Would you consider a Cat.C write off?
- Thread starter 2Thumbs
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Just rang the seller. He seemed shocked to say the least.
Never mind though. Plenty more cars out there!
Did he have any idea or has he not owned the car that long?
Don't forget, HPI is not infallible, false positives (and I would assume negatives too) are probably more common than you might think.
Who was it on here selling the M3 that showed up as a write off despite having a perfect history?
It would seem odd though to put a car up for significantly lower than market if you believed it to be a straight car
I'd buy one, but only if it was a car that I intended on keeping for very long time and had no intention of moving it on anytime soon.
I personally think the the Stigma around these cars is undeserved. What people tend to forget that there are loads of cars that are involved in nasty accidents, but as they get repaired under insurance they aren't a category anything. Avoiding CAT cars doesn't necessarily mean the car you are driving hasn't been involved in a Serious accident.
I personally think the the Stigma around these cars is undeserved. What people tend to forget that there are loads of cars that are involved in nasty accidents, but as they get repaired under insurance they aren't a category anything. Avoiding CAT cars doesn't necessarily mean the car you are driving hasn't been involved in a Serious accident.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
On a car like that for the right money, sure, as long as I was happy with the repair.
It's a cheap Fiesta - if it needs 4 tyres its technically a write-off let alone if it needs new bits after an accident.
Most cars which are repaired by insurers and never listed sustain more damage than the average Cat C/D cheapo car.
And LOL at the 'I'd buy a 2009 C Class Cat C if Merc had done all the work'.
It's a cheap Fiesta - if it needs 4 tyres its technically a write-off let alone if it needs new bits after an accident.
Most cars which are repaired by insurers and never listed sustain more damage than the average Cat C/D cheapo car.
And LOL at the 'I'd buy a 2009 C Class Cat C if Merc had done all the work'.
Man of Honour
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So that's effectively you saying never then given your propensity for wanting to change cars?
I'd consider buying an insurance write-off but it depends on the circumstances whether I'd think it was worth the punt, I know relatively little about cars though.
Soldato
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I think in this case it's just not worth the hassle considering a cat c for the type of car that's considered - there are hundreds of Fiesta's out there to choose from.
And LOL at the "I'd buy a cheap 9 year old cat c Fiesta"
And LOL at the "I'd buy a cheap 9 year old cat c Fiesta"
Why not? If its a cheap car that's almost certainly Cat C because it needed a headlight and a bumper. Provided I could ascertain that this was the case, I see no reason why I'd walk away.
It's a cheap Fiesta.
If anything, a cheap Fiesta is exactly the sort of car where buying it Cat C makes sense. It's a cheap car, so as Fox says, it'll be written off for virtually nothing and being a cheap old Fiesta, it's hardly going to be worth anything in a couple of years time whether it was Cat C or not. Of course you'd want a fair chunk off which this car doesn't have (as the owner appeared unaware) so this particular one is not worth bothering with. One with an appropriate sum off though, would be.
Whereas something like a C Class Merc will have been properly smacked to cause £20k of damage and get written off and that's before you try and figure out how someone economically bought that back, fixed it well and continued to use it.
Whereas something like a C Class Merc will have been properly smacked to cause £20k of damage and get written off and that's before you try and figure out how someone economically bought that back, fixed it well and continued to use it.
It was up for £1295, which is a few hundred less than what they typically are up for sale for with the mileage and history.
It wasn't so much the fact it's a cat.c but more that the seller never mentioned it. Fair enough he's only had it since July, but it should be on the V5.
I would have kept it for a year, maybe two. That's also why I went against it.
It wasn't so much the fact it's a cat.c but more that the seller never mentioned it. Fair enough he's only had it since July, but it should be on the V5.
I would have kept it for a year, maybe two. That's also why I went against it.
Put it this way. A huge amount of high value cars out there have repaired accident damage. They will not show on HPI and you will never know. This is because they are repaired and not written off.
So you could easily buy a £20k Merc with £10k worth of repairs done to it and never know. Yet you'd 'WALK AWAY' from a £1k Fiesta that needed a £300 bumper replacement and a £150 headlight unit + hire car fees so was written off?
Bizarre.
It's a 1200 quid car. If you throw it in the bin after 2 years its cost you just £600 a year in depreciation. That's pretty damn good. In reality, in 2 years time it would probably sell for £795 all day long anyway but if it doesnt who cares? It's such a cheap car its value is irrelevent!
So you could easily buy a £20k Merc with £10k worth of repairs done to it and never know. Yet you'd 'WALK AWAY' from a £1k Fiesta that needed a £300 bumper replacement and a £150 headlight unit + hire car fees so was written off?
Bizarre.
2thumbs said:
It's a 1200 quid car. If you throw it in the bin after 2 years its cost you just £600 a year in depreciation. That's pretty damn good. In reality, in 2 years time it would probably sell for £795 all day long anyway but if it doesnt who cares? It's such a cheap car its value is irrelevent!
Sorry for lacking financial means but £1300 (seller said price was non-negotiable, and that he already had someone interested in the car at asking) is a lot of money for me to pay for a car. So I'd rather have the piece of mind that what I'm buying hasn't been binned at some point.
The point of a high value car not hitting the radar is a valid one, but not for my personal situation.
And what's to say it was just cosmetic damage? Could have required suspension/steering work as well. Or would that sort of thing have made it a Cat.B?
The point of a high value car not hitting the radar is a valid one, but not for my personal situation.
And what's to say it was just cosmetic damage? Could have required suspension/steering work as well. Or would that sort of thing have made it a Cat.B?
If it required that much work in January it wouldn't have been sensible to buy it back after the write off and do the work anyway as has happened.
edit - that said, if you can't actually even get an idea of the work because it was a previous seller, it may be best avoided.
edit - that said, if you can't actually even get an idea of the work because it was a previous seller, it may be best avoided.
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At least you know the history, many small cars have had accident repair without claiming and as mentioned before, you will be none the wiser.
£600 a year motoring is cheap, in fact it does not get much cheaper.
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[TW]Fox;17735146 said:
Because the reduction in price due to it being a cat c will not be significant compared to the market value of the car at the time - in this case it's a 9 year old Fiesta with literally hundreds of similar ones on the market without a cat c. Forget the hassle, move on and buy one without a cat c.
You're correct, it's a cheap Fiesta - it shouldn't become an expensive one due to unforeseen repairs.
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None of this matters. Infact actually depending on damage (Remember, all of this depends on the damage) it might rather have a Cat C than a non Cat C. What if the damage was a crunched front end? You end up in a Fiesta with a freshly painted bonnet, new bumper and new headlights. Beats the hell out of the 9 year old stonechipped ones on the other Fiestas?
If it's had an almightly great smack and had to be rejigged or something then sure, but if you can be reasonably sure of the work done and its only cosmetic what on earth is the problem? Frankly when buying older cars the more new parts fitted it to the better!
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yep. my focus is a cat c, i bought a cat c aprilia too. i wrote off the aprilia and i got a good book price on and i didn't even haggle as i wasn't conscious lol.
Soldato
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[TW]Fox;17736965 said:
You're not looking on the other side of the scale are you? I'll say again, why hassle yourself over a small short term saving when a cat c related problem could reappear meaning future bills?
A cheap Fiesta is just that - cheap. Not something you'd want to spend £800 on new front suspension and steering system because the mechanic thought the work "was purely cosmetic".
Because you make sure you are reasonably certain of what damage the car sustained first, as I've said throughout. What exactly do you think is going to 'reappear' in the future on a car that had a quick bang in a carpark and needed a new bumper and a light or a wing or something?