Should i buy a Cat s or Cat N

yanbear

Good evening folks.
I'm sure this has been asked before but getting quite confused.

I am looking at buying a 2011/2012 seat leon 1.6 Eco, as my 03 peugeot it beginning to cost money, and i currently do 18000 miles a year. I have a long commute to University twice a week (car share) and do long trips to lancashire from Devon to see family a few times a year.

There seem to be some good deals on Leons with Cat N or Cat S. I am not looking to sell the car on, as i know the prices are lower and i would sell for lower etc.

What would be best to look out for in a cat S? Are their reports done to get it back on the road?
I understand the Cat N is bodywork so i presume therefore easier to spot if its not correctly done.

Any advice on what to look out for would be appreciated. Out of my comfort zone with cars.

Thanks in advance.

DUTR

Why not just buy a straight car?
False economy with the cat N or S at best.

angrycrow

If you have to ask on here I would suggest a previously written off car is not for you.

There are bargains to be had but you need to have an understanding of how to spot a poorly repaired car. A lot of written off cars have second hand panels fitted without addressing the underlying structural damage.

AdrianC

Cat N means it's been written off, but the damage was not structural.
Cat S means it was structurally damaged.


Once the insurance company have written the car off, it goes to a salvage auction, and is then sold on to whoever has taken the time and effort to register to bid. That's the end of any formal history regarding the repair. There used to be a check on rebuilt CatC (the predecessor to CatS - but it was purely a financial question, and took no account of the extent of the damage beyond how much to fix relative to the car's value) cars, but that was JUST an identity check, and was discontinued in 2015, having "found" just 40 - yes, forty - ringers out of 900,000+ cars checked over the dozen years of the scheme.



As for this choice... It's a middle-aged restyled and cheapened Golf with a Spanish accent instead of a Czech one... No more, no less. There is no shortage of them about. How much would you actually be saving?

Cetshwayo

All I buy these days are written off cars, but the caveat I have is I buy them as seen and have them repaired, I do not plan on selling them. It works for me. But I have a set of rules that I now use eg airbags intact, no bent axles, no bent chassis etc.

(Having said that the last one was repaired before I bought it because I needed it in a hurry)

It works for me, reasonably new car at 50%+/- below retail.

yanbear

I have a limited budget and wanted the newest car I could get and ideally the lowest mileage. Or the best looked after one.
I have had previous rep vehicles and found they were always well serviced so seemed to be more mechanically sound

AdrianC

yanbear wrote: »

I have a limited budget and wanted the newest car I could get and ideally the lowest mileage. Or the best looked after one.

Only the last one of those is actually sensible. Focussing on the first two is a great way to get tucked up.

sevenhills

Cetshwayo wrote: »

It works for me, reasonably new car at 50%+/- below retail.

People sell cars because they are likely to cost them money in the future, where as write-offs are sold due to an accident.

yanbear

Cetshwayo wrote: »

All I buy these days are written off cars, but the caveat I have is I buy them as seen and have them repaired, I do not plan on selling them. It works for me. But I have a set of rules that I now use eg airbags intact, no bent axles, no bent chassis etc.

(Having said that the last one was repaired before I bought it because I needed it in a hurry)

It works for me, reasonably new car at 50%+/- below retail.

My Dad was a mechanic and my mate does body work so i'd imagine that would be an advantage when viewing. This has ment that i get cheap servicing etc.
Just a bit dubious on a Cat S, does it have to be assessed before its allowed back on the road?

AdrianC

yanbear wrote: »

My Dad was a mechanic and my mate does body work so i'd imagine that would be an advantage when viewing.

Then they're the people to talk to. Start looking at unrepaired damaged cars on Copart. No point in paying for somebody else's unknown-quality repairs.

Just a bit dubious on a Cat S, does it have to be assessed before its allowed back on the road?

<points up>

AdrianC wrote: »

Cat N means it's been written off, but the damage was not structural.
Cat S means it was structurally damaged.

Once the insurance company have written the car off, it goes to a salvage auction, and is then sold on to whoever has taken the time and effort to register to bid. That's the end of any formal history regarding the repair. There used to be a check on rebuilt CatC (the predecessor to CatS - but it was purely a financial question, and took no account of the extent of the damage beyond how much to fix relative to the car's value) cars, but that was JUST an identity check, and was discontinued in 2015, having "found" just 40 - yes, forty - ringers out of 900,000+ cars checked over the dozen years of the scheme.

Cetshwayo

I'd avoid a Cat S unless you know exactly what the damage was.

As Adrian says start slowly and look at Copart to get a feel of what you get in each category. Stolen recovered sometimes offer a bit of value.

Another point is if you are chasing popular cars they can become quite expensive as every man and his dog is chasing them.