2nd hand car query

AshleyC

AshleyC

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OK I probably know the answer to this anyway, but would welcome opinions. On auto trader you see a lot of newer cheap cars that are cat c and d previous write offs that are now clearly back on the road. Just how safe are they and are they worth he bargain prices that they seem to be.

Anyone ever bought one?
 
Simple answer is you have no idea. An older car being cat C or cat D may be for minor reasons. A new car that is cat C or cat D means major damage. I wouldn't touch one personally.
 
Yeah i think a C is too much of a risk but a D could be tempting, it's just trying to find out what happened to it should any previous bills have gone missing
 
A car can be a category C or D write off because of additional claims other than just the damage to the vehicle. There is a kind of MOT that the vehicle can be put through to show the vehicle has been repaired to a satisfactory standard.
 
You'd think by now the write off system would include a damage score so that people buying these cars would have an idea of how extensive repairs have been.
 
AshleyC said:
Yeah i think a C is too much of a risk but a D could be tempting, it's just trying to find out what happened to it should any previous bills have gone missing
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Why is C any more of a risk? It doesn't mean it's had any more damage than a D.
 
srichards said:
You'd think by now the write off system would include a damage score so that people buying these cars would have an idea of how extensive repairs have been.
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They do. They are graded A B C D. A and B being designated as not allowed to be repaired and put back on the road. A car could have similar damage as a category C or D but because any additional claims are small it does not get recorded as a write off and anyone can buy it totally oblivious to the fact it had been involved in an accident and repaired.
 
AshleyC said:
Then why have a different category.
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Dunno tbh.

Cat C = Cost of repairs exceed the value of the car

Cat D = Cost of repairs are significant compared to the value of the car, or, the parts cannot be sourced.

The book price on my old focus when I scrapped it was £200. A minor bump could have easily been either of those categories.
 
There are so many cars on the secondhand market there really isn't many good reason getting a Cat C or Cat D variant. The only exception is uoi know first hand why it was a write off.
 
you have to look at the value and if you are saving money on a particular car you want.

eg you might want a 7 seater children bus that has had a fair whack and been repared but it is 5k under what a non cat c would be.
it may mean you could get a vehicle much newer.
also if you are going to keep it for a long time that value will be used up so you get a better deal.

personally i wouldn't as i have the money to buy what i want.
on the other hand i drive a 7 year old citroen C3 that i have owned for 5 years.
 
My rx7 (fd3s) is Cat C. Fire damage from a battery short, the dificulty (and cost) is replacing the loom, as anyone who has ever replaced an entire wiring loom will know how long it takes due to the amount of other stuff that has to come out to do it. Plus there will be a new bonnet to buy (it's warped), respray on that and a few other things around the front (etc etc).

There's nothing that would make it fundamentally unsafe when I've fixed it, replaced the belts and fluids etc. but it's not an economical repair if done by a garage.
 
Never heard about any of this and dread looking for a replacement vehicle (hopefully not yet) Only had three cars since 1987 and the third is still going strong, might even get a new one with all this malarkey to deal with.

Much simpler when I was young, few old motors on a bomb site plot with an honest John sort of geezer flogging them. They were all crap, just got one with a years MOT and right result if it lasted longer than that
 
If you use Autotrader then it has any that are Cat C or Cat D listed as such automatically.
 
Cat D is generally okay; this is the minimum damage. I know this as my previous car was written off as a Cat D as someone hit the rear side door, and it was deemed unequivocal to repair/replace. Suffice to say, I got the door repaired myself for £110.. my new car however (a new - old - car 2011 Vauxhall Astra SRI Diesel auto) was not a cat D - unless it was a really good deal, I'd rather not go with a cat D bit in the general scheme of things, cat D is just often superficial damage. My insurance was no more expensive with the cat D car either, by the way. Hope this helps!
 
Edited to say I didn't purchase it as cat d, it became cat d in my ownership when someone hit me!
 
I've seen some cat c/d ads on ebay with MINIMAL damage (i.e. crack in bumper). These would be safe. Some would be a total deathtrap. Other than seeing full photos you won't know.

Also the resale value will be 20-30% down so you have to buy one very cheaply to start with.

Personally I would be tempted to look for more non-cat options.
 
If you're buying a car and running it into the ground then a cat D car is fine, if it's a cat c look carefully. I'd avoid these.
We bought my daughter a Ka as her first car, private seller, nice car, looked like it had had a minor shunt at the front, bumper moved, shutlines slightly different. Nothing on the car documentation. When the new owner logbook came back it was Cat C, seller had pulled a fast one. Got the local garage to check it out and the front suspension was badly misaligned (although drove ok), the car shouldn't have been on the road and must have had a dodgy MOT, no way would it pass one.
Seller was difficult but we got most of the money back and scrapped the car
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I've seen some cat c/d ads on ebay with MINIMAL damage (i.e. crack in bumper). These would be safe. Some would be a total deathtrap. Other than seeing full photos you won't know.

Also the resale value will be 20-30% down so you have to buy one very cheaply to start with.

Personally I would be tempted to look for more non-cat options.
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I very much doubt that, as anything that receives a Category C or D rating isn't that heavily damaged. Anything that is will receive an A or B rating and aren't allowed back on the road.
 
My car was wrote off cat C in 2007 due to a rear end shunt. It was written off as beyond economical repair. There was a dent in the rear tail gate a broken light and a small dint in the front bodywork. Both plastic bumbers where cracked.

The top and bottom of it was that the "racket" that now exists within the insurance claim /repair game made it beyond economical repair because all those involved bang the cost of everything up and then add it to insurance premiums where insurance is involved.

20yrs ago the car would have been repaird as there was very little damage.

I got the right off value of the car and kept it. An engineer then came to view the car and said " I will write it down as a cat c". He told me that cat D is really light damage.

My car has passed 9 MOT's since it was written off 10yrs ago.

I would definitely consider buying a cat C or cat D without hesitation. Bargain to be had due to peoples fear. After all I drive one!
 
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