Cat C Car

Windsor70

My daughter is learning to drive, and has seen a little car that she would like to purchase to private practice in and after passing keep for a year or more time she is confident to trade in and move upwards.
However its a Cat C car, which means repair costs where more than the car's value, right?

I have contacted seller and waiting for them to get back to me. If we were to go and see it, what things should I be concerned about? Should I steer her well clear? Would a previous collision compromise the safety of the car? Would anyone buy a Cat C car????

The car she is looking at is a Peugeot 206.

Thanks very much for any advice, always gratefully received

TamA

For a car to be used on the road again which is classed as anything other than a cat d, it will need to be inspected. Their should be a certificate with the car to say it is fit for road use again. Check with VOSA to see if the VIC marker has been removed. This means it has been inspected and is okay to re-mot.

Unless it's dirt cheap I would steer well clear of a write off though. If she crashes (be realistic) you will get next to nothing for it. Insurers are bad enough with unrecorded cars.

Cat D - dents
Cat c - chassis
Cat b - bloodshed
Cat a - Anhialated

What I always think of.

Hintza

As a family we run around in two Cat D cars but I buy them as salvage and repair them and plan to run them until they die so I have no expectation of any residual value.

Windsor70 wrote: »

My daughter is learning to drive, and has seen a little car that she would like to purchase to private practice in and after passing keep for a year or more time she is confident to trade in and move upwards.

If you expect to trae this in you will potentially lose 30% of the value compared to an undamaged one


However its a Cat C car, which means repair costs where more than the car's value, right?

Not necessarily

I have contacted seller and waiting for them to get back to me. If we were to go and see it, what things should I be concerned about?

Yes quality of the work, is the car straight are the gaps between the panels/doors/boot/bonnet correct. Has the chasis been crumpled

Should I steer her well clear?

Probably (but a cautious look might be OK)

Would a previous collision compromise the safety of the car?

Possibly; if you can't see photos pre-repair how do you know the extent of repairs. Check all lights come on in the dash and they haven't removed any bulbs.

Would anyone buy a Cat C car????

Yes but I prefer Cat D (but some Cat C are no worse than a Cat D. Has it had the VIC check done which it will require (probably done alreay but worth checking)

The car she is looking at is a Peugeot 206.

Thanks very much for any advice, always gratefully received

If it is close by, by all means go and have a look but you want good answers to all your questions pref with photos. If it is any distance away just leave well alone or you will travel miles and put yourself under pressure to buy it to justify the journey.

Hintza

TamA wrote: »

Cat D - dents
Cat c - chassis
Cat b - bloodshed
Cat a - Anhialated

Cat c - chassis

Not always might just be an older car, I have seen them mark some up as Cat C when I would struggle to give them a Cat D as the damage is so minimal, but on principle I agree

TrickyWicky

TamA wrote: »

For a car to be used on the road again which is classed as anything other than a cat d, it will need to be inspected. Their should be a certificate with the car to say it is fit for road use again. Check with VOSA to see if the VIC marker has been removed. This means it has been inspected and is okay to re-mot.

No thats wrong. The VIC is a Vehicle Identity Check. It is not any form of safety test. It is purely to identify that the vehicle matches the one that the DVLA have recorded. EG the VIN number matches that of the V5 and DVLA, the engine serial matches and the other hidden markers are correct.

It is purely to confirm that the vehile is not cloned or ringed. It does nothing to confirm that the vehicle is roadworthy, safe or structurally sound.

The VIC marker simply means that the DVLA will not retax the vehicle online or send a tax reminder however you can still tax it via the post office.

Only the MOT test can determine if its a safe vehicle and you can perform that at any time regardless of a VIC marker.

I had to go through all of this myself a couple of years ago after rebuilding our Cat C car. The whole process was one long pain in the grass as the insurers refused to re-insure it until it passed both the VIC and the MOT.

chrisw

I might buy one for myself but I don't think I'd buy one for my daughter. Even if it appeared completely sound there would be a niggle at the back of my mind....

s_b

lots of bodyshops are shutting down because they have been screwed by insurers to repair cars for a packet of woodbines
a good friend of mine is on the edge of shutting his very good bodyshop that was passed down from his dad because insurers are wanting to do everything by bought out big boys and minimum costs
thatcham and pas has become a joke
therefore a modern cat c might just need a rear lens and a bit of paint on a corner depending on trade valuation
go see it OP and base your opinion on what you see,remember its probably had a much better inspection by the seller than that one at the side of the road with the mobile phone number in and house nails holding the caliper in place (seen this myself)

wait till the american system comes here where insurers insist on fitting used parts to 3 year and older cars,its coming and coming fast

TrickyWicky

s_b wrote: »

wait till the american system comes here where insurers insist on fitting used parts to 3 year and older cars,its coming and coming fast

Well hopefully that'll be a reason for the premiums to come down then. I know it's unlikely to happen but on an older car where 2nd hand parts aren't easy to come by maybe it'll at least make them think twice before trying to screw you over like they have me!

newfoundglory

Personally, I wouldn't buy a car which had been a write off - unless I could be sure that the damage was minor and had been professionally and properly repaired (this is probably not easy to determine). You would also want a knock-down price in the current market.

TrickyWicky

newfoundglory wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't buy a car which had been a write off - unless I could be sure that the damage was minor and had been professionally and properly repaired (this is probably not easy to determine). You would also want a knock-down price in the current market.

So if its minor damage, (eg a small dent) what do you call a professional and proper repair? - A dent is nothing serious but can cause a car to be written off.

We had a Cat C. The entire end got smashed to bits. The only bit that survived (god knows how) was the radiator and fan assembly - no leaks and the fans worked fine. Everything else, bumper, grill, front member, headlights etc had to be removed and replaced. I did it myself over a 3 day period. The parts are all from another identical model, there was no other damage and apart from a minor shade difference you'd never know it had been pranged. Now, does that mean you'd not touch it with a bargepole? - All that got smashed up was some plastic panels.

Hintza

TrickyWicky wrote: »

So if its minor damage, (eg a small dent) what do you call a professional and proper repair?

The problem is you as a buyer buying a REPAIRED one you don't know what the damage was nor the extent and you have to trust the guy has done it properly.

Every Cat D car I have bought has had worse damage than originally thought (mind you all have been bought unseen apart from photos at auction) the Cherokee had been hit O/S front and it was only later (after passing an MOT) it was notice that the N/S rear half shaft was bent