Car I just bought was a write-off, seller lied.

mikeouk

Wig wrote: »

Do you? Why? If it is a private sale, he can choose to disclose what he likes, all he has to do is not lie. Happy to be corrected of course.
.

not sure if there is a legal obligation to disclose if its a cat c if your a private seller, but like you say, all he has to do is not lie, so how would he hide the fact its a cat c if it states so on the log book unless hes underhand like the seller he bought it from which would make him a hypocrite which makes this whole thread a moot point

GogolBordello

Wig wrote: »

Find your car on here and post the results


These are my results:
Citroën C3 (2002-)

5Dr Hatchback 1.4i 16v [92 bhp] SX (2003/53)




Car valuation adjusted for
69,000 miles
Retail:£4,406
Private Good:£3,446
Private Average:£2,916
Private Poor:£2,376
Part Exchange:£3,146
Trade:£2,971

So, presumably, I have to take the 'poor' price and reduce it by a third or so for the Cat C issue?

GogolBordello

mikeouk wrote: »

not sure if there is a legal obligation to disclose if its a cat c if your a private seller, but like you say, all he has to do is not lie, so how would he hide the fact its a cat c if it states so on the log book unless hes underhand like the seller he bought it from which would make him a hypocrite which makes this whole thread a moot point

He hid the V5 from me...only brought the tear off 'new keeper' bit. I, like a fool, didn't realise I had to sign the log book too :-(

mikeouk

[QUOTE=

So, presumably, I have to take the 'poor' price and reduce it by a third or so for the Cat C issue?[/QUOTE]

alot depends on how the car was repaired. A well repaired car can be just as good as an unrepaired one. I understand that you'd be upset at having the wool pulled over your eyes, id be the same, but at the end of the day, if you cant get any joy from the seller, you haven't paid a fortune for the car, and as long as your basically happy with how the car looks and performs and it isnt dangerous, then you should put the issue to the back of your head, and learn from this experience (im sure you have).

GogolBordello

mikeouk wrote: »

alot depends on how the car was repaired. A well repaired car can be just as good as an unrepaired one. I understand that you'd be upset at having the wool pulled over your eyes, id be the same, but at the end of the day, if you cant get any joy from the seller, you haven't paid a fortune for the car, and as long as your basically happy with how the car looks and performs and it isnt dangerous, then you should put the issue to the back of your head, and learn from this experience (im sure you have).

I guess this is how I am going to have to resolve it in my own head. It's a bit scruffy body-work wise, but not horrendous. Also, the driver's door key barrel isn't the same as the ignition barrel, and I can't get another key cut for the ignition as the body computer (BSI? It's another language to me) hasn't been updated with Citroen. That's another thing the seller didn't mention.
I'll still send a letter off to DVLA and see what happens.
I have learned (embarrassed).
Another reason I guess I got treated this way is because I am a woman, and scammers are aware that women often don't know as much about cars as men.

mikeouk

GogolBordello wrote: »

I guess this is how I am going to have to resolve it in my own head. It's a bit scruffy body-work wise, but not horrendous. Also, the driver's door key barrel isn't the same as the ignition barrel, and I can't get another key cut for the ignition as the body computer (BSI? It's another language to me) hasn't been updated with Citroen. That's another thing the seller didn't mention.
I'll still send a letter off to DVLA and see what happens.
I have learned (embarrassed).
Another reason I guess I got treated this way is because I am a woman, and scammers are aware that women often don't know as much about cars as men.

hmmm, from what you tell me, if the car had sustained recent damage then all of the body wouldnt be scruffy, also, the fact that it has a different ignition key to the door, could indicate that the car was a stolen recovered vehicle, this could mean it has never actually been bent. A 6 year old car of this value wouldn't have needed too much damage for it to have been written off by an insurance company.
Dont beat yourself up over it, youve made a mistake many people have, doesnt make you stupid.
Look at it this way, even if you run it for 2 years and sell it for £790, its cost you £60 a month in depreciation, thats less than £14 a week,,,not bad. if youd bought a new car youd loose that as soon as you drove it off the forecourt

GogolBordello

mikeouk wrote: »

hmmm, from what you tell me, if the car had sustained recent damage then all of the body wouldnt be scruffy, also, the fact that it has a different ignition key to the door, could indicate that the car was a stolen recovered vehicle, this could mean it has never actually been bent. A 6 year old car of this value wouldn't have needed too much damage for it to have been written off by an insurance company.
Dont beat yourself up over it, youve made a mistake many people have, doesnt make you stupid.
Look at it this way, even if you run it for 2 years and sell it for £790, its cost you £60 a month in depreciation, thats less than £14 a week,,,not bad. if youd bought a new car youd loose that as soon as you drove it off the forecourt

Thank you for your reassuring words.
I HPId the car (after the horse had bolted, so to speak :rolleyes:) and it hasn't been stolen. I can only imagine that the door got knackered in some way.
I have it up for sale now and am just going to be honest with people and tell them it's a category c. I wonder how much I should ask for though?
Any suggestions?
I'd like £2000, but that's probably ambitious.

kazzys51

dear dear ewes dont hold back do ewes he's proberbly terrified to come back on!

Wig

Did you ask for the cars VIC Vehicle Inspection Certificate? From the seller, if it didn't have one some sort of law relating to that might have been broken. An MOT is not good enough. Also this applies to you aswell, to drive it without a VIC would probably be illegal, you should also tell your insurer that it is Cat C otherwise you may have trouble in the event of a claim. I'm sure your insurer will want to see the VIC when you tell them. And when you sell it, you should sell it with a VIC.

Have you phoned the previous keeper yet?...ask him for its history and the VIC. If he's half decent and he is the son of the seller he may be annoyed his dad sold it to you in an underhand way and offer to buy it back.

I am no expert on pricing of cars with cat C history, on trawling the net for an answer it would appear there is no-one who has published the 'rules' of valuing write offs, I found a few quotes saying cat D is worth 20% off value, and one person who wrote with an air of authority said cat C would be 40% off.

You should decide what category it falls into (ignoring the wrote off) i.e.
private good
private average
private poor
This will depend on the service history and general condition of the car.

vaio

Wig wrote: »

Did you ask for the cars VIC Vehicle Inspection Certificate? From the seller, if it didn't have one some sort of law relating to that might have been broken. An MOT is not good enough. Also this applies to you aswell, to drive it without a VIC would probably be illegal, you should also tell your insurer that it is Cat C otherwise you may have trouble in the event of a claim. I'm sure your insurer will want to see the VIC when you tell them. And when you sell it, you should sell it with a VIC. ……..

About as wrong as it could get…….

It’s Vehicle Identity Check, it has no purpose other than check the identity of the car to allow the lifting of the DVLC flag that stops you renewing the tax. It checks only identity and not roadworthiness or quality of repair and, assuming the car is otherwise road legal, there is nothing to stop you driving it as normal before getting the VIC done. I’ve never seen an insurance proposal that asked about CAT C or VIC status and can’t think of any law that would require the VIC paperwork to follow the car.

Wig wrote: »

……….I am no expert on pricing of cars with cat C history, on trawling the net for an answer it would appear there is no-one who has published the 'rules' of valuing write offs, I found a few quotes saying cat D is worth 20% off value, and one person who wrote with an air of authority said cat C would be 40% off……...

I’m no expert either but I do have knowledge of a case involving an old Vectra, someone ran into the back of it and it ended up CAT C, owners insurance paid out £1200, owner retained salvage and fitted second hand bumper and bent tailgate back into shape and carried on using it. 6 months later the same happened again, same insurance company (actually the same engineer) wrote it off again and paid out £900. I’d guess that the extra 6 months wouldn’t make much difference on the value of an 11 year old car so that sort of implies that the CAT C status knocked it down from £1200 to £900 or 25%