidity and integrity would be my biggest concern - how would it fare in an accident? :/

 

[Amp34]

Another thing worth mentioning that hasn't been mentioned before is resale. You buy it and a year/5 years down the line decide you want to get something else - what hit are you going to take on it in the sale and more importantly how long will it take to sell - how many people will just walk away?

We were looking at a repaired write off last month. This one was 5 years old and it was written off due to hale damage (mega hale here, meant replacing/repairing a significant portion of panels and windscreen at the eq of £8k) but walked away after deliberation because we just weren't sure if we would be able to dispose of it easily if the time came. The cost didn't justify the difficulty.

Obviously if you're planning on running it into the ground and not selling it then it's not relevant but otherwise worth thinking about.