Category N insurance claim on car?

twopenny

So I've been looking for a car around £4000 (yes some decent ones are out there if you're quick)

Then tonight looking at a nice little Citroen C1 1.1Flair 2015 done 21,000 miles for around £7500 but it has a category N insurance claim which on the car says it was side panel damage.

But N seems to be a write off an could affect insurance.

There is no sign of damage, excellent MOT history and it's been repaired.

Question is should I give this a miss? 

It's going to be more than I wanted to pay, has a convertable aspect which used to be a problem in the old days (no idea now) and automatic and I prefer manual..........but it says on the garage gumph that no road tax, fully fixed, so - help?

What am I looking at? Problems or is this a normal thing?

Advice would be great

facade

You don't particularly want it, it is a lot more than you want to pay, you don't want an auto (no idea why, but it is a personal taste thing) and it is CAT N.

So don't buy it!

You can possibly check what it looked like in Copart by running a check with carvertical or similar.

CAT N means anything from a bit of a scratch to looking like it was played bumper cars with, the N means the damage was non-structural, a CAT N is worth around 25% less than one without accident history.

Depends on how little damage there was, and how well it has been done. It could leak like a sieve due to slight panel distortion and misalignment, and it could rust very quickly as paint and rust protection could have been removed.

Or it could be perfect, a great runner and last for 30 years without problems, you don't know, same as any used car, just a repaired CAT N is a little more risky than a straight car.

They insure fine, but any payout is based on the value of a CAT N not a clean one.

twopenny

Thanks Facade. 50% of that I understood but that's good.

It's not something I've seen on a sales pitch before and tbh I'm struggling with only 3 places that sell cars, low turnover, all very different approach.

My current outgoings don't match my current incomings and I'm told I need to scrap my old car asap.

That's why I'm considering anything that comes my way.

Indeed the old days when I just said to the local garage owner 'I need to change my car. Please keep a look out for me' and it was done.

And before anyone mentions buy off the net, sheesh I wouldn't know where to start and not the time to learn.

jimjames

You're looking for a car for £4000 and this one is almost double your budget as well as being a write off? I'm not sure why you'd even consider it. If your budget is actually £7500 then have a look around for other cars at that level, probably a lot more available than at £4000. If your outgoings already don't match incomings then spending so much above budget seems a very bad move.

BTW why do you need to scrap your old car? Who told you that?

DullGreyGuy

It doesn't "affect insurance" but the fact it's already been written off does impact its market value so you will buy it for less (if you negotiate appropriately). it technically would be slightly cheaper to insure, and if you sell it or its written off then it will be at a lower price than if it had never been written off.

Stateofart

Cat N may well effect insurance and definitely will have an effect on resale.  I would never buy a Cat N unless it was dirt cheap - factor this into moving it on

twopenny

Thank you all. That's really helped me understand. 
I'll answer both questions this evening from my laptop.