Are insurance write off cars unlucky?

Berke

Hello everyone,

I’ve seen couple dealers just working for Cat S cars, they describe them as “repaired with high standards” but I’m wondering can they sell their cars?

I know my questions are weird, if they can’t sell, they will close down. They are working for every brand and every budget.

Also, I want to ask, can people seem to Cat N cars as “unlucky”? Because I haven’t seen Cat N dealer or anyone interested in selling them much. As far as I concern, Copart sells both equal, people at there sees Cat N cars better, are they better for selling? 

I’m asking because I have a friend and he bought a Cat N Mercedes but he is struggling to sell it. His car is 2018 C220d at 13k mileage (original) with just small repair done. He is thinking about to run a small business with just selling Cat N cars, what do you think about it? Is it better to sell newish Cat N german cars or sell 3-4 years old but very good Cat S or selling Cat U cars? (Used and unrecorded) 

Because last night we have a chat with him and I told him to be a little bit careful about selling write off but I think German cars like 3-4 years old with great spec than general and Cat N will go quick, am I right? I’m talking about cars up to £15k (and lower).


I will be so glad if you could help me with that because I don’t want my friend to lose money, we are a friend from our childhood.

Kind Regards.

Goudy

There are different write off categories.

Cat A's and B's can't be repaired and returned to the road, though Cat B's can have the non structural parts recycled.

Cat C and D have been removed, but it could be repaired and returned to the road. C was just too uneconomical to repair full stop, D uneconomical when transport, hire cars, etc were included in the repair. 

Cat N and S replace C and D, these can be repaired and returned to the road
Cat N is non structural damage
Cat S is has structural damage.

It's all down to economics, Cat S cars sell for a lot less than Cat N cars and it's it just down to the time someone might spend repairing it, they can offen return a bigger profit.
A Cat N will cost more but might still require the same amount of parts to put right, but just take a bit less time.

foxy-stoat

If your friend is struggling to sell his cat N car then why would he want to go into business in buying smashed up cat N's, repairing them and turning a profit?

He is probably trying to sell his Merc for too much money, folk will choose a straight car over a written off one, be it cat N with minor damaged repaired to the highest standards blah blah blah.  

Written off cars need to be very cheap as there are so many for sale its not worth buying a load of possible trouble and it will be worth less in the even they need to claim a total loss or if they want to sell it on.

Berke

Goudy said:

There are different write off categories.

Cat A's and B's can't be repaired and returned to the road, though Cat B's can have the non structural parts recycled.

Cat C and D have been removed, but it could be repaired and returned to the road. C was just too uneconomical to repair full stop, D uneconomical when transport, hire cars, etc were included in the repair. 

Cat N and S replace C and D, these can be repaired and returned to the road
Cat N is non structural damage
Cat S is has structural damage.

It's all down to economics, Cat S cars sell for a lot less than Cat N cars and it's it just down to the time someone might spend repairing it, they can offen return a bigger profit.
A Cat N will cost more but might still require the same amount of parts to put right, but just take a bit less time.

Thank you very much for your reply, yes he told me S would take more time I think he is right with going with Cat N. 

Which one is better in terms of profit and selling time;

Cat N registered between 2017-2018 german car sonething worth up to £15k 

or 

Cat N registered between 2010-2015 german and also cheap but great British Cars up to 10k with great spec than average market.

Example;
This car has Automatic gearbox with 2.0 diesel with Quattro. How is this car if he plans to sell it around £10,500?


(I’ve included British cars also because second option is much more cheaper to buy, and also to sell.)

Kind Regards.

Berke

foxy-stoat said:

If your friend is struggling to sell his cat N car then why would he want to go into business in buying smashed up cat N's, repairing them and turning a profit?

He is probably trying to sell his Merc for too much money, folk will choose a straight car over a written off one, be it cat N with minor damaged repaired to the highest standards blah blah blah.  

Written off cars need to be very cheap as there are so many for sale it's not worth buying a load of possible trouble and it will be worthless in the event they need to claim a total loss or if they want to sell it on.

He is trying to sell 18 reg Mercedes C220d 13k mileage with full led lights, full leather, heated seats, satnav, phone interface etc. For £16,650 

He bought it for expensive, for £14k and done new engine... total loss but I told him to chose an older car. But we both didn’t know the engine has stones in it. When he started it, it worked fine but when he stopped the engine, it got locked and never ran again until recon.

He saw his wrong and he is passionate to do this job.

motorguy

Berke said:

Goudy said:

There are different write off categories.

Cat A's and B's can't be repaired and returned to the road, though Cat B's can have the non structural parts recycled.

Cat C and D have been removed, but it could be repaired and returned to the road. C was just too uneconomical to repair full stop, D uneconomical when transport, hire cars, etc were included in the repair. 

Cat N and S replace C and D, these can be repaired and returned to the road
Cat N is non structural damage
Cat S is has structural damage.

It's all down to economics, Cat S cars sell for a lot less than Cat N cars and it's it just down to the time someone might spend repairing it, they can offen return a bigger profit.
A Cat N will cost more but might still require the same amount of parts to put right, but just take a bit less time.

Thank you very much for your reply, yes he told me S would take more time I think he is right with going with Cat N. 

Which one is better in terms of profit and selling time;

Cat N registered between 2017-2018 german car sonething worth up to £15k 

or 

Cat N registered between 2010-2015 german and also cheap but great British Cars up to 10k with great spec than average market.

Example;
This car has Automatic gearbox with 2.0 diesel with Quattro. How is this car if he plans to sell it around £10,500?


(I’ve included British cars also because second option is much more cheaper to buy, and also to sell.)

Kind Regards.

Why would i give your mate £10,500 for a wrecked one he's fixed when i can buy a good one for the same sort of money?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202001226468414

Hes a mile out on his prices - thats where hes going wrong.  Cat S or Cat N cars need to be an wasy 25% to 30% cheaper to sell.  A few £s off isnt going to cop it.

It doesnt matter whether hes passionate or not.  If he continues with this pricing policy hes not going to sell cars.

The_Rainmaker

Berke said:

This car has Automatic gearbox with 2.0 diesel with Quattro. How is this car if he plans to sell it around £10,500?

It is a 7 years old and if I was buying salvage I would want a younger car, but anyway let's explore this one

So how much is this car going to cost to fix? (I'll use arbitrary figures and assuming 2nd hand parts you would need to price up the parts)
Lets say parts required are
Bonnet  £300
two headlamps £150
Front grill £100
Bumper ??
Airbags??
Front wing?
Paint £350
Labour?
So minimum to repair is going to be over £1,500 if you are lucky and have a tame bodyshop and I would be adding at least £500 - £1000 onto that for contingency.

So what do you think you would bid in the auction taking in to account buyers premium, transport and other auction costs?

I know what i would be paying (assuming my calculations are in the ballpark).

Berke

The_Rainmaker said:

Berke said:

This car has Automatic gearbox with 2.0 diesel with Quattro. How is this car if he plans to sell it around £10,500?

It is a 7 years old and if I was buying salvage I would want a younger car, but anyway let's explore this one

So how much is this car going to cost to fix? (I'll use arbitrary figures and assuming 2nd hand parts you would need to price up the parts)
Lets say parts required are
Bonnet  £300
two headlamps £150
Front grill £100
Bumper ??
Airbags??
Front wing?
Paint £350
Labour?
So minimum to repair is going to be over £1,500 if you are lucky and have a tame bodyshop and I would be adding at least £500 - £1000 onto that for contingency.

So what do you think you would bid in the auction taking in to account buyers premium, transport and other auction costs?

I know what i would be paying (assuming my calculations are in the ballpark).

Transport is £85 from this location, none of airbags are deployed but bumper will cost a bit like £500, car needs some sensors +£200 and damaged wheels repaired +£300 and labour is £700 e ended up with £2700. Sale price is £9000, profit is £1000 then max bid comes to £5300 or £5500. 

I make these calculatioans as accurate as possible with live market search, we will see what this car goes to tomorrow afternoon. I will watch it too  

What’s your idea, £9k is much for it? I don’t think because there is a same car Cat N white on Autotrader for £9900.

Thank you for your reply.

Berke

motorguy said:

Berke said:

Goudy said:

There are different write off categories.

Cat A's and B's can't be repaired and returned to the road, though Cat B's can have the non structural parts recycled.

Cat C and D have been removed, but it could be repaired and returned to the road. C was just too uneconomical to repair full stop, D uneconomical when transport, hire cars, etc were included in the repair. 

Cat N and S replace C and D, these can be repaired and returned to the road
Cat N is non structural damage
Cat S is has structural damage.

It's all down to economics, Cat S cars sell for a lot less than Cat N cars and it's it just down to the time someone might spend repairing it, they can offen return a bigger profit.
A Cat N will cost more but might still require the same amount of parts to put right, but just take a bit less time.

Thank you very much for your reply, yes he told me S would take more time I think he is right with going with Cat N. 

Which one is better in terms of profit and selling time;

Cat N registered between 2017-2018 german car sonething worth up to £15k 

or 

Cat N registered between 2010-2015 german and also cheap but great British Cars up to 10k with great spec than average market.

Example;
This car has Automatic gearbox with 2.0 diesel with Quattro. How is this car if he plans to sell it around £10,500?


(I’ve included British cars also because second option is much more cheaper to buy, and also to sell.)

Kind Regards.

Why would i give your mate £10,500 for a wrecked one he's fixed when i can buy a good one for the same sort of money

Hes a mile out on his prices - thats where hes going wrong.  Cat S or Cat N cars need to be an wasy 25% to 30% cheaper to sell.  A few £s off isnt going to cop it.

It doesnt matter whether hes passionate or not.  If he continues with this pricing policy hes not going to sell cars.

You are right, if something wouldn’t makes sense, nothing will change if he is passionate about it, totally agreed to you. What about £9k? Auction is tomorrow, if it ends lower than 5,5k price will go down.

Same car Cat N on Autotrader, sale for £9,900

Thanks.

red_eye

No money in it. You buy a smash cheap you spend money on parts and labour you sell a smash for a little profit.
no one wants a write off unless it’s a Audi rs, bmw M or amg basically any high performance car that they can’t afford but be prepared to sit on it for a while.
my info may be out dated by 20years as I was looking into buying and selling

better off buying mot failures and fixing them, you’ll shift cars quicker and make money 

Berke

red_eye said:

No money in it. You buy a smash cheap you spend money on parts and labour you sell a smash for a little profit.
no one wants a write off unless it’s a Audi rs, bmw M or amg basically any high performance car that they can’t afford but be prepared to sit on it for a while.
my info may be out dated by 20years as I was looking into buying and selling

better off buying mot failures and fixing them, you’ll shift cars quicker and make money 

It sounds right to me, as far as I concern higher-end cars = spend more money on parts. Since he is looking to do this job with average budget, he cannot buy RS, M or AMG. These cars are very good but they will cost much more and he is trading cars in Sussex. He is thinking to sell cheap cars but what about Cat U? They only known as cat u, hpi clear but damaged. Also every single of these cars needs new mot so you will have a document to prove car is ok after repair. 

Or where can he buy mot failures other than Facebook?
Thank you for your reply.