Cat C Writeoff... stay clear or not?

bris

The vic inspection, the car would need to be inspected by VOSA to make sure it is the car it's meant to be. If it has a V5 then it will have been done but just make sure. If they say you need to apply for it then it hasn't been inspected and you should be wary of this.

prowla

I have a Cat C repaired car and it is fine, in fact a great drive, and my insurance company had no problem insuring it.

The one issue i have is that I bought it as a temporary run around for a couple of months, and I don't really need it any more but I am finding it difficult to sell.

To clarify, a Cat C means that it is perfectly repairable to a fully roadworthy state, but an insurance company has decided that they do not want to spend the necessary money to get it there.

A Cat C has to be repaired and inspected, and needs an MOT to be put back on the road.

So if you can pick it up cheap and get the work done then it will be fine. Typically it may require re-jigging to straighten out the chassis, or maybe a new front sub-chassis; you see this on the "wheeler-dealers" type TV shows.

The two big cost items are paint and repairers time. The person I bought mine off lost money on it and I finished the work and can't sell at break-even.

marlot

The problem is always that you don't know what the damage was, or the standard to which it has been repaired.

If you're planning to keep the car until the end of its life (so no resale hassles), you're confident the work has been done well, and your insurance company are happy to insure it then a cat c can be a decent buy. I'd have no issues buying one that my uncle's bodyshop had repaired, but he is very picky about what he'll repair.

I remember a neighbour being very proud of a 1-year old car that he'd bought. My uncle took one look at it and said it'd been in a major crash - but I couldn't see it until he pointed it out. Sure enough, when it was put on a jig, it was a bit of a mess, and the tyres were showing early signs of wearing unevenly. Fortunately neighbour managed to get a full refund.

colino

Frankly there are too many taxis accidentally falling into ditches and being written off nowadays to claim insurance money when everything else has been worn out or broken, I don't even bother looking at Mondeos/Vectras/et al any more.