Cat D Car

Citywalk

Is there a way of checking the damage previously repaired on a CAT D car. I have the REG number?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

No there isnt.

to give a few example of a cat D,

the vehicle is of age (usually 5 years or older) lets say 5 years on this one, damage could look severe but in reality there is little to no chassis damage, its mostly cosmtics maybe a bit of mechanical such as suspension area, radiator front core supports re jigging, new crossmember etc, it was written off basically because of its age and the amount for the insurance to pay to fix it would come close to the value of the car inc vat labor, paints, supplies ,curtesy, referals, storage, and tranportation.

take a 10yr old car, its in a light bump in the super market cap park, theres a cracked bumper and cracked headlamp and dented wing, its written off due to age, to the insurance company its not worth putting a 10yr old car back on the road plus the costs involved in the claim repairing it.

to get a idea of cat d write offs google image cat d write off and it will give examples of the damage thats involved to get a catagory.

Citywalk

Yeah the car is 11 years old. But I have no idea even when the damage was done. I'd be happy enough if it was recent because then it probably would be minor damage

forgotmyname

HPI it and check the date the CAT D applied from.

Or get someone that knows about cars to give it a good check over. I usually say dont buy a CAT C or D car unless you know what your buying.

If you dont know what to check for and dont know or want to pay someone that does then move on.

specialboy

Make sure the price is adjusted accordingly, for a cat d knock about a third off normal price.

colino

Unless it was your car at the time of the accident or have all round pictures from the salvage auction to give you an idea how beat up the car was, you have absolutely no idea what was wrong with it. Worst of all, you don't know who fixed it or how they did it.
Insurance companies have been playing silly sods for years as they exploit the new income stream of salvage. You can no longer go by the categorisation as a rough rule of thumb as to the extent of damage. Have a look at the Copart website to get an idea of the variety (and lunacy) of some of the categorisations.
If your not sure, steer clear.

harveybobbles

Find out the date of when it was CATD'd and contact the owner on the V5.

If it was before the current/previous keeper then send £2.50 to DVLA and get all keeper details using a V888

atrixblue.-MFR-.

harveybobbles wrote: »

Find out the date of when it was CATD'd and contact the owner on the V5.

If it was before the current/previous keeper then send £2.50 to DVLA and get all keeper details using a V888

really not worth going through the hassle of that for a 11yr old car unless its one of 100 built and really rare and eventhough cat D will increase in price in years to come.