Cat B car back on the road and for sale?

motorguy

I'm looking at a motor trade site from one of the big dealer groups and theres an Audi for sale on there with a marker on the V5C of "Damage:Recorded against VIN and VRM, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2011, Category B Insurance Loss. Bodyshell Should Have Been Crushed Vehicle Should Not Be On The Road"

The car has a current MOT running to next May.

It looks like its going to go ridiculously cheap as the motor trade seem afraid of it

Retail price of the car in question is around £7000 and trade on it is around £4000. It looks like under £2K would own it.

Potential bargain or run a mile?

GTE_Boy

I didn't think a cat b could go back on the road. You can only use parts from it.

motorguy

GTE_Boy wrote: »

I didn't think a cat b could go back on the road. You can only use parts from it.

It IS back on the road though - it has a V5C and the previous owner (presumably the person who put it back on the road) has had it several years and has (presumably) MOT'd it several times (Cat B marker is from 2011)

Seems very odd.

Joe_Horner

There's no legal reason that a cat B can't be returned to the road, the problem is that generally no insurer will touch them. In an extreme case, a destroyed shell with recoverable suspension, steering and transmission would retain enough points to keep its identity with a replacement (new) shell.

GTE_Boy

Joe_Horner wrote: »

There's no legal reason that a cat B can't be returned to the road, the problem is that generally no insurer will touch them. In an extreme case, a destroyed shell with recoverable suspension, steering and transmission would retain enough points to keep its identity with a replacement (new) shell.

It used to be the case of
A everything crushed
B some parts can be used
C repairable
D repairable

A cat B shouldn't be back on the road with the same identity.

tedted

Joe_Horner wrote: »

There's no legal reason that a cat B can't be returned to the road, the problem is that generally no insurer will touch them. In an extreme case, a destroyed shell with recoverable suspension, steering and transmission would retain enough points to keep its identity with a replacement (new) shell.

cat b cars cannot go back on the road only parts sold off of can be fitted to other cars and used

Joe_Horner

GTE_Boy wrote: »

It used to be the case of
A everything crushed
B some parts can be used
C repairable
D repairable

A cat B shouldn't be back on the road with the same identity.

Yes, but those are (and always were) purely insurance industry groupings and a sort of Gentleman's agreement with DVLA to reduce ringing. There's no legal reason that a cat A or B can't be repaired under its original identity.

Say, for example, a car suffers a fire which guts and distorts the shell but leaves the running gear intact. Rebuilding into a new (unregistered) shell would satisfy the legal requirements to keep the identity but it's far more likely in most cases that someone would try to transfer the ID to a stolen example. So the insurance industry says cat B (or A) and won't provide cover.




eta: It's explained briefly here:

http://www.motor.org.uk/magazine/articles/write-offs-back-on-the-road-459.html

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) provides a voluntary code of practice for dealing with salvage which insurers are expected to sign up to. Rental companies and self-insured fleets do not have to abide by it. The code stipulates that all salvage must be categorised before disposal. Put simply, categories A and B should never re-appear on the road.

eta again:

Adrian Flux will even quote for insurance on cat B in appropriate cases:

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/category-b-insurance/

Rolandtheroadie

There was a thread on here a while back about someone looking to return a cat B to the road.
I can find one about a Belmont Astra, but not the one I was thinking about.

motorguy

This one is already back on the road with that marker on the v5c.

Very odd

Joe_Horner

motorguy wrote: »

This one is already back on the road with that marker on the v5c.

Very odd

You'd face three problems buying it.

The first is insuring it - Flux will consider them but options are going to be very limited unless you self-insure.

The second - and more important - is satisfying yourself that whatever repairs were needed have been done properly.

Finally, since they removed the need for VIC checks in Oct '15, you'd also need to be satisfied that it isn't a ringer. Given what proper repair of a cat B is likely to entail, poor repair or ringing are both real possibilities.

Muscle750

Alot of write offs now are shipped to Poland repaired then bought back to UK and manage to slip throu the net so to speak. One salvage company actually takes lorries loaded with write offs straight to Avonmouth docks ready to be took to Poland