Contemplating buying cat N car - advice please

hart89

Going to view a 2017 Mercedes a180 this evening , done 25k miles, the current owner bought it as a Cat N and has repaired it. He says insurance is too high for him to keep it which is the reason for selling. I requested information about the damage caused, and repairs. He sent me photos... in all honesty, I could barely see any damage on the car. It basically had scratches along the side of the metal work, above the wheel trims and the bumper was cracked. He says it was an insurance write off, he bought it from the insurance company.


I understand that insurance companies write off cars with minimal damage sometimes if the cost of repair is not economical, I read usually they do this if cost of repair is 50-60% market value of the car, but in some cases (esp with new cars) if it is much less. But to me it still doesn't add up that minimal damage like that - scratches and a cracked bumper, would write off a 2017 Mercedes??


Someone I know has checked the VIN number, and also the current reg plate and the private plate that was on the car when it was damaged, and all is clear. The Cat N only shows on the private plate , the current plate doesn't show it - is that normal?


It is currently on ebay but he has said he would accept £11,500 to end it early. Any advice welcome .

hart89

Sorry just to clarify, he hasn't repaired it himself, someone he knows did the repair work. He bought the car for himself to keep but insurance is too high so selling it instead. He has sent me a photo of the v5c

AdrianC

It's very simple. Insurance wouldn't write off a car that expensive and new simply for minor cosmetics.

It's not quite as simple as some arbitrary low %age. As a rule of thumb, it probably does make sense, simply because by the time the like-for-like credit-hire car costs for the duration of the repair are added in, together with a margin for "When we started stripping it, we found this was also damaged", it's cheaper to write off than repair. And that's the only metric the insurer cares about.

I wonder if he did indeed buy it with mild panel damage - but it'd already been written off and repaired before that...?

As for £11,500 - the cheapest non-Cat N 2017 A180 on Autotrader is £13k, the priciest is £20k.

(BTW, you do know the A180CDi uses the ancient Renault 1.5, same as in various Dacias, Clios etc, right?)

hart89

So the Cat N could possibly be from other damage not the scratches and cracked bumper? What checks could I be doing i.e is it worth me paying for an inspection from RAC or AA - would they be able to tell me if there was other damage to it previously? When doing a HPI check does it state the date of when the Cat N was given?

foxy-stoat

I would buy a straight car instead of this one, it doesn't sound cheap enough for the possible grief you will get.

Herzlos

It's possible there was a huge wait to get replacement panels, I've heard of smart cars being written off for fairly minor cosmetic damage because of the cost of the 3+ months courtesy car hire.

AdrianC

Herzlos wrote: »

It's possible there was a huge wait to get replacement panels, I've heard of smart cars being written off for fairly minor cosmetic damage because of the cost of the 3+ months courtesy car hire.

Possible with newly-launched models, but a 2017 A-class would be the last of the old model.

motorguy

I've had a look on ebay and i think i've found the car. The bumper that was replaced was the rear bumper?

If so its very very likely the car had a lot of damage behind the outer plastic bumper frame - most likely in to the structural bumper behind it, the rear panel and possibly the boot floor.

A cracked rear bumper will have been hiding a multitude of sins behind it.

So heres my thinking

• There was most likely damage behind the bumper - how do you know it has been repaired properly?
• in no way has this guy bought new panels - hes either had the old panels repaired with fillers or second hand panels. Fair enough, but worth bearing in mind.
• I very much doubt hes bought it and been unable to insure it. Hes previously sold a 3 series BMW M Sport, which is going to be at least of equal cost to insure. I'd say hes bought it, repaired it and is trying to make a quick buck. If thats the case, and hes trying to maximise profits , is he really going to have repaired the car to the highest of standards?
• Hes also selling a rear seat back and a seat belt for a Mercedes A180. Why has he that? Was there interior issues that he had to replace too? Not a bigger per se but its odd he has those bits.

It sounds like you dont know anything about damaged / repaired cars, which is fair enough, but buying one sight unseen on the word of someone on the internet seems very risky to me....

motorguy

The cheapest comparable car (same model, <30K miles, same year) is £13,800 from a dealer with a warranty.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908231461495

motorguy

Also in the photograph the 'd' on the bootlid isnt straight. Certainly not Mercedes factory standards. Doesnt look like great attention to detail, it could be because the boot lid had to be painted and looks like he reused the old parts rather than buy a new one (corner cutting?). Might not be for that reason but its questions i'd be asking myself.

I'd like to see photos of the boot floor with the carpet out, and if hes been so good as to take pre repair photos, i'd be asking has he any photos of it after the bumper was taken off (i dont think he'll produce that one).

motorguy

Another thing - a lot of those came with parking cameras. Did that one, does it still have it and does it still work?

Also rear parking sensors. If it has (and it should have) those fitted, do they still all work correctly? Our A class had both a rear camera and parking sensors.