Dealer sold me a Cat D
Discussion
Hi fellow car nuts 
I bought a car six years ago. I travelled 250 miles to view/purchase the car. I drove my trade in To the dealers , where I drove the car (nice). The dealer explained that the car had previously been involved in an accident but was repaired & assured me it was not Cat C / D or any other. The deal was done. The car cost me £22K my trade in value was £18K... not that that really matters. The dealer gave me a HPI Cert he’d printed off and all it stated was ‘condition alert’ from 4 years previous but he’d told me it had been damaged, so no problem. I still have the car and love it although I’ve spent around £7K improving & putting things right. However about 5 months ago I saw an upgrade model of the same car and contacted the seller with regards to a trade in. I gave him my car’s details & was gutted when he came back to me saying they would not take a Cat D in P/X.
I immediately wrote a letter to the dealer from whom I purchased my car, sending copies of the documents he gave me when I bought the car explaining my predicament. I received a solicitors letter telling me that the Ltd. company ( don’t want to mention the dealers name just yet) I’d bought the car from were now trading under a different name and I would have to Persue any claim from the old company. The ‘Old Company’ still sells/advertises cars under the old name on eBay, if I google the name it still comes up as trading. I don’t want any compo... just maybe trade the car back to them for something else. If they were on my doorstep it would be sorted now, one way or another but it is a bit of a drive just to argue
Any ideas on what my next move should be?
I bought a car six years ago. I travelled 250 miles to view/purchase the car. I drove my trade in To the dealers , where I drove the car (nice). The dealer explained that the car had previously been involved in an accident but was repaired & assured me it was not Cat C / D or any other. The deal was done. The car cost me £22K my trade in value was £18K... not that that really matters. The dealer gave me a HPI Cert he’d printed off and all it stated was ‘condition alert’ from 4 years previous but he’d told me it had been damaged, so no problem. I still have the car and love it although I’ve spent around £7K improving & putting things right. However about 5 months ago I saw an upgrade model of the same car and contacted the seller with regards to a trade in. I gave him my car’s details & was gutted when he came back to me saying they would not take a Cat D in P/X.
I immediately wrote a letter to the dealer from whom I purchased my car, sending copies of the documents he gave me when I bought the car explaining my predicament. I received a solicitors letter telling me that the Ltd. company ( don’t want to mention the dealers name just yet) I’d bought the car from were now trading under a different name and I would have to Persue any claim from the old company. The ‘Old Company’ still sells/advertises cars under the old name on eBay, if I google the name it still comes up as trading. I don’t want any compo... just maybe trade the car back to them for something else. If they were on my doorstep it would be sorted now, one way or another but it is a bit of a drive just to argue
Any ideas on what my next move should be?
Nickp82 said:
What type of car is it? If it’s something ‘normal’ then there may not be that big a difference between the value as a Cat D and HPi clear.
Six years though. It’s worth seeing if the dealer will help out at all but if not, just move on.
2007 Porsche 997 Carrera. It’s not really about the value. It’s the fact another dealer wasn’t willing to P/X. Which to me is the simplest way to change cars. Otherwise I would have to advertise the car & go through all the explanation to potential buyers... pain in the ar5e. It’s a low mileage 52K. and a fantastic car but I fancied a 997 Turbo. It’s just a b4ll4che basically. Six years though. It’s worth seeing if the dealer will help out at all but if not, just move on.
Mariosbt said:
2007 Porsche 997 Carrera. It’s not really about the value. It’s the fact another dealer wasn’t willing to P/X. Which to me is the simplest way to change cars. Otherwise I would have to advertise the car & go through all the explanation to potential buyers... pain in the ar5e. It’s a low mileage 52K. and a fantastic car but I fancied a 997 Turbo. It’s just a b4ll4che basically.
You said it showed as "condition alert" on Hpi when you bought it.That would rule out most dealers buying it also.
boyse7en said:
If it's Cat D shouldn't it be recorded on the V5C? I know mine was
No, it wasn’t. I wrote to DVLA about the matter & they said the HPI check the dealer gave me was maybe from when it had just changed to a private plate. F2ck knows. The DVLA sent me a new V5 and that didn’t mention Cat D either. The worst scenario is I don’t get a Turbo & keep the car... worse things happen 
The car is in superb all round condition, so still got a great car. You just don’t like having ‘the wool pulled’ 
boyse7en said:
If it's Cat D shouldn't it be recorded on the V5C? I know mine was
In the past, Category C would be recorded on the V5 because it was the only one that required surrendering/reapplying for a V5C.I'm almost 100% sure a Cat D wouldn't, which would have made yours a Cat C instead.
"Condition alert" on HPI just means that the car has been previously written off. I think unfortunately this one comes down to you misunderstanding the implications at time of purchase - possibly not helped by some subtle misdirection by the dealer. However, he did give you the HPI report showing that it had a condition alert, so I doubt he could be held in any way accountable. If it was cat D it wouldn't show on your V5.
If the term had been "Condition inspected" it also means the car was written off, but then subject to an independent inspection to remove the category (e.g. cat D) marker. From a p/ex perspective, whatever its accident classification probably has a similar effect on its value, so I don't think there's anything worth your while chasing.
If the term had been "Condition inspected" it also means the car was written off, but then subject to an independent inspection to remove the category (e.g. cat D) marker. From a p/ex perspective, whatever its accident classification probably has a similar effect on its value, so I don't think there's anything worth your while chasing.
You will never get a Category marker removed from a car, so it's not worth the effort in trying.
Cat D cars aren't noted on the V5. Cat C are.
The only thing that is common on the V5 for Cat D cars is that it will usually state "non-transferable registration". But that doesn't necessarily always appear and not all non-transferable registrations are due to being an insurance write-off.
If you're looking to upgrade and are worried about the resale value of the car, then a dealer part exchange isn't the way to go. If the car is a great example, selling privately is the way to go.
I own a car restoration workshop with in-house bodyshop, so have often bought damaged cars for myself personally as it can represent great value if you buy wisely. I bought myself an XK-R 7 years ago, repaired it, made some very small and subtle and (IMO) tasteful modifications and kept it all those years until finally selling it to fund other things a couple of months ago. I've never been concerned about selling a previously damaged car before and have always adjusted the value accordingly, but still got a decent result out of it. I was a little more concerned this time as it was a car I'd owned for so long, was pristine and a show winner. Compared to any other on the market of its age, it was head and shoulders above. With this in mind, I really didn't want to give it away.
I valued it in my head considerably higher than any others on the market, then deducted a percentage (lower than I normally would) off for the Cat D marker it carried, which still put it above almost every other example available. It sold within hours of being for sale and was still getting calls 2 weeks later on it. Now I had the benefit of being able to show photos of it in it's (very lightly, and purely cosmetically) damaged state and then of the work that went into not only repairing it, but turning it into a show winner. But the fact remains, if your car is a fine example, sure it may be worth a little less than you had thought and hoped, but it should still find a good home for a decent price. People will pay the same or more for a top example of a car carrying the marker than an average example of one without!
I think the only real mistake you made was not picking up on the "condition report" or whatever it was. There's no way of anything like that flashing up on a check unless the car has been subject to an insurance write-off.
All the best with whatever you decide to do!
Cat D cars aren't noted on the V5. Cat C are.
The only thing that is common on the V5 for Cat D cars is that it will usually state "non-transferable registration". But that doesn't necessarily always appear and not all non-transferable registrations are due to being an insurance write-off.
If you're looking to upgrade and are worried about the resale value of the car, then a dealer part exchange isn't the way to go. If the car is a great example, selling privately is the way to go.
I own a car restoration workshop with in-house bodyshop, so have often bought damaged cars for myself personally as it can represent great value if you buy wisely. I bought myself an XK-R 7 years ago, repaired it, made some very small and subtle and (IMO) tasteful modifications and kept it all those years until finally selling it to fund other things a couple of months ago. I've never been concerned about selling a previously damaged car before and have always adjusted the value accordingly, but still got a decent result out of it. I was a little more concerned this time as it was a car I'd owned for so long, was pristine and a show winner. Compared to any other on the market of its age, it was head and shoulders above. With this in mind, I really didn't want to give it away.
I valued it in my head considerably higher than any others on the market, then deducted a percentage (lower than I normally would) off for the Cat D marker it carried, which still put it above almost every other example available. It sold within hours of being for sale and was still getting calls 2 weeks later on it. Now I had the benefit of being able to show photos of it in it's (very lightly, and purely cosmetically) damaged state and then of the work that went into not only repairing it, but turning it into a show winner. But the fact remains, if your car is a fine example, sure it may be worth a little less than you had thought and hoped, but it should still find a good home for a decent price. People will pay the same or more for a top example of a car carrying the marker than an average example of one without!
I think the only real mistake you made was not picking up on the "condition report" or whatever it was. There's no way of anything like that flashing up on a check unless the car has been subject to an insurance write-off.
All the best with whatever you decide to do!
Mariosbt said:
Hi fellow car nuts
I bought a car six years ago. I travelled 250 miles to view/purchase the car. I drove my trade in To the dealers , where I drove the car (nice). The dealer explained that the car had previously been involved in an accident but was repaired & assured me it was not Cat C / D or any other. The deal was done. The car cost me £22K my trade in value was £18K... not that that really matters. The dealer gave me a HPI Cert he’d printed off and all it stated was ‘condition alert’ from 4 years previous but he’d told me it had been damaged, so no problem. I still have the car and love it although I’ve spent around £7K improving & putting things right.
Sad story for sure. But it seems that the price you paid for it 6 years ago reflected its previous history, and the dealer told you that it had been in an accident. Plus it cost you £4K plus your p/x - was the px price you got generous?I bought a car six years ago. I travelled 250 miles to view/purchase the car. I drove my trade in To the dealers , where I drove the car (nice). The dealer explained that the car had previously been involved in an accident but was repaired & assured me it was not Cat C / D or any other. The deal was done. The car cost me £22K my trade in value was £18K... not that that really matters. The dealer gave me a HPI Cert he’d printed off and all it stated was ‘condition alert’ from 4 years previous but he’d told me it had been damaged, so no problem. I still have the car and love it although I’ve spent around £7K improving & putting things right.
Regardless, when a dealer tells you a car has been in an accident, it is either a CAT D or CAT C. CAT D is the lesser of the 2 evils, so look at it as glass half full.
Good luck - there’s a market for CAT D cars that have been locked after as you describe.
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