Cat C Writeoff... stay clear or not?

arcon5

I'm looking at a car which has previously been a Cat C write-off.

It comes with a 12 month MOT and had a VIC.

Having asked the seller about the damage i'm told 'the car had some front end damage & the front bumper required repairing and repainting'.

Okay, the seller isn't exactly going to tell me if there has been major problems or such.

I was thinking about taking it to another garage for an inspection but not sure whether I would be better off running a mile and not taking the risk.... what are your guys thoughts on buying write-offs?

Sgt_Pepper_2

I wouldn't touch it, just personal opinion.

Explain the 12 month warranty.

arcon5

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

I wouldn't touch it, just personal opinion.

Explain the 12 month warranty.

Sorry MOT not Warranty. Edited accordingly

lee678

What is the main reason why you re considering purchasing this particular vehicle

pogg000

depends on age and type ofcar i think.

It will not take much to write off a 10 year old car to make it a cat c for very little damage

forgotmyname

If you dont know howto check to see if its been repaired properly or
pay someone who knows then keep looking.

Paying £150 or so for an inspection maybe wasted money. Put it towards a different car.

arcon5

lee678 wrote: »

What is the main reason why you re considering purchasing this particular vehicle

The price.
Just trying to weigh up the risk:reward ratio though.

pogg000 wrote: »

depends on age and type ofcar i think.

It will not take much to write off a 10 year old car to make it a cat c for very little damage

2006 model with 70k on the clock

forgotmyname

Probably not a little scratch then.

Couple of thousand £'s worth of damage.

Lum

A 5 year old car that's probabably worth what? 6 or 7 grand? (what make/model?)

So it's likely had about 4 grands worth of damage. Even at inflated insurance repair rates that's pretty significant.

Now if you were looking at buying a £100 Volvo from the early 90s, it would be a different story.

bris

It doesn't take much to write of a car. Cat C has significant damage and may have slight structural damage so it will need a good inspection. Don't let that put you off though, insurers take other factors into consideration when writing off a car. They have to give out rental cars etc when a car gets written off so it's other factors as well as the repair cost that mount up when deciding if it's viable to repair or not.
The biggest thing that should make you decide is price and insurance, you should expect to pay around 30% less for a cat C and get some quotes to make sure it's insurable, shouldn't be a problem but some insurers wont touch it.

arcon5

It's a Diesel Mondeo. According to whatcar.com worth about £3k. Although on eBay tend to go for a little less than that. Listed at £1800.

Is there any formal documentation required for write-offs or just a case of seeing what the dealer has?