Is the market for previously damaged cars expanding?

ver01@

ver01@

ver01@

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Have lost count on the number of friends that have been looking to buy a car and the first place they check is FB marketplace or other social media platforms! How can that be easier compared to Autotrader?
What I've seen is that a very high proportion of cars sold there are CAT S/N (some where the sellers actually mention this in the description). This does not seem to reflect the proportion of CAT S/N that are advertised on Autotrader.
Are there any reliable sources where you can see the sales over time of CAT vehicles vs non CAT?
 
ver01@ said:
Have lost count on the number of friends that have been looking to buy a car and the first place they check is FB marketplace or other social media platforms! How can that be easier compared to Autotrader?
What I've seen is that a very high proportion of cars sold there are CAT S/N (some where the sellers actually mention this in the description). This does not seem to reflect the proportion of CAT S/N that are advertised on Autotrader.
Are there any reliable sources where you can see the sales over time of CAT vehicles vs non CAT?
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most of the facebook ads are insurance damaged and bought from copart. i checked a lot recently when a friend asked about finding a car and some quite openly tell you they are just flippin damaged motors.
tbh some have very little damage the one we settled on had a dent in the front wing and a scraped front bumper, it still went through a mot and he is driving it without repairs....it was previously cat c... this is where our insurance money goes.

just to add a while a go i applied to copart to register for there auctions, they wanted 60 pound to register and didnt ask for any other details apart from address and name.
i declined at that point and forgot about it, 2 weeks later i got a email from them asking if i would still want to register and they dropped there price to 30 pounds......says a lot.
 
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There are some good bargains to be had on facebook marketplace if you're willing to take the risk and are decent at working on cars yourself.

I think theres also a lot of content on social media about flipping cars / repairing crash damaged etc that has definitely had an impact on the market.

I was looking to buy a CAT N bmw that had only had its idrive stolen, smashed window and spraypainted lights on copart and lost the bid but I actually ended up buying that same car off facebook marketplace after the guy I lost to repaired it and was selling it for a very fair price tbh.
 
It’s nothing new tbh. When I were a little lad before the days of cat C & D my dad and his mates used to buy crashed cars and it was cheap way of getting a nice car. I used to look forwards to days out at the scrappys looking for bits. You don’t get those kinds of places anymore nowadays. Prior to Covid it wasn’t worth buying a crash damaged car and repairing it, but with cars being so expensive now, and easily accessible parts online it’s become popular again.
 
Tinders said:
It’s nothing new tbh. When I were a little lad before the days of cat C & D my dad and his mates used to buy crashed cars and it was cheap way of getting a nice car. I used to look forwards to days out at the scrappys looking for bits. You don’t get those kinds of places anymore nowadays. Prior to Covid it wasn’t worth buying a crash damaged car and repairing it, but with cars being so expensive now, and easily accessible parts online it’s become popular again.
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prior to cats it was the wild west for repairs:)
when i was trainging for windscreens i had to drop a cortina estate windscreen off at a farm not far away. when i arrived i was greeted with arhh at last i can get on and asked to drop it at the workshop round back...
outside the workshop i kid you not was a cortina estate in 2 halves and the join was half way through the windscreen pillar and across the floor in front of the seats. they needed the windscreen to line the pillars up so they could weld it.
the car was supported on railway sleepers, now that did look fun....not.
 
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With the silly values of some used cars they are looking more attractive tbh

I'd buy a cat N/D (cosmetic damage). Most of the time it's just some bumper damage and the insurer is being tight. Plenty of people fix minor damage like that without telling anyone, I have in the past.

I'd be low balling them even on the discounted price if there are no photos or log of the repairs though, as it will be harder to sell on later. I wouldn't buy cat S/C.
 
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Given how easily modern cars can be written off for seemingly trivial damage due to the massive expense of parts and also insurance providing replacement vehicles during repairs, I can see how buying lightly damaged Cat cars is more tempting.
 
Just make sure you do a history check, all the good ones pull in the photos taken from the co-part auction listings so you can see the damage for yourself.
 
Check out Dodgy Cars on Facebook if you think there aren't a lot of Cat S/N vehicles being sold on places like Autotrader.

So many being sold on those type of platforms with undeclared Cat damage that's been bodge repaired then advertised as a clean car.
 
Doesnt take much to write a car off nowadays, the way they give you a courtesy car at £120 a day, you only need a scratch that needs painting and a busy body shop that cant do it for 2 weeks.
 
Resident said:
So many being sold on those type of platforms with undeclared Cat damage that's been bodge repaired then advertised as a clean car.
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Yup, plenty about.
I’ve failed (mot) many that have had new or second hand front ends fitted but whoever’s cobbled it all together hasn’t repaired bent chassis rails etc.
It certainly comes as a shock to the owners.
A lot of these bodged up cars are being sold by immigrant gangs who care little about safety (there’s a car wash next to where I work and some of the stuff I’ve seen that they repair is frightening, like literally held together with self tappers).
They got raided a short while ago and got a £20K fine for hiring illegal workers + the police are often down there.
 
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