General car questions?

OddballJamie

I was under the impression that people looking for a new car generally had something in mind then may stumble across a cheap repaired CAT C/D car and then make the decision whether it's worth it.

I didn't realise people went looking for them and discounted undamaged cars.

sh0597

Write offs are normally not more expensive to insure. They are just worth a bit less on the market so you may get less of a pay-out if your car is written off a second time.

OddballJamie

sh0597 wrote: »

Write offs are normally not more expensive to insure. They are just worth a bit less on the market so you may get less of a pay-out if your car is written off a second time.

I think the issue is some insurers refuse to insure them, so if they were the cheapest for a non-damaged car on a comparison site then it would cost more as you would have to use the next cheapest.

Only way to tell is run a few identical cars and a few damaged ones on the quote sites.

Still don't get why the OP is only looking for them though. It's luck of the draw buying a used car anyway, why make it harder.

almillar

Absolute nonsense. The big supermarkets charge the same all over.

Absolute nonsense. Only Asda prices nationally. The rest can charge whatever they like. That's why here in NI, Asda is about 3p per litre cheaper than the rest for fuel. Go to a Tesco Metro and compare its prices with a big out of town Tesco.

BeenThroughItAll

almillar wrote: »

Absolute nonsense. Only Asda prices nationally. The rest can charge whatever they like. That's why here in NI, Asda is about 3p per litre cheaper than the rest for fuel. Go to a Tesco Metro and compare its prices with a big out of town Tesco.

Fuel is charged differently, but you'll find that the price of supermarket shopping, which is what the post was referring to, doesn't vary much at all - in fact it's largely regulated as a result of a Competition Commission ruling in 2010.

randm

hi , will not be able to use my car for about a year, i know there were new rules about cars being insured when off the road, can someone please advise on this. will declare a sorn and have the car in the drive so will be looking to get the rest of the years tax and insurance refunded if possible, so need to know where i stand. thank you.

BeenThroughItAll

randm wrote: »

hi , will not be able to use my car for about a year, i know there were new rules about cars being insured when off the road, can someone please advise on this. will declare a sorn and have the car in the drive so will be looking to get the rest of the years tax and insurance refunded if possible, so need to know where i stand. thank you.

If SORNed and kept off road you do not need insurance in place.

Park car off road
Declare SORN
VED will be automatically refunded via cheque
Cancel insurance
Insurer will issue refund via their chosen means.

Simple.

almillar

you'll find that the price of supermarket shopping, which is what the post was referring to, doesn't vary much at all

We were talking about individual stores, pricing individual items. That's down to the store manager. I think you're talking about the average price of a trolley-load, which I can believe would come out roughly the same.

BeenThroughItAll

almillar wrote: »

We were talking about individual stores, pricing individual items. That's down to the store manager. I think you're talking about the average price of a trolley-load, which I can believe would come out roughly the same.

We were talking about average prices of shopping across the country, so yep, per-basket pricing would be the comparator.


But, as for deciding prices, it really isn't as simple as you're suggesting. I don't for one minute believe the store manager in a Tesco Extra can decide to stick another 5p on a tin of beans just because he feels like it. I would love to see evidence to the contrary.


Half of Tesco's back-end systems simply wouldn't work if that were the case, and the Crucible database would have a fit trying to sort out Clubcard discounts, multi-buy vouchers, and points allocations based on basket prices if it happened.

Herzlos

randm wrote: »

hi , will not be able to use my car for about a year, i know there were new rules about cars being insured when off the road, can someone please advise on this. will declare a sorn and have the car in the drive so will be looking to get the rest of the years tax and insurance refunded if possible, so need to know where i stand. thank you.

If you're not going to need it for a year and it's not particularly special to you, it might make more sense to sell it privately and buy a new one in a year.

If you keep it, you'll need to work on keeping the battery charged, move it to prevent flat spots, give it a good service when you start using it again, insure it against theft, and pay the years depreciation (which may be nothing if it's old enough). It might even be easier to give it to a family member to run for the year.