Cat N wright off - cant inform DVLA

CarDriver404

As above, recently my car was written off by insurance company as Cat N. They gave us options of,take  £2 and keep the car or ,take £3 and they take the car. So we kept the car and took £2. Thats that. We have notified our insurance, repaired the car and its now back on the road. Issue is how can we notify the DVLA? There is literally no option for cat N cars. I have checked every option available on the dvla site. Absolutely nothing for notifying a cat N write off..

Can someone please clarify where do we stand with notifying DVLA about a cat n wright off.  How to let the dvla know? 

facade

You don't inform DVLA, your insurance company does.

You keep the V5 (or the insurer sends it back to you) with a CAT-N, so there is nothing to tell a prospective purchaser that the car is CAT-N, not even a new issue date on the V5 AFAIK, the V5 is never marked CAT-N.

CAT-S the V5 has to go to DVLA, via the insurer, and you apply for a new one, which is marked CAT-S.

A HPI check will reveal CAT-N.

https://www.gov.uk/scrapped-and-written-off-vehicles/insurance-writeoffs look at the paragraph on keeping the vehicle.

Shakin_Steve

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

motorguy

Shakin_Steve said:

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

Its not "too expensive".  Its "beyond economic repair" for the insurer - its cheaper for them to pay out and sell the car as salvage, thus its a write off.  

That is registered on VCAR and that can be picked up via an HPI check.  If someone isnt bothered thats fine, but it does impact a cars value and could impact someones buying decision.

Whilst it can be argued "sure its only Cat N", the damage has likely been significant.

diystarter7

Shakin_Steve said:

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

The example you gave is against the rules of motor insurance. You have to tell your insurance when you have had an accident, or you have just damaged your car and intend to repair it yourself you still have to tell them.
When selling a car, if someone asks you has it been in a crash/etc you have to give them honest answers.

As a "prospective buyer," I believe most here will agree with me that when they were buying a car they'd want honest answers and lying about the car you are selling and/or misrepresenting it may get you into financial trouble.

Thankfully most people are honest and will openly declare the faults/damage repaired or tell you when asked.

facade

I wasn't suggesting any dishonesty.

The problem with CAT N, is the car is worth less than one without a marker.  Fine if you are aware it is CAT N  and pay less, not fine if you are unaware, pay full price and then find that when you come to trade it in the dealer won't touch it when they HPI it and find it is CAT N.

Or if you write it off and your insurer pays out the CAT-N value and you have 47 HP payments left against the full price & interest.....

If CAT_N is recorded, then it ought to be marked on the V5 (log book), but it isn't.

frankflowers

facade said:

I wasn't suggesting any dishonesty.

The problem with CAT N, is the car is worth less than one without a marker.  Fine if you are aware it is CAT N  and pay less, not fine if you are unaware, pay full price and then find that when you come to trade it in the dealer won't touch it when they HPI it and find it is CAT N.

Or if you write it off and your insurer pays out the CAT-N value and you have 47 HP payments left against the full price & interest.....

If CAT_N is recorded, then it ought to be marked on the V5 (log book), but it isn't.

Its not a perfect system by any means and unfortunately there will be people who will exploit the loopholes.

You have a certain amount of protection when buying from a dealer as they "should" be doing their due diligence and as a very minimum HPI'ing the car and advising you accordingly.

Personally - i have always done my own HPI checks when buying.   One thing i would say is there is now a further enhanced check called VCheck that does all the usual HPI checks but also checks salvage checks - many cars will end up in salvage auctions but have not been insurance writes offs, or sometimes dont end up getting recorded.  I'll definitely be using it going forward.

If you're on facebook join the "Dodgy Cars" group - its basically a facebook group for VCheck and they do some exposes on there.  Recent one was a £71,000 M4 on a main dealers forecourt as Approved Used, but that had previous been through a salvage auction, unrecorded.

cymruchris

Run a check on your registration number on one of the various vehicle history checking sites to see if the Cat N marker has been applied.

Shakin_Steve

motorguy said:

Shakin_Steve said:

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

Its not "too expensive".  Its "beyond economic repair" for the insurer - its cheaper for them to pay out and sell the car as salvage, thus its a write off.  

That is registered on VCAR and that can be picked up via an HPI check.  If someone isnt bothered thats fine, but it does impact a cars value and could impact someones buying decision.

Whilst it can be argued "sure its only Cat N", the damage has likely been significant.

Yes, I know what it's called, but most people know exactly what I meant. Beyond economic repair = too expensive to repair.
Sorry.....forgot to use inverted commas.

Car_54

motorguy said:

Shakin_Steve said:

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

Its not "too expensive".  Its "beyond economic repair" for the insurer - its cheaper for them to pay out and sell the car as salvage, thus its a write off.  

That is registered on VCAR and that can be picked up via an HPI check.  If someone isnt bothered thats fine, but it does impact a cars value and could impact someones buying decision.

Whilst it can be argued "sure its only Cat N", the damage has likely been significant.

Whether something is “too expensive” is entirely down to the judgement of whoever is paying - in this case the insurer - so it’s a perfectly accurate phreak estimate in this context.

frankflowers

Car_54 said:

motorguy said:

Shakin_Steve said:

Why would a prospective buyer need to know about a cat N? Any damage can be repaired as new but it's just too expensive for the insurer. If you drive into a wall and get the car repaired without telling your insurer, then that's exactly the same but with no cat N.

Its not "too expensive".  Its "beyond economic repair" for the insurer - its cheaper for them to pay out and sell the car as salvage, thus its a write off.  

That is registered on VCAR and that can be picked up via an HPI check.  If someone isnt bothered thats fine, but it does impact a cars value and could impact someones buying decision.

Whilst it can be argued "sure its only Cat N", the damage has likely been significant.

Whether something is “too expensive” is entirely down to the judgement of whoever is paying - in this case the insurer - so it’s a perfectly accurate phreak estimate in this context.

Its not a judgement though its an accounting decision.

Someone could feel £20,000 is too expensive to repair a car, however it could well still be economically viable to repair it, rather than write it off.

Too expensive is subjective, beyond economic repair is objective.  Theres a difference, so i totally get what was meant.