Buying a catagory C car?

spira9

So there's this car I have been looking at on ebay. It is a Ford Fiesta Zetec S 2008 with 66000 miles. I can get it for around £1700-£1800. The car is listed on ebay for £2150. I think it's a good deal as I've looked on car value sites and these go for £3000+ for same age and miles.

I'm worried about it being a category C car though. The owner doesn't know why it's a category C car either. So how can I find out what caused it to be a category C car? For example if it had it's front smashed in or back etc. And what would be the type of damage that could impact the car in the future?

Any advice would be appreciated.

rich13348

Cat C is the repair costs of the vehicle exceed the value of the vehicle. If the owner doesn't know why it's a Cat C who did he buy it off? Are there photos of the car? Does the car run and drive?

There was a thread on here a few months ago with regard to the car being marked as Cat C erroneously.

DUTR

spira9 wrote: »

So there's this car I have been looking at on ebay. It is a Ford Fiesta Zetec S 2008 with 66000 miles. I can get it for around £1700-£1800. The car is listed on ebay for £2150. I think it's a good deal as I've looked on car value sites and these go for £3000+ for same age and miles.

I'm worried about it being a category C car though. The owner doesn't know why it's a category C car either. So how can I find out what caused it to be a category C car? For example if it had it's front smashed in or back etc. And what would be the type of damage that could impact the car in the future?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Perhaps the owner does know.
If you are getting it cheap and there is no further loading on the insurance premium, then that can be a saving.

AdrianC

Look the car over carefully. If you can't find the repair, then it was done well, and it doesn't really matter.

Remember...
Cat D means the insurer could have repaired, and you'd never know, but they chose not to even though the sums made sense.
Cat C means the insurer could have repaired, and you'd never know, but the sums didn't make sense at main dealer brand-new parts prices.

spira9

It's an advert on ebay so there are lots of pictures. The car looks fine and the guy has invited my to check it over as much as I want. I don't really care that it is category C/D whatever, I just don't want to buy another car then find out it has a huge problem. The car is definitely category C as it comes up when I type in the details to autotrader.

My insurance premium is similar to the last car I bought which had a smaller engine.

What about a HPI check? If I pay for one of those will it tell me exactly what happened to the car. Or just say 'written off by the insurance company'.

xHannahx

How old was the car when it was Cat C. I.e. What date is marked as being cat C. If it wasn't very old at the time, think significant damage. If it was several years old moderate damage, if it was 10+ years minor damage is possible.
Cat c indicates that using brand new parts would cost more to repair than the cars value. On a car worth £10k that's a lot of repair, on an old banger worth £500 your talking about a small scrape.

spira9

The car is 2008. I looked online and the MOT dates back to 2011. So it was damaged before 2011.

Talc1234

Category C means that the insurance companies declared that it was not viable to repair the car

Someone else bought it and repaired it on the cheap. Is that important? Maybe not until you have an accident but until that happens you are not going to know

£2150 is a lousy price for that car. Much better alternatives on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-08-Ford-Fiesta-Zetec-Blue-1-2-3dr-Bluetooth-Sony-CD-Parking-Sensors-/321940488563?hash=item4af5260173:g:olEAAOSwbdpWYz4i

bigjl

I smashed up my mums car when I was 19.

Was a write off, hit wall, rolled, slid down road, into ditch.

One driveshaft ripped out of the gearbox, not a window left in it, roof touching the dashboard etc.

About a year later a letter came through from DVLA about it as it was being registered to a new keeper. I assume they had applied for a new V5.

Can't imagine how they repaired it as the dash was bent and even the seats where broken when the roof caved in, rear seats bent out of shape when a mate left by the back window.

But repaired correctly there is nothing wrong with a CatC or CatD.

The body workers at the Garage I ran back in the 90's only ever had repaired write offs as personal vehicles.

You need to look over it properly, inside the boot, inside the engine bay in all the books and crannys for signs bodges.

It might even be an idea to ask the seller if he minds you taking it for a full geometry check at somewhere local that has Hunter gear.

As my biggest concern would be that it is slightly bent due to being repaired on a dozer by eye rather than on a jig.

I suspect we have all seen a car crabbing down the road in front of us at some point? You don't want to hold that particular baby.

bigjl

Talc1234 wrote: »

Category C means that the insurance companies declared that it was not viable to repair the car

Someone else bought it and repaired it on the cheap. Is that important? Maybe not until you have an accident but until that happens you are not going to know

£2150 is a lousy price for that car. Much better alternatives on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-08-Ford-Fiesta-Zetec-Blue-1-2-3dr-Bluetooth-Sony-CD-Parking-Sensors-/321940488563?hash=item4af5260173:g:olEAAOSwbdpWYz4i

Never owned a Zetec S Fiesta, but isn't a Fiesta Zetec 1.25 just a normal Fiesta and the Zetec S a more "cooking" model?

forgotmyname

Cat C could be major damage unless you know what to inspect then walk away or pay for someone that does know.

Too many dodgy ones out there with a shiny bumper glued on and nothing behind it if you have an accident.