Selling a Category C car

Orange_King

Hi,
I was told today that my car, which I was hoping to trade in, is a category c motors following a previous accident (before I purchased).

This wasnt communicated to me, just that it had been in a shunt, and it was sold to me by my sons friends dad who is a private dealer.

As I went looking for a trade in, the garage refused to take the car accept for scrap value. I cant afford that but wouldn't sell on without informing a buyerof the facts. But how much of a reduction in price should be expected if I got a private buyer?

Thanks

vaio

I think 20 or 25% is the sort of reduction you'd expect but it gets less important the older the car gets

forgotmyname

You will get the buyers that say its worthless give you £50 for it.

Then another buyer will ignore the Cat C and buy it on condition alone.

It will put off a lot of buyers though. How old is it and what is the car?

What condition is the car in? Any parperwork for work done since you have owned it?

[Deleted User]

A lot of insurers wont insure a Cat C car either.

mcjordi

camelot1971 wrote: »

A lot of insurers wont insure a Cat C car either.

if they dont ask or its not in their "assumptions" then they dont care..
swiftcover is the only know i know of that wont cover a write off

essexcowboy

You can sell it to some of the uk car buying sites, they would pay around 50% if the car has been decently repaired. If its been put together by an amateur and the repaired area looks sore then you would probably be looking more like scrap value.

motorguy

Advertise it privately along the lines of

"car has previously been subject to an insurance claim in XXXX and has passed its MOT X times since. It is registered on VCAR as 'Category C'. HPI report available. I've owned this car for X years with no issues"

Then get an HPI check done and print off the result.

People tend to be more jumpy about someone having badly repaired the car and trying to make a quick buck. If you can show you've owned the car for a reasonable period of time and it has passed MOT since then there shouldnt be much of an issue with selling it. It might be worthwhile putting a fresh MOT on it.

On a say, £4000 car, you'd need to pitch yours about £1,000 below what others are on at.

As the car becomes worth less its not so much of an issue - on a £995 car its going to be pretty much down to condition and mileage moreso than its VCAR status.

Notmyrealname

Orange_King wrote: »

it was sold to me by my sons friends dad who is a private dealer.

No such thing. Depending when it was sold to you, you may be able to chase them up for money as it has been illegal for at least a couple of years to sell something with an issue which if disclosed would have changed your decision to buy or the price to pay. Would you have bought it if you'd known it was Cat C and would you have paid the same price?

You may find Trading Standards and the County Court are the best way to get the best value for you.

As a private seller, I'd not want to be paying more than 60-70% of retail value.

Notmyrealname

pgilc1 wrote: »

If you can show you've owned the car for a reasonable period of time and it has passed MOT since then there shouldnt be much of an issue with selling it. It might be worthwhile putting a fresh MOT on it.

Unfortunately a MOT is not proof a Cat C car is safe. A MOT does not examine the quality of the repair. Hell, a MOT is worthless once the car leaves the test station.

A MOT will not tell you that the car is out of alignment. If you can't see the chassis legs without removing panels, a MOT won't tell you if they're bent.

colino

A lot of faith being paid to MOTs and the VIC. The MOT as we all know on perfectly sound cars can be said to be "patchy". The VIC needed to get a V5C and tax a car that has been declared Cat C is no more than an identity check to stop ringers. It pays no attention at all to the reason the car has been cat C'd.
Either play dumb (if you are a private, not trade affiliated individual) unless asked directly about its history, or know that your trade value is half of what the Parkers comic will tell you.

Orange_King

forgotmyname wrote: »

You will get the buyers that say its worthless give you £50 for it.

Then another buyer will ignore the Cat C and buy it on condition alone.

It will put off a lot of buyers though. How old is it and what is the car?

What condition is the car in? Any parperwork for work done since you have owned it?

Thank you all for the advice so far.

The car is a Jan 08 Astra 1.3 Cdti (Life). The repair job to the bumpers isnt the best however I have had no issues with it until this bombshell dropped at the weekend when I went to look for a trade in price. It is MOT'd till end of Jan 13.

I got it in Oct 09 and it has been very economic for me but as I'm no longer doing long distances now was to be the time to change.

I certainly don't want to pass this problem onto someone else unless they are prepared to accept the car's history and any future problems with re-sale.