Cat D- actual meaning?
Discussion
i mean the actual affects of it rather then the actual definition out of a book 
sorry if this is a very silly question, but how does cat D actually affect owning the car/insurance etc?
does it cause premiums to be a lot higher? is it hard to get insurance on them? are they hard to pass MOT?
or is it just the worry they have been crashed/damaged in the past, which could mean problems in the near future for the owner?
taaaaaaaaaaa
sorry if this is a very silly question, but how does cat D actually affect owning the car/insurance etc?
does it cause premiums to be a lot higher? is it hard to get insurance on them? are they hard to pass MOT?
or is it just the worry they have been crashed/damaged in the past, which could mean problems in the near future for the owner?
taaaaaaaaaaa
Edited by caymanred on Monday 1st November 16:11
I looked into getting a cat-D at one point, and as far as I could see, it had absolutely no effect on anything except the value of the vehicle.
Some cat-D vehicles wont have had any damage at all - there are other reasons for cars to be written off. Obviously if the car is accident damaged, the greater the value of the car at the time of the accident, the more damage would have been needed to cause the insurance company to write it off.
Some cat-D vehicles wont have had any damage at all - there are other reasons for cars to be written off. Obviously if the car is accident damaged, the greater the value of the car at the time of the accident, the more damage would have been needed to cause the insurance company to write it off.
Edited by kambites on Monday 1st November 16:26
Pretty much as Kambites says. Your insurance company will need to know about it (although I'm sure they could find themselves out for themselves, the lazy tossers!) but only because if the car is written off again they should not be paying out full book value. It should have no affect on MOT etc...
I think you have to judge each car on it's own merits. A cat D status merely indicates that the car has been declared uneconomical to repair by an insurer. It could have been for something fairly minor or for something fairly major, so being able to unearth the history is useful.
I think you have to judge each car on it's own merits. A cat D status merely indicates that the car has been declared uneconomical to repair by an insurer. It could have been for something fairly minor or for something fairly major, so being able to unearth the history is useful.
Ok correct me if I'm wrong but..
As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
redstu said:
Ok correct me if I'm wrong but..
As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
This is to do with the value of the car. A 10 year old car is worth far less than a similar 1 year old car, therefore the same repair costs a lot more compared to the car's book price.As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
I bought a Cat D Laguna once, it only had one headlight smashed in, and needed a new wing and the bonnet straightened. Wing and light: £15 from a scrap yard, bonnet straightened with pliers and filled and painted with a mate. No problems to insure or MOT whatsoever.
Edited by Alex@POD on Tuesday 2nd November 08:03
caymanred said:
ok cheers, was just thinking about it as that oakley 997 gt3 imo looks lavley,seemed pretty cheap, then i saw the cat-d..
then i guess if your buying it low it doesnt matter if your selling it low... its the initial outlay
If you are seriously considering that car maybe you should think long & hard, even as a Cat D. then i guess if your buying it low it doesnt matter if your selling it low... its the initial outlay
GT03ROB said:
caymanred said:
ok cheers, was just thinking about it as that oakley 997 gt3 imo looks lavley,seemed pretty cheap, then i saw the cat-d..
then i guess if your buying it low it doesnt matter if your selling it low... its the initial outlay
If you are seriously considering that car maybe you should think long & hard, even as a Cat D. then i guess if your buying it low it doesnt matter if your selling it low... its the initial outlay
i just keep looking at that sequential box!
Buying CAT D cars can be a way into cheap motoring and I have bought and had repaired a few over the years.
However I would advise a note of caution due to the huge disparity in levels of damage that can be classified in that category.
Don't buy a repaired cat d (or c) car unless you have seen it's pre-repair condition and know who repaired it.
Better to get it damaged and then one knows exactly the extent of the repairs required and can ensure it's carried out safely.
However I would advise a note of caution due to the huge disparity in levels of damage that can be classified in that category.
Don't buy a repaired cat d (or c) car unless you have seen it's pre-repair condition and know who repaired it.
Better to get it damaged and then one knows exactly the extent of the repairs required and can ensure it's carried out safely.
oOTomOo said:
IIRC any car worth less than 2k is automatically a write off if a claim is made for it.
Never heard that one before!It's a fairly simple sum regardless of value.
Is the cost to repair the car (and any other costs, hire cars etc) more than the cost to reimburse the customer for the pre-accident value of the car minus the amount the insurer would expect to recoup selling the salvage? If the repair cost is higher, then the car is likely to be written off.
Doesn't matter if the car is worth £2,000 or £200,000 though clearly there may be a higher chance of a £2000 car being deemed a write off in the above equation.
Ok, there is slightly more to it than this but this the basic premise.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Tuesday 2nd November 11:31
oOTomOo said:
IIRC any car worth less than 2k is automatically a write off if a claim is made for it.
Sorry, but that's rubbish. My car is probably worth less than £2k and someone lightly damaged the rear bumper. It was all fixed. This was earlier this summer. It certainly wasn't written off.
Edited by Dracoro on Tuesday 2nd November 11:11
Alex@POD said:
redstu said:
Ok correct me if I'm wrong but..
As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
This is to do with the value of the car. A 10 year old car is worth far less than a similar 1 year old car, therefore the same repair costs a lot more compared to the car's book price.As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
I bought a Cat D Laguna once, it only had one headlight smashed in, and needed a new wing and the bonnet straightened. Wing and light: £15 from a scrap yard, bonnet straightened with pliers and filled and painted with a mate. No problems to insure or MOT whatsoever.
Edited by Alex@POD on Tuesday 2nd November 08:03
The correct way of recording it would be to record all accident claims/repairs so that the history is clear.Cat E perhaps?
Gad-Westy said:
oOTomOo said:
IIRC any car worth less than 2k is automatically a write off if a claim is made for it.
Never heard that one before!It's a fairly simple sum regardless of value.
Is the cost to repair the car (and any other costs, hire cars etc) more than the cost to reimburse the customer for the pre-accident value of the car minus the amount the insurer would expect to recoup selling the salvage? If the repair cost is higher, then the car is likely to be written off.
Doesn't matter if the car is worth £2,000 or £200,000 though clearly there may be a higher chance of a £2000 car being deemed a write off in the above equation.
Ok, there is slightly more to it than this but this the basic premise.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Tuesday 2nd November 11:31
Repair costs to the Audi were £3,800 (panel damage thankfully)
Hire car costs were approx £7k as the we were without the car for 3 months.
We pro-actively encouraged the ins co to write the car off to reduce the overall bill but the ins co were adamant the car was going to be repaired. The irony is we claimed off the other ins co who happened to be the same as ours. lol
Madness I know but we were told at the time they were repairing cars if at all possible.
Edited by MoonMonkey on Tuesday 2nd November 12:01
Cat C - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car (no more, no less. A £90 car with car cracked headlamp costing £100 would be Cat C)
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. ( A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200 salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair)
Other expenses (e.g. hire car costs) are also added to the repair value.
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. ( A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200 salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair)
Other expenses (e.g. hire car costs) are also added to the repair value.
redstu said:
Alex@POD said:
redstu said:
Ok correct me if I'm wrong but..
As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
This is to do with the value of the car. A 10 year old car is worth far less than a similar 1 year old car, therefore the same repair costs a lot more compared to the car's book price.As I see it if a car has accident damage at one year old at a cost of £2000 it will get repaired, no record made, a similar car, similar accident but the car is 10 years old same cost to repair , then the car is likely to be a cat D.
Both cars same repairs yet one is a D.
How does that make sense?
I bought a Cat D Laguna once, it only had one headlight smashed in, and needed a new wing and the bonnet straightened. Wing and light: £15 from a scrap yard, bonnet straightened with pliers and filled and painted with a mate. No problems to insure or MOT whatsoever.
Edited by Alex@POD on Tuesday 2nd November 08:03
The correct way of recording it would be to record all accident claims/repairs so that the history is clear.Cat E perhaps?
kambites said:
I looked into getting a cat-D at one point, and as far as I could see, it had absolutely no effect on anything except the value of the vehicle.
Some cat-D vehicles wont have had any damage at all - there are other reasons for cars to be written off. Obviously if the car is accident damaged, the greater the value of the car at the time of the accident, the more damage would have been needed to cause the insurance company to write it off.
True. Many cat D write-offs are stolen and subsequently recovered after the original owner has been paid out. Some cat-D vehicles wont have had any damage at all - there are other reasons for cars to be written off. Obviously if the car is accident damaged, the greater the value of the car at the time of the accident, the more damage would have been needed to cause the insurance company to write it off.
Edited by kambites on Monday 1st November 16:26
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