February 23rd, 2010 → 12:47 pm @ admin // 4 Comments
Hi there, I purchased my Corsa July last year from a van rental company, the car was in excellent condition, had low mileage and was pretty reasonably priced.
I found out when I had a knock in it that it had been involved in an accident before, a category D. My understanding was that a Cat D meant it was damaged but the damage was not valued as more than the cars worth and therefore only a minor accident. However my father in law investigated it when I tried to sell it and told me it had been written off.
What does a CAT D actually mean?
The car is not a write off (in terms that I understand ie: not roadworthy/scrapped) In my opinion. It has passed MOT’s and services perfectly, it is MOT’ed until october next year, and the car has been vigorously checked over, there were signs of a crunch at the front behind the grill/bumper but nothing major and I have had everything repaired.
I have been doing some digging and found that the Van Rental place that sold it to me shares the same office with its neighbouring firm, a vehicle recovery company, and I went in there recently and saw that the guy who sold it to me was working on the recovery side of the office answering calls to that effect instead of behind the van rental desk.
My personal impression is that the recovery company is owned by the rental company in some way, they recovered it after an accident and bought it off the insurance company, paid for it to be repaired and sold it to me while lying to me about its history. I being a new driver didn’t investigate the car thoroughly before purchase, my mistake and I will regret it for a while!
Any opinions/ideas about the CAT D/Car history from what I’ve said? If I want to sell it to one of those online companies who buy any cars, do I have to class it as a write off or just an accident? Thanks
Antony
Tags: Cat., Corsa, Does, History, Mean, Off...., Plate, This, Vauxhall, Written
anon
6 months ago
cat d means “repairable write off”
also applies to stolen and recovered cars
usually if the cost of repair is between 60-100% of the cars value, it will be auctioned by the insurance company. the insurance company considers it a write off but it can be registered again after repair and inspection.
and as far as i’m concerned, playing dumb when selling to a company like that isn’t immoral. they wont tell the next buyer that it’s a cat d.
Bardic
6 months ago
Cat D is the “mildest” form of write-off, invariably for financial reasons in that the insurance company felt that the cost of repair at full commercial rates was too high compared with its value. As you say it’s quite likely that the firm bought the remains and repaired it before selling it on, it could well have been repaired very well indeed.
I’m personally aware of one example where a car had brake fluid tipped over it and the paintwork ruined. The cost of a full body preparation and respray would have been far too high, so the insurance company wrote it off. The guy who bought it is a professional bodywork man so he was able to repair it cheaply at cost and now has a beautiful Mondeo which is probably in better condition than when it left the factory.
Unless they specifically denied it had been a write-off when you asked, they haven’t lied to you. Contrary to myth, most insurers don’t have trouble with covering a repaired Cat D.
Timbo is here
6 months ago
1. You explanation of a Cat D is near enough spot on.
2. It would be possible for the two companies to have co directors but still be separate entities – conversely either one might own the other. Whatever, this has no bearing on the matter for you.
3. Unfortunately most insurers will not insure a Cat D vehicle and those that will will do so for a lot less than the none cat D value and charge more for the privilege!
4. Selling it to an online “webuyanycar” type company will get you auction price or less anyway – a private sale will still be better.
Sal*UK
6 months ago
A damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road.
According to the MOT website.
A statutory lesson to you – NEVER buy a second hand car without having it HPI checked or using someone like the AA to check it out. This would have shown up before you bought it.
As to selling it, be honest -