Hi lads and lasses.

So what does V-Car mean when I see it on a car ad? Damage repaired or something? I presume it is bad as such a car tends to be cheeper. What's the scoop?

Cheers

Mike

Basically, there are a few registers that insurance companies/police/finance companies use/check/update etc, and that hpi look at when you do a hpi check.

they are (or where) as follows :-

vcar - vehicle condition alert register - been subject to an insurance claim/had accident damage

finance - outstanding finance on the vehicle if it shows here.

stolen - if its ever been reported stolen it will be here.

a new one whos name i cant remember - if you buy a car from a salvage yard or salvage auction and carry out repairs that pass a hpi test (price varies depending on vehicle age, takes a long time and you can't attend whilst its done) they reclassify the vehicle from the VCAR register and place it on this one to show that satisfactory repairs have been done on the vehicle.

When you pay your money to hpi a car, they check the above registers and its from these that you get your results.

Its not a bad idea, but what makes it kinda laughable is that if a car is hit and its repaired and paid for in cash and not subjected to an insurance claim it wont show on the registers.
Also up to approx 95 ish, you could repair the vehicle and if it passed the hpi test they would simply remove the car from VCAR, they realised this was kinda flawed and changed it so that it appears on the new 'satisfactory repaired' register.

One area that does intrigue me, is if you buy a car that has been subject to a total loss claim, how do you go about insuring it after its already been a total loss ? (any insurance chaps care to answer that?)

If its on the stolen recovered list thats generally viewed as not too bad as only things like wheels, locks, seats, expensive parts have been stripped.

But if its on VCAR i would have a SERIOUS inspection carried out, and i dont mean AA/RAC as the guys i have met from that were pretty clueless. I would also want to know if it has been repaired, why had they not put it through the hpi test to have it reclassified as a good repair.

hope that helps you.

peter.

cheers peter, very helpful

Sorry to bring an old thread up fella's but instead of starting a new one about the same subject it thought i would bring this back up

Anyway ive been looking at trading my Scooby for an STI Scooby but its listed as a V-Car, does this mean its road worthy and insurable or it needs work/tests doing to it before it can go back on the road :Suspiciou

Cheers for any help on the matter :thumb:

If the car is recorded as a CAT-C it needs a VIC test, D Doesnt (D Is for minor damage).

But if its got a recent MOT and reg doc then its 99% Sure all work has been done.

Worth having a local shop have a look over it just to make 100% Sure, and do your own HPI.

Hope this is of some help.

Oh and most garages wont take cat recorded car`s as part-ex as i found out recently!

and people who are looking to buy private also dont perticularly like them!

I Personally have no problems, as if its been VIC tested then that means it has been put back to OE Spec!, so good as new.

Daz

Thanks matey :thumb: ...will have to get this properly inspected.

A VIC test ONLY checks the cars identity full stop. Vehicle Identity Check. No other inspection is carried out on repairs or the quality of. So a vic tested car could still be poorly repaired.

If it is on the damage register, only buy if it is VERY VERY cheap, and you dont mind selling it for next to nothing in the future - as mentioned, dealers dont like them in part ex, and buyers tend to steer clear unless they are dirt cheap.

Imprezas aren't exactly rare, and there are plenty out there that haven't been recorded for buyers to choose from, so recorded cars are about as unappealing as you can get !

As above usually worth 30-40% less than a non recorded car (unless you find a very naive buyer !)

Have to agree with the above, so its a bit of a trade-off, if the cat recorded thing doesnt matter to you then you could get a chance to buy a car you possibly could not afford "MARKET VALUE" for.

My 2003 206cc worth easily 4-4.5k, dealer told me would only be worth 3.3k,

It did actually sell for retail money, with everything declared and HPI report given to the buyer, i beleive its also against the law to sell on a cat recorded car without dislosing the fact.

D can't be that "minor" as the car has been written off! Insurance co wouldn't write off a car with minor repairs unless car was already worth the square root of nowt ...

TX.

Well lets put it this way, there is a blob on ebay and it has a cracked numberplate, and extremely minor damage to the fron bumper............ and its CAT D

the repairs i would imagine would not cost more than £100 with paint and a new plate!

my old green scoob, had NO accident damage whatsoever!, somebody had tipped paint stripper on every panel, so it had a full respray, Also CAT D.

So i dont think it takes a lot for them to CAT D a car!

The Association of British Insurers classifies Categories of 'Write-Off' as:

Category A: Scrap only - this vehicle should have been crushed. It should never reappear on the road and there are no economically salvageable parts. It is of value only for scrap metal - e.g. a totally burnt-out vehicle.

Category B: The bodyshell should have been crushed. The vehicle should never reappear on the road, but it can be broken for spare parts plus any residual scrap metal.

Category C: Vehicle extensively damaged and insurer has decided not to repair. The vehicle should have an independent inspection before being allowed back onto the road.

Category D: Vehicle damaged and insurer has decided not to repair.

So category D is the least serious category of write-off. It is really just an economic decision; the insurer decides that giving you the value of the car will be cheaper than paying for the repair.

If the car has been properly repaired, then it is worth as much as a car that was not written off.

You need to either check the car carefully yourslef and speak to the garage that repaired it or have it inspected by a mechanic. Getting an MOT at a garage your trust is often the cheapest way to do this.



Source : http://www.usedcarexpert.co.uk/revie...Write_Off_1139

^^ You agree that Cat D is a write off then ;)

TX.

At work we had a cat d 2002 sti ,that was attcked with white gloss paint ,screwdriver style impliment and baseball bat / hammer , was totally driveable ,with 2 keys and fsh - one of the lads snapped it up (not giving you the price as it was very very cheap ) - one respray and windscreen ,few other bits and bobs totalling about £1.2k and a shed load of elbow grease its a very nice car- however only did 48k ,so will last a while anyway ,but still shows on register so you take your chances :wonder:

I never said that CAT D was not a writ-off??????

ANYTHING CAT A,B,C,D is a write-off, like the above post, its a cheap way of getting into a car you may not otherwise be able to afford, I.E 30-40% Cheaper!

Now wondering what that 2002 sti went for!

it`s not mine so i might as well tell £3200 - even had 2 months tax and approx 4 moths mot and quater of a tank of fuel - admittedly the £1.2 k spent was trade parts and a few favors called in and i lost my finger tips cleaning it ,was a cheap quick car - even if parts /favours werent involved still could have been done for under £6.5k :D :D

'Write-off' as a slang term, has no real meaning; so seeing people argue about it is amusing. I love these threads where people copy and paste from the ABI site and 'know' all about insurance salvage, accident damage and repaired cars values...

Category D: Vehicle damaged and insurer has decided not to repair.

So category D is the least serious category of write-off. It is really just an economic decision; the insurer decides that giving you the value of the car will be cheaper than paying for the repair.

If the car has been properly repaired, then it is worth as much as a car that was not written off.

Unfortunately no !

However well it has been repaired, who in their right mind is going to pay market value for a car that has been the subject of a total loss claim ?

If the repairs are done properly, great !

Still needs to be a LOT cheaper than a 'non listed' equivalent.

Very rare we get offered a 'listed' car in part exchange, rough rule of thumb we use is 50% of Glasses trade price as a starting point.

Can be a write off, not is a write off
any car damaged / repaired via insurance will be classed CAT C or D etc
if it costs more than its worth then it is a write off

bit obvious but thought it worth mentioning

Simon.

Here's the meaning of written off:

"Write-off is also used in vehicle insurance to describe a vehicle which is cheaper to replace than to repair, sometimes known as being "totaled" (a total write-off)"

TX.

The accepted definition of 'write off' simply refers to any incident where the insurer has paid out the total market value of the vehicle rather than repair it.

This can be for a variety of reasons.

For example, if a 'nearly new' vehicle was stolen with keys and recovered undamaged, the insurer may choose to pay out on the car if the owner kicks up enough of a fuss and won't have it back.

In this case, the car would still be listed as a CAT 'D' total loss, even though it is only a technicality.

I would guess the reason for the listing is to alert other insurers that the industry has already made a full market value payout once.

If it subject to a 'total loss' claim in the future, the payout would be reduced accordingly to reflect the fact that the vehicles market value is less as a previous 'total loss' payout.

As an example, if I buy a stolen recovered car at 30% less than the current market value, my insurer would not pay out full price on it if it was stolen or accident damaged in the future.

Just think of the fraud potential !

You would get the same car being claimed for 10 times over in some parts of the country !

Russell Ash

"Write off"

Nothing to do with cars........an aircraft which was written off the squadran books :D

Shaun

I'm bringing this thread back from beyond, as I have a V-Car related question...

I'm looking at a car that is advertised as being on the V-Car register, I contacted the dealer who told me that its on the V register because it was stolen recovered. Could this be true, is there a way of checking?

Thanks guys

Have you done a data check?

Stolen and recovered cars will be a category D write off usually. A simple HPI check will reveal all.

Would the HPI reveal just Category D, or would it be specific, what I'm wondering is could they hide a crash for example by saying the car was stolen but no damage done, if the report only comes back with Cat D, or does it say Cat D - Stolen Recovered? Don't want to waste money on HPI's if they don't tell me why its a Cat D. Hope that makes sense?

So if your car is stolen and then returned in perfect condition and your insurers decide not to pay anything then you straight away have lost 30-50% of its value. Do you not get a payment for how much the car has been devalued?

I've heard of instances where seller's have advertised a car as stolen recovered write off to hide the fact it was actually in a crash.
Modern HPI checks I believe will tell you exactly what happened to the vehicle, if it was stolen then it will say etc...

Here's a screenshot of a cheap hpi check I did on my phone last week...

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/...7-18-50-47.png

These cheap checks are pretty good but won't tell you if the car is on finance.

I think stolen recovered with minimal damage are cat X now, if you go on a big insurance disposal site like Copart you will see all relevent catergories.