Buying a CAT D write off

northun_munky · 3 Jul 2011 at 17:18

Sorry if this has been asked before, I did a search but couldn't find anything relevent.

I went to testride a Blackbird yesterday at a local dealers. Lovely bike but its a fairly tatty 97 which has seen better days. The guy at the garage showed me a newer 02 'bird which had done fewer miles 27kish but had been in an accident and was a CAT D write off.

The story goes that the chap they sold it to had someone pull out on him and had to park it in a ditch. All the left side bodywork was ruined and they had concerns that there might have been some more serious damage underneath. When they costed the work for the insurance they just wrote the bike off.
When they replaced all the bodywork there wasnt any damage to any part of the frame etc (according to them, who I trust to a degree as the garage came recommended).

now ive done a bit of research on google and I read mixed stories about buying one. The garage has it up for £2600 which from what I can tell is about £800 under what it would be if it wasnt a write off. I'm really not worried about the safety aspect of buying it, more the fact that It might be tough to sell on? Is £800 off what it should be enough of a discount?

Any experiences and advice much appreciated.

SKILL · 3 Jul 2011 at 17:51

Never done it personally but when you look at the cost of OE fairings you can easily see how a 'nothing' crash could cause a CAT D so I wouldn't really have an issue with it,

As for price, I think your right and that I'd want a bit more off for it, say £1000-1200 so I'd probably go in and start by offering £2100 and see how that goes, £2300-2400 ish is about what would seem right I guess.

Sagalout · 3 Jul 2011 at 21:39

My old bird is up for sale where I part exe'd it for £3k - you could get for £2800 I reckon. Fantastic bike, only 16k miles and pretty much mint with brand new tyres. 99 model carb version. Have owned that and an 05 and the 99 bike is better in my opinion. If you live up north it's well worth a look.

northun_munky · 4 Jul 2011 at 10:35

SKILL said:
Never done it personally but when you look at the cost of OE fairings you can easily see how a 'nothing' crash could cause a CAT D so I wouldn't really have an issue with it,

As for price, I think your right and that I'd want a bit more off for it, say £1000-1200 so I'd probably go in and start by offering £2100 and see how that goes, £2300-2400 ish is about what would seem right I guess.

Thats the sort of figures I was thinking. If i was going to keep it for years it would be worth it, but I know what im like

I'll probably want something different after a year. I just wonder if it would be difficult to sell on again.

Sagalout said:
My old bird is up for sale where I part exe'd it for £3k - you could get for £2800 I reckon. Fantastic bike, only 16k miles and pretty much mint with brand new tyres. 99 model carb version. Have owned that and an 05 and the 99 bike is better in my opinion. If you live up north it's well worth a look.

I'm not up north mate but I don't mind travelling for the right bike

What garage is it at? I'll see if I can find it on the web.

Sagalout · 4 Jul 2011 at 11:46

http://www.staianomotorcycles.com/

It's not on their MCN listings yet but give them a call to see if its still available (they aren't very quick with things like that but they are are really good, honest dealership) Mick that owns it is an ex TT Sidecar racer.