V5C

Author
Discussion

hughandjen

Original Poster:

49 posts

145 months

Saturday 18th February 2023
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Hi guys
If you buy a car that has been written off as a Cat B. If you buy a chassis that has a V5 can you swap all the the body, suspension etc onto the replacement chassis and have a legal car?

LLantrisant

1,002 posts

166 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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Counter Question:

how should anybody know / recognize that the panels and other parts are not belonging to the chassis you bought?

or lets say it different:
you will find a totally damaged (historic)car with a rotten chassis, but with V5, in a shed.
80% of the items are in such a bad condition that they need to binned.

so you bring the chassis to a specialist, he will refurb it (in reality its a brand new chassis at the end of the day), you buy all the necessary bits & pieces new or 2nd hand and finally you are building the car out of this puzzle.

does this car still has something to do with the original car? in reality not. it just shares the chassisnumber.




magpies

5,145 posts

189 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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Category B
Body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable.

Should never re-appear on road, although reclaimed parts can be used in other road-going vehicles.

So, in theory the chassis should be crushed but the rest could be salvageable and fitted to a different chassis.
The new chassis has to come with its own V5. Fit old body to new chassis and change the V5 to the correct engine number.

frontfloater

367 posts

149 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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It is set out on the relevant GOV.UK webpage :

https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicl...

Write-off categories
What you do next depends on which category your vehicle is in.

Category.....Repairing the vehicle......Using the vehicle
A :................Cannot be repaired.........Entire vehicle has to be crushed
B :................Cannot be repaired.........Body shell has to be crushed, but you can salvage other parts from it.

TwinKam

3,168 posts

102 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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That needs further clarification ...does 'body shell' in DVLA-speak relate only to a monocoque? As that IS effectively the car.
What about a separate chassisied car, where the chassis carries the VIN and the body shell is just a shell?...

Englishman

2,237 posts

217 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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Unfortunately I had a cat B write-off about 10 years ago. The rules for cat B are pretty straightforward really:

- cannot be repaired or legally used again on the road
- structural frameworks, including the chassis and bodyshell, must be crushed entirely
- VIN, frame and engine numbers must be destroyed and not removed from structure
- a certificate of destruction must be supplied to the DVLA
- supplementary restraint systems such as seat belts, airbags etc. must be disposed of to manufacturers instructions and not resold or reused
- other serviceable parts can be used in other road-going vehicles




NicBowman

785 posts

245 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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So, answering the first question. Usable bits from damaged car can be used to repair the car with the clean V5. So I deduce. Seems right?

Englishman

2,237 posts

217 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2023
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You can't buy a cat B wreck legally unless licenced to do so. Copart, a company that does buy such cars from insurance companies, explains it all here: https://www.copart.co.uk/content/uk/en/support/how...

You can buy a cat B from them and remove the parts you want at one of their sites it seems.