Category B. Good news!!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

mrredundant i think your taking things quite out of context and proporsions now and evident you have not read most of the OP's posts. OP is under no obligation to mention his insurer, and quite frankly your invading his privicy by asking him to do so. there are insurers out there that will cover writeoffs they may not be your mainstream insurer but they are out there hunt around. and as said OP does not have to disclose this info of meterial fact unless asked by the insurer but wise to disclose. if it were mandatory not to return CAT B to the road then the insurers that wrote it off and ABI should make it clear by crushing such vehicles and set out definetive descriptors to insurers. should, isnt must, and wording like this make situations like these a grey area.

a category given by one insurance assessor will differ from another assessor assessing the same vehicle because theyre purely based upon opinion/cost/efficient to repair.

MrRedundant

No I am not. Once again you are taking the legislation to read what you want. It is clearly displayed on VOSA's website that there is no such thing as a VIC query. Its a pass or fail. Sometimes when it fails they are amended to passes after further investigation therefore your car did fail the VIC which you are saying was amended to a pass within 24 hours. If so then VOSA are clearly far more productive than efficient than most other government agencies. Page 6 of this document confirms this. http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/VIC%20leaflet%2009%20Web%20version.pdf

No one is disputing their is no clear legislation on this and CAT B is an insurance thing however what is being pointed out is you have lots of hoops to go through before this car is legal and will probably regularly encounter problems due to this.

You have spent an astronomical amount of money to get a 9 year old hairdressers BMW through a VIC and are still liable to fail an MOT or be refused insurance on the car or tax; not to mention the fact the water damage will probably come through at some point as its unlikely you stripped every bit of electrics out or reconditioned all the parts prone to flood damage.

All in all you still have some work to do before the car is on the road and for what? A Cat B write off which will be more hassle than its worth on an ongoing basis.

You really need to explain to us why you thought this was worth the time or money rather than popping down the local dealership and buying a car that wouldnt have these inherent problems.

MrRedundant

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

mrredundant i think your taking things quite out of context and proporsions now and evident you have not read most of the OP's posts. OP is under no obligation to mention his insurer, and quite frankly your invading his privicy by asking him to do so. there are insurers out there that will cover writeoffs they may not be your mainstream insurer but they are out there hunt around. and as said OP does not have to disclose this info of meterial fact unless asked by the insurer but wise to disclose. if it were mandatory not to return CAT B to the road then the insurers that wrote it off and ABI should make it clear by crushing such vehicles and set out definetive descriptors to insurers. should, isnt must, and wording like this make situations like these a grey area.

a category given by one insurance assessor will differ from another assessor assessing the same vehicle because theyre purely based upon opinion/cost/efficient to repair.

A few points.

Where has the OP told us how he acquired this vehicle? It could well be the insurer did instruct it be crushed

Insurance has a duty of disclosure. The OP knows fine this is a Cat B write off and failing to disclose it even if not directly asked would be silly.

If the OP had a problem with the category why didnt he appeal it? Probably because he knew it was right.

Flood damaged cars are almost always Cat A and B and for good reason. They are major failures waiting to happen. The level of work required to repair them to a suitable standard is astronomical.

MrRedundant

A question now:

What happens if the car is written off. What is the cars "market value" that an insurer would pay out (if the right level of insurance was in existance)

atrixblue.-MFR-.

MrRedundant wrote: »

A question now:

What happens if the car is written off. What is the cars "market value" that an insurer would pay out (if the right level of insurance was in existance)

sorry but IF's BUT's MAYBE's. what if it doesnt get involved in an accident what if its mechanically sound what happens then?


the vehicle as OP said was identified on appeal on the first check but as it happened had a different engine a unique case i find this is and interesting.

i have seen a cat b be put back on the road and youd be astonished as to what condition it was in before the repair.

TAX: V5C, insurance cert, mot. no post office would refuse to tax when he taxes the car.

V5C issued when VIC passed and has and now the dvla marker flag will be removed!

MOT after VIC,

taxed mot insured road legal and can drive it!

it doesnt matter how much it cost OP to repair it, it his perogative as to what he does with his time and money, as he is intending to keep it resale value dont come into it at this time, his insurer may only cover him third party but h still insured and it doesnt matter by who with as long as he is legal.

vaio

MrRedundant wrote: »

A question now:

What happens if the car is written off. What is the cars "market value" that an insurer would pay out (if the right level of insurance was in existance)

Don't know about Cat B but for Cat C.....

vaio wrote: »

.........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%

forgotmyname

Salvage Categories

Once a vehicle is written off it is classed as salvage. There are several categories of salvage. In summary the categories are as follows:

Category A - the entire vehicle must be crushed.

Category B - the vehicle may be broken for parts but it must never be returned to the road.

Category C - possible structural damage but the vehicle is repairable. The cost of the damage would have been more than the book value of the car if that repairs were carried out at garage prices and official manufacturers parts.

Category D - most likely to be nonstructural damage and should be relatively easily repairable. In this case the vehicle may have been economical to repair but for other reasons it was written off. For example where the insurer have to provide a courtesy car the time taken to repair the vehicle would mean that the courtesy car cost together with the repair cost would be excessive. In a category D scenario it is more likely that the insurer did not wish to repair.

Category X - this is minor damage and easily repairable.


From the RAC legal team.




VOSA carries out the VIC which is designed to confirm the car’s identity, not its road worthiness

forgotmyname

Also found this...


If your car has been classed as a Category B Insurance Write Off, then this will mean that the car must not be driven again but roadworthy parts and components may be sold. Structurally the vehicle cannot have parts removed for the use in other cars as this can be deemed a safety issue. There are many private sellers that still try to sell Category B cars so it is advisable to always have a vehicle data check as it could save you thousands. Recently there was the case of a buyer who had put down a deposit for a car; he then decided to have a vehicle history data check. The data check said that the car was a Cat B Write Off but the seller didn’t mention this. After phoning the DVLA, they confirmed that it is illegal to sell a category b vehicle as it is deemed unsafe to drive. Some people try to get it repaired and put back on the road but this too is illegal.
There are some salvage yards that might even keep the body shell of the car and try and sell it off - remember that this is not legal with category b insurance write offs. You may be tempted to buy the shell of a cat b write off but bear in mind that if you are found doing this, you could face a fine and have your insurance void. Insurance companies do not check a car before they insure them; they rely on your honesty. So if you lie about the state of a vehicle and they later find out, no matter how insignificant it may seem you may be liable for any damages to your car.

philip43

MrRedundant wrote: »

A few points.

'Where has the OP told us how he acquired this vehicle? It could well be the insurer did instruct it be crushed'

The car was purchased from a private individual.

Insurance has a duty of disclosure. The OP knows fine this is a Cat B write off and failing to disclose it even if not directly asked would be silly.

'If the OP had a problem with the category why didnt he appeal it? Probably because he knew it was right.'

Even the police forensics officer agreed with me that the car should not have been a Category 'B'

'Flood damaged cars are almost always Cat A and B and for good reason. They are major failures waiting to happen. The level of work required to repair them to a suitable standard is astronomical.'

A major failure waiting to happen? Category 'B' is a car that 'should' be crushed, but parts can be taken and used on other cars. That being the case, how can you determine which parts are safe, and which parts are ' major failures waiting to happen'? And if the parts are safe to use on another car, then why not use them on the car to which they belong?

I contacted the company that wrote this vehicle off, to enquire about having the category re-classified. They said that was impossible. They told me they had photographs of the cockpit filled with water. The forensics officer contacted them and asked for photographic evidence of the damage sustained by this vehicle. He was told there were no photographs.

I am convinced that you are an employee of a motor insurance company

philip43

MrRedundant wrote: »

No I am not. Once again you are taking the legislation to read what you want. It is clearly displayed on VOSA's website that there is no such thing as a VIC query. Its a pass or fail. Sometimes when it fails they are amended to passes after further investigation therefore your car did fail the VIC which you are saying was amended to a pass within 24 hours. If so then VOSA are clearly far more productive than efficient than most other government agencies. Page 6 of this document confirms this. http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/VIC%20leaflet%2009%20Web%20version.pdf

No one is disputing their is no clear legislation on this and CAT B is an insurance thing however what is being pointed out is you have lots of hoops to go through before this car is legal and will probably regularly encounter problems due to this.

You have spent an astronomical amount of money to get a 9 year old hairdressers BMW through a VIC and are still liable to fail an MOT or be refused insurance on the car or tax; not to mention the fact the water damage will probably come through at some point as its unlikely you stripped every bit of electrics out or reconditioned all the parts prone to flood damage.

All in all you still have some work to do before the car is on the road and for what? A Cat B write off which will be more hassle than its worth on an ongoing basis.

You really need to explain to us why you thought this was worth the time or money rather than popping down the local dealership and buying a car that wouldnt have these inherent problems.

First off, it's not VOSA i'm dealing with. It's the DVLNI.

The legislation is VERY clear. Category A, B and C must pass a VIC before being returned to the road.

What hoops? I have had to subject the car to a VIC, and now an MOT. Nothing else. What problems am I going to encounter, that I wouldn't encounter on a car that has not been categorised?

How do you know how much I have spent, when I haven't disclosed any figures? The 'hairdressers car' shows your true colours.

I subjected the car to an MOT on the same day as the first VIC. It failed on two minor issues, one of which was the vin. Both issues have now been resolved. It will pass the MOT next time. An application for MOT will be made tomorrow, (Friday).

Why was it worth the time and money? Because I will have a car which will cost me less than half the market value of an undamaged one.