What exactly does Cat D mean??

milliemonster

I have seen a car I like the look of on ebay, an 02 peugeot 206 1.4 diesel for £1800, seems like a great deal, the guy in the listing says it is a great car, tax and mot til Nov, pics look tidy.

So I have just paid £20 for a check through autotrader and it has come up as a Cat d write off in Feb this yr. The ebay listing makes no mention of this, so I have emailed him to ask him.

I know cat D means a car is salvageable but I'm pretty peed off that its not even been mentioned and I've wasted £20 (although I appreciate better losing £20 than buying what I now reckon is an overpriced car, depending on what happened to it) but what exactly does Cat D mean in real terms? and how much would it devalue this car?

I have never bought privately before and this has put me right off now, can't afford to keep forking out £20 a time if this is what happens!!!

the_chauffer

Hope this helps.

Category A Insurance Write Off - the vehicle must scrapped and no parts or components can be sold other than for scrap. Amounts vary but Category A Insurance Write Off vehicles can be very valuable. Consider some of the online companies that will buy you car 'what ever the condition.' If the insurance company are prepared to give you a settlement figure and the car wreckage then make sure you shop around the various websites for the best offers.

If all else fails try your local scrap metal dealer, they will often pay good money for scrap cars or unrepairable vehicles. Visit our Scrap Cars page for more details.

Category B Insurance Write Off - the vehicle must not be used again but non- structural and roadworthy parts and components may be recovered for use in other vehicles. Care must be taken to ensure that they are not critical components with important safety functions. Again there are several online companies who will offer significant amounts of money for Category B Insurance Write Off vehicles.

Category C Insurance Write Off - the vehicle is repairable but the parts and labour would exceed the value of the car. This is a tricky situation as there are plenty of amateur and professional mechanics who could use second hand parts to repair these vehicles at much lower prices than the list costs for parts and labour. Discuss this with your insurance company if you want to keep the car rather than have it written off.

Category D Insurance Write Off - the vehicle is economically repairable but other factors are involved that cause the insurer to declare the vehicle a write off. Perhaps the replacement car hire is too costly or it will take too long for a specialist part to be delivered. Again, discuss this with your insurance company if you want to keep the car.

Category X Insurance Write Off - the vehicle is easily repairable and may even be still roadworthy.

Unrecorded Insurance Write Off - the vehicle damage was not reported to the insurer or the driver was uninsured. The most common example is drivers who only have third party insurance but have had an accident that was their fault (usually not involving anyone else).

1956

Hi
Better get used to spending £20 a go if you don’t want to be caught out, is better than spending 2 k and then finding out a car worth 1/2! Prevention is better than cure.
cat D in simple terms is were the repair costs together with the salvage( damaged car worth) value come to more than the vehicle was valued at by the insurer , so say(simple example only) car was valued at £5000 repairs were £4000 and the insurer can get £1200 for the salvage, this would be a cat D,
So the car could have been cosmetically damaged to been through a flood and the engine damaged and anything in between, but what ever the repair costs did not come to more than the car was valued at.
Before I bought my Clio I had 7 out of 10 checks I did come back as previous total loss (admittedly I was looking for a bargain!). Eventually got one cheap and hpi clear.
how much does it devalue it well if you know its a previous total loss, the insurance ombudsman says approx 20 % less than a non total loss vehicle from a insurance settlement, however privately its up to you how much its worth based on how badly it was damaged, how well the repair has been carried out, and how much some one else will pay for it when you come to sell it, as they will have the same concerns as you!
Hope helps
cheers dean.m

forgotmyname

If you notified the seller, make sure you report it to ebay if the seller fails to declare it, he cannot say he doesnt know now can he.

Not worth anywhere near that amount of money now.

200888

i had a similar problem, though it wasnt through ebay - basically i liked a car, put a small deposit on for it and then found out after that it was category D - decided to have an RAC inspection to see if it was ok, but the results were not good and it hadnt been repared that well apparently so i didnt buy it - i would never have felt safe driving it even though it had an MOT and everything and was legal and 'roadworthy'

i would say avoid it, if they didnt declare it was category D then there may be other faults with it that they are hiding - and you will have trouble selling it on when you want to change your car too

i say get out while you can, oh and instead of spending £20 for individual hpi checkes, when i bought my new car last year i paid £25 and i could check up to 5 cars so i would recommend you do that and keep several cars in mind and not depend or set your heart on the 1 car when there are much better (and safer) ones out there, you can always find a non write-off somewhere even if you have to wait a week or 2 for other cars to be listed or up for sale