Cat C & D's

[Jetpilot]

Been doing some thorough searching for Zeds this last week or so and surprised by the amount of Cat c & d's on the market, some even trying to command not much less than not written off.

 

I havent really searched for anything else so not sure if its a common theme of the market.

[Shaun1982]

I've got a cat c hyundai coupe. NEVER had any accident damage but was unlucky enough to be next to a car that caught fire when it was nigh on new. It's had the 1/4 & tailgate repaired & obviously the plastic bits like bumper & fuel flap were replaced. Got 18,000 miles on it on an 08 plate but I know ill struggle. Even priced £1750 cheaper than a 'straight' equivalent with twice the mileage I had no joy

[Jetpilot]

I've got a cat c hyundai coupe. NEVER had any accident damage but was unlucky enough to be next to a car that caught fire when it was nigh on new. It's had the 1/4 & tailgate repaired & obviously the plastic bits like bumper & fuel flap were replaced. Got 18,000 miles on it on an 08 plate but I know ill struggle. Even priced £1750 cheaper than a 'straight' equivalent with twice the mileage I had no joy

 

I was more curious by the amount I know cars are often written off for very little these days though.

 

I almost bought a Cat C (by mistake) not a 350z by he way, it was only because i did a reg check that i found out. It actually wouldnt bother me too much buying one, but from that experience unless you were very lucky you could not find out why it was written off, so although they are checked to come back on the road, unless i personally knew what was damaged and repaired i would never feel comfortable.

[Shaun1982]

Yeah I pretty much agree with that. I've had a few,2 golfs,both super low mileage which were hardly damaged. Especially the 2nd,a bike went in the back of it. Slight crease in the back of the boot floor & a dented bumper. 5 mins later sorted lol,

I have had a pile of @*!# in the form of a partially repaired 3series e46 coupe. Ended up spending more than a straight one I found. Much better to do the work yourself though as you say, you control the standard then.

I think realistically I'm hardly going to get in middle ground between the damaged ones & straight ones available at the minute, shame really as its a great car, just lacks any kind of entertainment lol

[Beau]

The cost for parts for these 350z are VERY expensive, especially the headlights. This means that with a slight collision the repair bill can easily rack up to a lot and write the car off. I think it works on a percentage bases of the cars value.

 

eg if it cost 75% of the cars value then it's pointless repairing it (from the Insurers point of view)

[JetSet]

I know cars are often written off for very little these days though.

 

 

 

That's quite true, most of it is down to the ludicrous labour costs and vastly inflated genuine parts. There's another major factor too. Right up to the early 90's it was fairly common to replace entire body shells, chassis's would be straightened in a jig, just about anything was repairable. Then along came a new regulation (I don't know if this was introduced by The Government or the insurance companies) that damaged or stolen cars must be "catted". I can see why this is a good thing, it greatly reduced the number of written off cars (ones that we'd class as Cat A or B being returned to the roads as if nothing had happened, plus other things that back street dealers did. The negative part though is that if for example you have a new or almost new car and it gets damaged and classified as a C or D would you really want it it back, knowing that an HPI check is going to seriously devalue it. That's why most people just take the money these days. 25 years ago you had no choice, you had to take it back even if the damage was severe and the car was only a week old

 

 

Pete

Edited February 7, 2013 by JetSet

[Mutley88]

Nothing wrong with a cat c or d me and two mates have just rescued a 350z on a cat c. You mainly find 350z's have near side rear quarter damage or passenger door. Have seen quite a few like this. Can usually do the work at a reasonable price but you do need to have an idea of what your doing.

[Seabee]

Ive got a cat D and my previous car was a cat C never had a problem (touch wood)

[WhackyWill]

Whats the difference between a Cat C and a Cat D ..??

[Dblock]

Whats the difference between a Cat C and a Cat D ..??

 

Size of cat you get in the boot.

 

 

Vehicles that have to be dismantled.

 

* Cat A: Vehicle totally wrecked or burnt out.

* Cat B: Vehicle has heavy damage and to be broken only.

 

Vehicles that can be resold

 

* Cat C: Vehicles of this category are vehicles which the retail repair costs were over the cost of the pre accident value .They will need a VIC test carried out on them, this is done at the local DVLA testing station and would cost around £26.50

 

* Cat D: Vehicles of this category are vehicles which the retail repair costs were below the pre_accident value of the vehicle.

[Shaun1982]

I found that D's are usually less hammered than a C. Not always the case though, my gf's current c30 R design was pretty bad, that's a cat d.

Surely the cost of repairing my car was less than 75% value of a nigh on new car lol

[gangzoom]

I would be very cautious of buying insurance write offs....as tempting as they might be I would really want to see pics of the damage what was done before any repairs.

 

Heres a lovely looking BMW 330D converted to look like a M3 Estate, nicely modded ...

 

 

 

 

On the face of it nothing wrong, apart been an insurance write off.................

 

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Here's what it looked like towards the end of last year when it was written off :scare:

 

 

......and it just wasn't body panels that were damaged!!!!

 

 

 

......I'm sure the car has been repaired to a perfect standard, but would you really be happy paying your hard earned cash to be driving around in it, knowing what it has been through :surrender:.

[Lexx]

It's all relative really when it comes to the repairs.

My VXR8 was worth about £19k when I span it and buckled the rear axle.

 

Initial repair cost was £6k so insurance gave authorisation to repair.

 

Final cost of repair by the time everything was imported from Oz and further bits replaced was £16400.

Had insurance company known this it would have been a Cat D at least.

As it was though, there was no record of the incident and the car remained clear.

[Seabee]

Its also who exactly is repairing it, my friend has an azure blue 350z that was fully repairs by Nissan with receipts to prove it, however most of them have been repaired to look good most dealers looking to repair and flip these cars for a profit will avoid anything unessacery

[Jetpilot]

All good replies.

 

But more interested in the amount of this model that have come up in my searches.

[rabbitstew]

As others have said, its the total cost of repair which will just write a vehicle off sometimes. I had a Ducati motorbike once which was written off at just 4 weeks old simply because the owner had dropped it and the frame was scratched. The rest of the bike was fine, but the labour cost involved in stripping the bike down & replacing the frame simply wrote it off. I bought it for about 1/4 of the new price and it was only a few weeks old!

 

Some cars are the same. Ive been looking a lot at Elises and VX220`s and huge amounts of them are CAT D. Simply because one small knock and the clams get damaged and thats an instant write off as they are so expensive to replace with genuine bits. Same as the Clio V6, and many other cars.

 

As long as its been repaired properly it should be fine, but ive seen some shocking repairs on cars in the past where garages have bodge repaired things, so id be looking for photos of before & after and full details of what was replaced or repaired.

[rtbiscuit]

if you're going to buy one just go in with your eyes wide open.

 

most people actual drive a car thats been for a repair, but becuase it was repaired when the car was worth more, the repair was never logged. its only when the price drops enough that the same repair becomes a Cat D,

 

lots of people have hang ups about CAT D cars, but most are financial write offs, and not becuase they are unrepairable.

 

you buy them for less and you sell them for less, yes its harder to shift, but then you paid less to start with.

[Shaun1982]

Nail on the head there biscuit. What gets me as well is that I work on ex rental audi's all day long. These go off to forecourts & go up for a fair old whack, you'd be surprised how much gets repaired on some of them but as long as the buyer has a clean hpi they assume its never had work