Category D cars - your thoughts?

Thank you for all of the insightful posts! Plenty to sleep on tonight.

The quality of the repair seems questionable as previously mentioned why do the panels not seem to line up. One would hope that the parts inside of the car were put together with more care.

There is only a single picture of the damage. The car also has no service history.

Going forward I think unless I can get it massively under asking price. I need to start the search again, maybe a Seat Ibiza 1.4 Sports or a Focus of some kind?
 
These cat D and c cars rarly come with any service history this is because the rogues that buy them from insurance often give with a trim too
 
The advert puts me off a little too, just sneaky mention of cat d just after how much it is to tax. I missed it the first time of reading the advert, that would put me right off the seller but I'm really picky like that.

Where did you get the picture of the damage from? It looks like a big hit, surprised its not a cat C but maybe the damage wasn't too bad structurally
 
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[TW]Fox;29473000 said:
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.
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:D
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
The advert puts me off a little too, just sneaky mention of cat d just after how much it is to tax. I missed it the first time of reading the advert, that would put me right off the seller but I'm really picky like that.

Where did you get the picture of the damage from? It looks like a big hit, surprised its not a cat C but maybe the damage wasn't too bad structurally
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The seller provided the picture.

Thanks for all of the sensible replies. Going to up my budget to 4k and get something something with a bit more of a less bumpy past. Looking at a Alfa Mito which offers good performance and looks within budget.
 
Check the lines and the gaps.

All my cars and motorbikes of last 10 years have been Cat C. Cat D is cosmetic damage although that does look a hard impact. Fine tooth comb time.
 
helpimcrap said:
Check the lines and the gaps.

All my cars and motorbikes of last 10 years have been Cat C. Cat D is cosmetic damage although that does look a hard impact. Fine tooth comb time.
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Nothing to do with whether its cosmetic or structural or anything else between C&D. The category is financially determined.

Hence:

Old £1k focus with a dented wing and scratched alloy = Cat C = Fine, bolt a new wing on and its fine.

2016 BMW 7-Series with extensive structural damage which has had to be jigged and welded = Cat D (sounds better!) = No chance thanks.
 
helpimcrap said:
Cat D is cosmetic damage
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No it isn't.

Cat D is damage where the repair costs are 'significant' in relation to the vehicles value or where the vehicle was stolen and recovered after the insurer paid out.

Cat C is damage where the repair costs exceed the value of the vehicle.

IMHO it only makes sense to buy Cat C and D vehicles where the writeoff is very recent and the vehicles value is very low - this way you end up with vehicles with the sort of minor damage that many more expensive cars often find themselves incurring anyway. This is where the stories like 'written off for a lamp cluster' come from.

Nobody writes off a £15,000 car because it needs a new door (unless the door cannot be sourced).
 
To be fair cars are designed to crumple quite easily nowadays, so the damage may look worse than the impact actually was.

But not replacing the damaged number plate when everything else was "fixed", is laughable.
 
do cat D cars need to be inspected to go back on the road?
i'm thinking no, as It can and in this case is minor damage, but as cars so cheap, insurance paid out.
mondeo with dent in door, looks like they swung it into lamppost, or similar.
 
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