I've heard that Cat B being illegal to return to the road is a common misconception - you can return one to the road and the DVLA will perform a VIC test and issue a V5 - as this very car proves.
It doesn't mean this car is a ringer, infact I would be amazed if it was. It's simply a Cat B damaged/repaired car.
It's the guidance of the insurance industry that it should never be returned to the road rather than law. At least thats what I've begun to understand?
•Category A: Scrap only (i.e. with few or no economically salvageable parts and which is of value only for scrap metal
•Category B: Break for spare parts if economically viable (excluding any residual scrap value)
•Category C: Repairable total loss vehicles where repair costs including VAT exceed the vehicle's pre-accident value
•Category D: Repairable total loss vehicle where repair costs including VAT do not exceed the vehicle's pre-accident value
If it states on the car accident report by the assessor that the vehicle has been a category A total loss should a vehicle be registered again it would have to go through a vehicle identity check (VIC), carried out by VOSA to establish the vehicle identity, it should also appear on the registration document as a category A. The same applies for categories B and C, however a category D is not required to go through a VIC. These categories are extremely useful in collating vehicle accident history on a given registration number - some vehicle have even been written off several times and this will show on a mycarcheck.com car accident report or vehicle accident report that is included within our vehicle data check.
I told him if it can pass another VIC check and he's happy to have it inspected at a reputable garage, I may consider it but for substantially less than our agreed price.
But the screwdriver marks on the VIN rings alarm bells to me.
My wifes car had a good smack and it was only a tiny thing - Daihatsu Sirion.
I requested it be written off as despite the fact it could have been jigged back into shape it was clearly never going to be as strong as it once was - a 2nd smack up the arse and it would have completely and utterly folded.
Insurers agreed and coughed up.
I just worry about the structural strength after a good smack, especially with smaller cars.
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