Cat s or n, would you buy?
Discussion
FilH said:
If its a cheap 2/3k run around with loads of miles , yep. ,who cares..
If say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Looking at an Audi A1, about £4-5k for the daughterIf say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Road2Ruin said:
I see a lot of Cat S or N cars available, nowadays. Obviously they are a lot cheaper than similar, non written off vehicles.
Anyone got any experiences, and would you buy one?
Is the insurance on these notably higher?
Never bought one, but would consider it depending on the damage:Anyone got any experiences, and would you buy one?
Is the insurance on these notably higher?
Superficial damage to bodywork - fine if the discount was good enough.
Any damage to wheels, brakes, moving parts, chassis - no chance. You have no idea if the repairs have been carried out to a quality standard and will only likely find out when you really need everything to work.
And I would not buy either one of the above without full photographic evidence of the original damage, there's no way I'd trust someone's word in such circumstances.
However, I am a hypocrite, I've owned several trackday cars which have either been built by me (limited mechanical skills) or strangers (who's qualifications are unknown) and I've happily pushed said cars to the absolute limits.
Road2Ruin said:
FilH said:
If its a cheap 2/3k run around with loads of miles , yep. ,who cares..
If say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Looking at an Audi A1, about £4-5k for the daughterIf say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Would you want your daughter driving around in a write off that you don't know the standard of repair on?
If it was superficial damage and/or you can get a thorough inspection to give you peace of mind, go for it.
i'd draw the line at a cat S, but i bought a cat N porsche boxster a few years back. guy seemed genuine enough, was 25% cheaper than an equivalent non cat N car.
it was just for some damage to the front wing and bumper, both of which were easily repaired and repainted such that you couldn't tell they were there.
insurance was no more difficult to get than a non cat N car.
I think i was limited when it came to selling time - think 95% of the target audience was put off by a cat N status. it did eventually sell though.
I wouldnt have another cat N car... purely because of the difficulty come resale time.
Mr Tidy will be along shortly with a photograph of his bumper...
it was just for some damage to the front wing and bumper, both of which were easily repaired and repainted such that you couldn't tell they were there.
insurance was no more difficult to get than a non cat N car.
I think i was limited when it came to selling time - think 95% of the target audience was put off by a cat N status. it did eventually sell though.
I wouldnt have another cat N car... purely because of the difficulty come resale time.
Mr Tidy will be along shortly with a photograph of his bumper...
The old system of Cat C & D, I would never have gone near, just not enough information available to make an informed decision.
The new system of S & N, I would consider and indeed have bought a Cat N car as a track slag, it hadn’t even been repaired. I would not consider a Cat S car though.
The new system of S & N, I would consider and indeed have bought a Cat N car as a track slag, it hadn’t even been repaired. I would not consider a Cat S car though.
Muzzer79 said:
Road2Ruin said:
FilH said:
If its a cheap 2/3k run around with loads of miles , yep. ,who cares..
If say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Looking at an Audi A1, about £4-5k for the daughterIf say a 16k cat bmw that would be 20k non cat. Then nope. They just seem to be a hard sell, hence offering them cheaper, smaller market when selling. Cant off load them to the we buy anys if you need to.
Would you want your daughter driving around in a write off that you don't know the standard of repair on?
If it was superficial damage and/or you can get a thorough inspection to give you peace of mind, go for it.
While perusing the ads for (old) Defenders I often see Cat ones up for sale. Quite often it is doors and bonnet being stolen, often with seats etc. Sadly it is quite a regular occurrence. It is quite easily fixed, but not cheap, and if buying used parts you risk perpetuating the cycle.
My first McLaren 650 Spider got written off as Cat N.
There was no significant impact to the car, but most panels had some (mostly superficial) damage. Front bumper was missing and the worse was probably the passenger door - the outer skin wasn't attached at the bottom anymore and could be lifted up.
One tyre was flat - although strangely, the wheel was still in perfect condition - and it had dumped all of its coolant.
It went to a salvage yard that auctioned it - and it sold immediately at £60k - I'd say that was about £25-30k less than a private sale would have got before the accident.
I know the buyer got it sorted out - although the last I heard it had some kind of idle issue, which it didn't before the accident.
There was no significant impact to the car, but most panels had some (mostly superficial) damage. Front bumper was missing and the worse was probably the passenger door - the outer skin wasn't attached at the bottom anymore and could be lifted up.
One tyre was flat - although strangely, the wheel was still in perfect condition - and it had dumped all of its coolant.
It went to a salvage yard that auctioned it - and it sold immediately at £60k - I'd say that was about £25-30k less than a private sale would have got before the accident.
I know the buyer got it sorted out - although the last I heard it had some kind of idle issue, which it didn't before the accident.
I have a number of trade contacts. The view is that ‘s’ is a no-no. Otherwise, car should be a third cheaper. As an example someone bought a few Kias ,or maybe Hyundais which had been written off because of the long wait for parts to repair fairly ‘ ordinary’ low speed cosmetic bumps and this, with the cost of courtesy cars ( equivalent replacement if customers make a fuss) made it easier for the insurer to bail out.
Edited by Lester H on Wednesday 2nd October 18:30
Most of the Cat S cars advertised on Facebook appear to 'only' had a small bump that required a quick polish 
I've bought a few in the past, where I had photos of the accident damage.
Only burnt once. A Micra i picked up was cat D and i was told that it only had the front wing changed. It quickly developed strange behaviour where it would pull left when accelerating and then right when braking
There was an invisible crack right through the nearside chassis leg that was pulling apart when accelerating, changing the geometry of the suspension!
I've bought a few in the past, where I had photos of the accident damage.
Only burnt once. A Micra i picked up was cat D and i was told that it only had the front wing changed. It quickly developed strange behaviour where it would pull left when accelerating and then right when braking
There was an invisible crack right through the nearside chassis leg that was pulling apart when accelerating, changing the geometry of the suspension!
brillomaster said:
Mr Tidy will be along shortly with a photograph of his bumper...
I won't bother as it looks like everyone has seen it already!I've had a few recorded stolen/recovered cars in the past and never had a problem with them. I also had one that was a Cat D because it had been vandalised, but the only damage was to the velour interior - it looked like it had been smothered with curry or something similar. I managed to get a replacement leather interior from a breaker.
Like others I'd give Cat S a miss, but it doesn't take much damage to make an older car a Cat N. I'd like to see a photo or two of the damage before deciding whether to buy.
When I was a student most of my cars were Cat D.
As a general rule I tended to buy stolen recovered or panel damage only. These tended to be easy repairs for the keen DIY’er and not require anything complicated like jigging. I was told to avoid anything that had frontal damage as you never knew how bad it might turn out and if any of the suspension components had moved it would be a bugger to get it realigned without £££.
As a general rule I tended to buy stolen recovered or panel damage only. These tended to be easy repairs for the keen DIY’er and not require anything complicated like jigging. I was told to avoid anything that had frontal damage as you never knew how bad it might turn out and if any of the suspension components had moved it would be a bugger to get it realigned without £££.
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