Vaguely in the market and looking about when I spotted a v nice Merc C220 Cdi Sport Estate. At top of what I was thinking about but good mileage and all bells and whistles. When I went through the detail it said Cat D. Not followed through and asked yet but seeking the collective wisdom before I bother.

Cat C probably. Cat D…hmmm.

Cat D yup. Cat C, nope.

I bought one but found out what caused it to be a CatD. It was an accident in the winter and there was a damaged rear bumper and minor dent in the tailgate. Presumably was a high repair cost by the body shop during a busy period so insurance company gave it a catD. A friend whose a mechanic did it up. I saw loads of pictures of damage before and thoroughly inspected it after before buying. I’ve not looked back either. You will be able to buy it cheaper than a ‘normal’ car so you could potentially try selling it at a better price in the hope that someone won’t do a history check or physically ask you. Just remember if someone asks if its was in an accident you must declare it

Isn’t Cat D the lightest level of damage?

I’ve bought a couple of write offs; one was a stolen recovered & the other was smoke damaged. Both were spot on without any issues – you only lose out when you decide to sell it: generally speaking, you’ll find it harder to sell & get less for a former write-off than a non write-off.

Isn’t Cat D the lightest level of damage?

Yup. I have got myself confused 8)

Yes Cat D is the lowest band for insurance write ‘offs’

If you buy a Cat D car, make sure your insurance company knows about it, otherwise they might not pay up on any claim.
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Category A: scrap only. For cars so badly damaged, there are few or no salvageable parts. Should never re-appear on road.

Category B: body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable. Should never re-appear on road.

Category C: the vehicle is repairable but the costs exceed the vehicle’s value. Can re-appear on road.

Category D: the vehicle is repairable but repair costs are significant compared to the vehicle value. Can re-appear on road.

Cat C probably. Cat D…hmmm.

Cat D is lighter damage than C.

Just be aware that some insurance companies will not provide cover for a car that is ‘on the register’ i.e. Cat D or Cat C.

Check the small print on your policy.

Cat D is lighter damage than C.

With some cars a broken headlight would be enough to qualify it as Cat D

Just be aware that some insurance companies will not provide cover for a car that is ‘on the register’ i.e. Cat D or Cat C.

The problem / issue with Cat D is unlike other categories it doesn’t get noted on the logbook, so some people can buy repaired Cat D cars unwittingly (and so don’t declare it as such to their insurer) then come unstuck when their insurers refuse to pay up after an accident.

I get the principle but the car I was thinking about is £13k. What kind of light damage would be more than that?

Selling isn’t a worry as I tend to buy and keep for along time (5years+)

The problem / issue with Cat D is unlike other categories it doesn’t get noted on the logbook, so some people can buy repaired Cat D cars unwittingly (and so don’t declare it as such to their insurer) then come unstuck when their insurers refuse to pay up after an accident.

Good point. I suppose the only way to be sure is to do a HPI check before buying. But then again how many of us would actually think of doing one ?

It won’t overly bother me but just a couple of points to consider –
1) The more valuable the car (ie. a Merc) the more they would repair it if it was insignificant or superficial damage and not right it off
2) I have recently renewed my insurance and they distinctly asked if the car had been a right off as they would’t insure it…

Just make sure you know what your buying.

13k? Do you run all your cars to death? Maybe.

If it was upto 50% of book definitely but still do ALL the sanity chechs i.e lots of history upto the accident etc. Dont get blinded with bargain fever.

13k is alot of money. If you only save 25% its a false economy…selling on insuring and px’ing

Doubt you would get 50% off book, just because of a Cat D.

Is it a car that has been repaired or one that you would need to repair?

As for writing off a 13k car – how about putting a crease all down one side. At full market price for panels, the paint and work that could easily rack up without any of those repairs being signifcant in their own right, but lifting a set of matching panels of a donor car is something a scrappy who received the write off can easily do. Something like a merc could have lots of electonical toys in the lights and bumpers, even the wing mirrors – duffing all that could put it beyond repair too. Stolen and recovered – locks / steering wheel / dash fubared. Again repairable if you have a smashed up donor car but not if the insurers are buying new parts

I aay view with a worse case scenario i.e 50% though. Most sellers tend to list at 20% and alot with missing history and/or just 1 key and fully valeted to compensate 😉

Current car for 7 years and 160k. Looked after and to be handed on to son when I’m ready so £13k ok for me. Might phone tomorrow but will only go for it if absolutely sure.

I had one – a trouble free and gorgeous Barchetta – and found out it was purely on the basis of some minor front O/S damage (pretty common, since they were only LHD) that was just too costly to source parts to repair given their relative rarity.

Gave me no issues whatsoever …. Until I investigated putting it in as a part Ex some years later.
The strait laced (but pleasant and honest(!)) main dealer just would not contemplate it.

Did not cause us any grief, since it was only one of our options at the time, but do be aware of that particular and potential limiting factor at a later date.

Gary_C – Member

Just be aware that some insurance companies will not provide cover for a car that is ‘on the register’ i.e. Cat D or Cat C.

When I mentioned this on a previous thread several people came along to tell me it was nonsence.

For the record, I have a Cat D, and Aviva were fine with it.

There’s some worrying advice here – Category C/D isn’t a straight forward relationship with the damage caused.

Essentially, Cat A – C are the only ones with any meaningful relevance. A & B you couldn’t buy anyway without being licenced.

C Does mean damage outweighs repair costs, subject to salvage value. So your Ford Focus with £1500 repair estimate, £250 salvage value, and a pre accident value of £1600, is a Cat C total loss. IE Insurer pays £1600, gets £250 back, total payout £1350.

D however, is a slightly odd category, its where the value of the salvage is high enough, (and will tend to be prestige and sports cars or where parts are very expensive), that the car IS repairable, economically, ie its repairs are less than the total loss, but that its worth writing the vehicle off and paying the total loss out – So say PAV is £15000, repairs £10000, but salvage is £6000, then insurer pays £15000, to recover £6000, to get £9000 paid out, rather than pay £10000 repairs.

Essentially a Cat D has no real meaning, unlike Cat C. A Cat D is not a linear relationship to the damage.

But a £13k car, you aint going to keep it forever, so be aware its still going to be 10-20% less than other identical cars for sale.

Thanks for that. Have to read it several times to sink in, but will help if I procede. Thing is I do tend to keep for along time so ultimate value is not crucial.

Insurance declared write offs are nice and easy to judge but there are plenty of off the record write offs that are masquerading as minters out there too How panels line up, evidence of overspray and mismatched colours is a bit of a clue.

I only buy bangers and its not really a big risk at the thousand pound end but you still need to keep an eye out.

And if it is too much of a bargain to be true it normally isn’t!

My daughter got a SZ4 Suzuki Swift on an 11 plate for £5k
That’s a cat d and we got a full inspection to cover ourselves – I reckon she got a bargain

Yep, i’d happily buy a Cat D, in fact I did in the past.

It needed a new bonnet, bumper & wing. The damage was that soft, even the headlight survived.

Car in question was an imported Evo 6, so a bit of a PITA for insurers to source parts for. Not entirely sure why as they were off the shelf parts at an Mitsi dealer (although expensive). I went to a few rally guys & got the bits I needed.

I would want to see the car in question before it was repaired to see the extent of the damage though. That being said, if it’s repaired properly there should be no issues.

I saw a post a few years ago now about a guy who bought a E90 V8 M3 direct off an insurance company that his mate had bent. I seem to remember him buying it off the insurers for just under £10k, spending £10k on repairing it & getting into a cheap, mint low mileage M3 at the time.

No one could ever tell it had been damaged/repaired it was that good.

Friend of mine picked up a 2 and a bit year old discovery HSE for 12k. Had been vandalised previously, pics showed every panel, glass and lights were damaged so must have cost a fortune to put right. Finish was top notch tho, and nothing that would give any concern reliability wise.

Our 3dr Fiat Stilo was bumped on the rear quarter. At the time the value was £2100. This meant it was a write off. We have owned the car from new so I took £1600, which kept it below write off value. We will now keep the car, with the dent till it dies.

A long winded way of saying that, yes I would buy a Cat D (which ours essentially is) as long as I knew exactly what the damage was and as long it was cheap.