Bought a Cat N car

[timmothy]

I'm looking to get an old banger for when I arrive back into the UK tomorrow. I know the prices of cars has skyrocketed so can't afford much at the moment.



There is a guy on Facebook marketplace who seems to buy cars that have been written off and resells them. I have gathered this by his previous sales and what he has up for sale now.



He has a nice little car with 30000 miles is 2008 so not bad miles. Passed every MOT and has no advisories from the past one. He doesn't seem to have fixed the reason why it was written off as the dents around the wheel are still there.



Anything I should look out for? Any downsides other than slightly higher insurance and lower resale value?



Also any ideas on where I can find a decent little car with MOT for under 1500 near Heathrow or Bristol would be appreciated.



Thanks

 

[Resident]

A vcheck will cost you a fiver. Usually Categoried cars end up through some auction house and they catalog the damage.

Vcheck has access to them as well as the normal HPi type check.

 

[snapdragon69]

The main downside is if you have an accident they are unlikely to repair it/pay out again.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Buying a well repaired cat N can be a very astute and cheap way to buy a vehicle, provided you are confident in your ability to check the condition yourself, or have it looked over by a competent mechanic.

If you cannot/do not do those things, it will always be a risk, how much of a risk is entirely up to chance.

Cat N stuff SHOULD be fine from a critical structures point of view, so likely was a cosmetic or non-critical system damage.

 

[sovietspybob]

The main downside is if you have an accident they are unlikely to repair it/pay out again.

They should pay out again, i had a friend who had a CAT D car that was written off and they paid out for it no problem.

 

[timmothy]

He has now said he doesn't have the v5 or green slip and that I would need to fill out a v62. Is that normal? Thanks in advance. Been traveling for 2 days now so any help is appreciated

 

[teenwolf]

Honestly don't bother

 

[radderfire]

Honestly don't bother

I agree. What type of car is it anyway?

My suggestion is try calling High Peak Autos on YouTube. You can see from his YouTube channel that he sometimes trades in very cheap cars. I've watched most of his videos and he seems like a decent chap. He's not in the location you wanted, but might be worth the extra mileage instead of an accident damaged car that sounds a bit dodgy.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HighPeakAutos/videos

 

[radderfire]

He has now said he doesn't have the v5 or green slip and that I would need to fill out a v62. Is that normal? Thanks in advance. Been traveling for 2 days now so any help is appreciated

I'm not sure whether this is normal, but it has probably had the V5 revoked when it was written off. I would have hoped the guy selling the car would have applied for the v62 himself so that he had a V5 when selling the car. Personally I would not bother as there are too many risks at this price point.

 

[Tinders]

These private 'traders' are a nuisance, they buy tat from Copart, do them up, but wont apply for a V5 as it adds an owner, thus impacting the value. Getting a V5 (from a V62) takes months at the moment. I made the mistake of buying an MR2 without the V5 in the summer, i was hoping to have some fun in the summer and sell it on towards the end of summer, sodding V5 didnt arrive till end of sept, when the good weather had gone.

 

[gc123]

These private 'traders' are a nuisance, they buy tat from Copart, do them up, but wont apply for a V5 as it adds an owner, thus impacting the value. Getting a V5 (from a V62) takes months at the moment. I made the mistake of buying an MR2 without the V5 in the summer, i was hoping to have some fun in the summer and sell it on towards the end of summer, sodding V5 didnt arrive till end of sept, when the good weather had gone.

yeap pretty standard not to get the document as it will need re applying for, in the old days we used to have to have a vic inspection to be able to apply but now i understand you dont? seems backward step but still.
before the inspection system we would buy a vehicle apply straight away for a doc and then start repairs while the docs were processed, but now as said any one can register with copart and the likes pay a reg fee and purchase, many vehicles dont even get repaired just quick flips.
as far as payouts i have never heard of a payout declined ,on a few they have notified that as the vehicle was classified they would offer a lower payout but then horses for courses you buy cheaper to sell cheaper.
i always laugh (not) when i read a long lengthy add for a motor, especially one im interested in and the cheeky folk stick cat n etc hidden in the write up really annoying.

 

[Resident]

These private 'traders' are a nuisance, they buy tat from Copart, do them up, but wont apply for a V5 as it adds an owner, thus impacting the value. Getting a V5 (from a V62) takes months at the moment. I made the mistake of buying an MR2 without the V5 in the summer, i was hoping to have some fun in the summer and sell it on towards the end of summer, sodding V5 didnt arrive till end of sept, when the good weather had gone.

Main point is that it'll cost em £25 quid which they won't wanna pay as it eats into the profit.

 

[timmothy]

Thanks for the information. Due to what you both said I went for it as I had a good feeling about it.

He definitely didn't fix it, even told me so. Said it's just a few dents and scratches and just flipping it basically. Said it's a win lose situation sometimes and he doesn't actually make a huge profit. I'm sure he would say that though. There was another little Suzuki there that had hardly any scratches and looked almost new that had been written off and he was selling on. Seems a real shame that they get written off like that for such minor things.

It's a Daihatsu Sirion 2005. Got it for 1200 in the end and has MOT till June. Drove it across London to Heathrow to pickup my partner and then down to Bristol and it seems okay.

It definitely has more road noise and needs more revving than our huge minivan in Canada. Getting used to the gearstick is weird as well. Will see how it goes and hope the v5 doesn't take too long. This has been bought to drive till it does rather than sell on.

 

[cjgardens]

apply for a V5 as it adds an owner

Not if he's a trader.

 

[Resident]

Not if he's a trader.

* REGISTERED trader, paying appropiate taxes and supplying all correct consumer rights. Another reason why they don't want to apply for the V5 because the DVLA would flag them up as a trader after so many in a year.

Come across quite a few "traders" before that claim it was a private sale when things have gone belly up too.

 

[timmothy]

* REGISTERED trader, paying appropiate taxes and supplying all correct consumer rights. Another reason why they don't want to apply for the V5 because the DVLA would flag them up as a trader after so many in a year.

Come across quite a few "traders" before that claim it was a private sale when things have gone belly up too.

He was definitely one of the un registered ones. It just seemed very difficult to get a decent oow mileage small car unfortunately. It's interesting to look back on previous spec me threads on this forum. 3 years ago a Honda civic 2008 at £1800 was considered extortionate. Now 3 years later the car would be worth more.

I had the flights from hell, a night sleeping on the floor at the airport before flying, a whole day layover and loads of stress selling our camper in Canada. Then arriving into Heathrow at 1.30pm and needing to get a car that same afternoon with no transport. The pickings were very slim. Had to leave my partner at the airport with the bags and just get on a train.

 

[timmothy]

Just an update. Had the car three weeks now. Not really long enough to know long term reliability but so far it's been great. Multiple long journeys and cold weather and it's been perfect. Put just under 2000 miles on it now, more than it's average mileage per year usually.

Only big issue is other people in car parks. Unfortunately the car looks like a banger due to the dents and scratches from it's crash. This seems to attract even more damage. Came back to our front bumper almost being taken off and a big scrape on it on one day. Not even two days later I was in the car waiting for my partner and this lady slammed her trolley into the bumper, looked annoyed that the car dare be there and then cut through next to me knocking the wing mirror. The car is pretty flimsy so not sure how much of it there will be left this time next year.

 

[Resident]

Just an update. Had the car three weeks now. Not really long enough to know long term reliability but so far it's been great. Multiple long journeys and cold weather and it's been perfect. Put just under 2000 miles on it now, more than it's average mileage per year usually.

Only big issue is other people in car parks. Unfortunately the car looks like a banger due to the dents and scratches from it's crash. This seems to attract even more damage. Came back to our front bumper almost being taken off and a big scrape on it on one day. Not even two days later I was in the car waiting for my partner and this lady slammed her trolley into the bumper, looked annoyed that the car dare be there and then cut through next to me knocking the wing mirror. The car is pretty flimsy so not sure how much of it there will be left this time next year.

Ashamed to admit this but once, while I was putting my kid's pushchair away, old woman (blue badge in a parent bay, major annoyance of mine) went to get a ticket and trolley. She returned and let the trolley slam into my freshly painted front bumper then denied all responsibility & walked off.

In a fit of rage I kicked in ALL of her doors, proper "cop drama door opening" kicks then left. I've never had any comeback (5 1/2 years) but hopefully it served as a lesson.

 

[gc123]

tbh some people just dont care , i remember quite some years ago having a new to me mk 3 mondeo all clean and shiny , went on holiday to cornwall and pulled into the services for kiddies and wife toilet breaks . i sat in the car and a big 4x4 pulls up next to me and bang the passenger door opens straight into my door...i was fuming the woman gets out has a quick look and starts to walk off i got out and raised merry hell with her and her partner (assumed) cheeky b++++++ went straight for denial and gave me a right mouthfull. lucky for them he stayed with his vehicle , though i know he overheard me say to the kids dont worry about scraping past that car they dont care . grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.