Buying a cat c car

[Bebsie]

Would anyone buy a cat c car? My husband and I have got £4000 to spend on a car and are getting so confused! He travels about 30 miles a day and we need something reliable and not too old! Any hints, tips or good sites to visit? We are in the North West.

[katiekittykat]

If you have got £4000 to spend on a car why do you want a Cat C one?

I would steer well clear of those - try www.autotrader.co.uk to search all cars for sale within your area and budget :)

Good luck :)

xxxx

[katiekittykat]

Also here is some info on Cat C cars:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Tips-Buying-Cars-1410/Category-C-cars.htm

[Bebsie]

Also here is some info on Cat C cars:

http://www.bigsnapsearch.com/results.aspx?q=Cat+C+Car&mkt=en-gb&scope=&FORM=MIFUAA

Thank you! When we were looking at the cars there were so many Car C cars and we wondered if it was a bad move! They were mainly newer cars with low mileage and this appealed to us, I guess it's definitely the wrong thing to do!

[katiekittykat]

No probs hun - good look.

Autotrader website or local papers etc are also a good idea - i am from the North west :)

xxxx

[Hintza]

I have bought 2 cat D cars first one was great second one had a bit more damage than I thought (ie needed a new gear box) and was marginal but it is now OH car and is great.

Personally I would only buy one unrepaired then you can asses the damage much easier, but you will aslo need a friendly (ie cheap) body shop to keep costs reasonable.

To decide on what to pay I figure out costs of repair (with help from my body shop man who always under estimates) and if that plus the purchase price is less 70% of the retail price it is worth thinking about. I am told I am being unrealistic and it should be closer to 80% but I prefer to have a bit in hand.

[hartcjhart]

buying a 'cat c' car is no real problem but depends on how long you are going to keep it.

short term I would not,long term I would as long as it has been repaired properly has an MOT and the VIC check done,

at the moment more and more cars are being 'written off' although it could be a car just needing some panels and no structure damage,

I personally think that in a year or two the 'stigma' of cat c will erode and it will be a commonplace thing to buy them

[Fogg1969]

I bought a Cat C car three years ago, a Volvo V70 with 50,000 miles. It was 3 years old.

At that time the same car with a unchequered past could have cost £14k on a Volvo forecourt. I paid £5000 for mine. It was repaired, had all the paperwork. I had a mechanic check it over, he said it looked like it had gone through a gap too narrow, and the damage had not been structural, and had been repaired to a decent standard.

3 years on and I've done 35,000 miles in it. No problems, it's been a great car. I'm in the process of selling it, don't have a clue what I'd get for it, but the optimist in me is hoping for £3500. So, a loss of £1500. Had I bought that one off the Volvo forecourt I'd have lost £7000+ in depreciation.

I think buying Cat C is fine provided you make sure you're buying something that's safe, and you get a bargain.

Am thinking of buying new this time round. Would anybody advose me against buying a Nissan Note from Motorpoint with £6k cash and £2k in Tesco Clubcard points??