Buying a Cat C/D car

[Foulthrow]

Hello fellow Clareteers,

I've been looking at all kinds of options in terms of changing my car and AutoTrader now gives you the option to search for Cat C/D cars. Now, not knowing anything about cars I didn't know what these were but could see that they were significantly cheaper than non Cat C/D. (Obviously I then googled what they were!)

What I would really like to get is a 'nearly new' car as I really don't want to buy a brand new one and see thousands lost as soon as I drive it off the forecourt! I also don't really want to go to one of these car supermarket places as there seems to be a lot of negative reviews about them.

Anyroad - what are peoples thoughts on these? Has anyone bought one? Are they good value or best avoided? Any advice much appreciated in the minefield that is used cars!!

[ClaretAndJew]

A Category C/D car is a car that has been involved in an accident or deemed unfit to pay out for insurance and has since been repaired by a third party to be sold on.

Theoretically they can be absolutely fine, depending on what's happened. Sometimes it's a case of a scrape that's cause the entire bodywork to need repairing, which, can cost absolutely thousands if it's gone deep into the metal of the car and thus deemed pointless to repair by insurance.

Other times though it could be cars that have been involved in crashes and since repaired.

Do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions about the car though before you buy but you could get a good deal and generally it doesn't go against your insurance (though some times it can).

[Judehamish]

You could possibly look at salvage cars on cat D, though I think that the names have changed on the different categories.

Some will only want headlights, bumpers, doors etc which are not too difficult to fit and pick up yourself from breakers yards/online.

[SparkyClaret]

Judehamish is correct, the ABI Code changed in November last year. Replaced C/D with S for structurally damaged and N for non structurally damaged.

Best advice is to run vehicle checks online, check out MOT history on gov.uk etc. to give you an idea of what’s actually happened to it previous.

[thatdberight]

A cat will be cheaper but a car will get you places and a CD goes pretty well with either to be honest and shouldn't set you back too much. The car and the CD probably.

[Foulthrow]

A cat will be cheaper but a car will get you places and a CD goes pretty well with either to be honest and shouldn't set you back too much. The car and the CD probably.

Took me a while to work that out!

[Blackrod]

Some could be fine if repaired well. The problem is you will struggle to re sell it.

[Foulthrow]

Presumably if it’s non structurally damaged then that shouldn’t affect the running of the car? Would it not just be cosmetic stuff?

[deanothedino]

Cat D will likely to be fine as the damage should be non-structural. Just have a look at the car and ask questions as you would with any second hand car. Take it for a test drive and listen for anything that sounds off, pay attention to things like steering and whether the car is tracking straight.

You'll not find many nearly new cars that are Cat D write offs though because the repairs need to have been judged non-economical to be written off and, of course, that's less likely when the car has a higher value.

Most dealers won't know why the car was written off, so I'd tend to stay away from Cat Cs or the new S cat unless you really know what you're looking at.

[1914tyrone]

I've had one and it was fine. They have to pass a VOSA test and MOT too.

[arise_sir_charge]

Bit more to it than described above.

The salvage code did change last year.

Cat C and Cat D were replaced with Cat S And Cat N.

As said above S is structurally damaged and N is not structurally damaged.

To keep it simple a structural part is one that isn’t bolted on.

Cars previously categorised as Cat C and Cat D were not recategorised and so there are still plenty of them for sale.

Cat C is a car where the estimated repair cost exceeded the vehicle value and so the car was written off.

Cat D is a car where the repair costs were less than the vehicle value but it was economical to write it off.

As stated above they are generally cheaper to buy and some insurers will avoid insuring them.

[gingerpele]

Most insurance companies use http://www.copart.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for their write offs,there are several regional depots around the UK and the vehicles are sold on a bids basis. There are pictures taken of the damage to the vehicle and each bidder can evaluate what is required to repair the vehicle. If you find the chassis number of the vehicle and google it there is a good chance if its gone to Copart that it will bring the vehicle up on the Copart web site.
Hope this helps.

[Lew200100]

Please avoid any previous total loss cars unless you can see the car in pre repaired state and take somebody who will understand how the car as been repaired and if it has been repaired correctly . It's great buying a car a lot cheaper than what the retail value is but if the car hasn't been repaired correctly you may have a major problem further down the line . My advice is if you know minimal about cars buy a cat D that has had a rear end bump as apart from the exhaust possibly being impacted and not sitting 100% correctly the worst you may inherit is poor gapping or maybe raining in the boot area but not a lot that a car would mail a Mot later down the line . A front end impact could cause you a major headache and best avoided even if the car has had a beautiful paintjob it's what is lurking under the bonnet that you may not see that will cause problems .

I see cars everyday that have had very poor repairs even brand new cars that owners don't realise have been repaired before they are in receipt of car .

[BennyD]

Apparently, a lot of the cars from Copart are bought by Poles and East Europeans, shipped over, repaired and exported. Many somehow ‘lose’ their history en-route and are bought by unsuspecting motorists for near enough market price. Always be wary of imported used cars.

[Foulthrow]

Cheers for all this - lots of good advice here.