Cat D cars
 

Just wanted to find people's opinions on buying a cat D car as I'm thinking about buying one.(not a scoob by the way) It is only £600 so not a huge amount to risk and I know and trust the seller enough to believe what he says about it.
How does it affect insurance?
Thoughts please

I never let it worry me personally as it's usually only ever something like light panel damage. bumper wing and a headlight can be enough to cat d a car, even just keying it down one side could result in a cat d.

I think but not 100% that you lose something like 25% in the event of a further total loss claim, but you're probably better off posting it in the insurance section or send MoleyWRX a pm.:thumb:

As above wouldnt worry if just a cheap run about. I brought an escort gti in 1999 that was cat d due to all the windows being smashed by previous owners ex. Cost me about 300quid for glass from breakers and saved about 2grand not buying hpi clear one

had loads including a wr1. nothing to worry about. most cars have had paint by time there a few years old, done thro insurance would result in a cat d. new wings, rear quarter replated, new sills, slam panel. all these are ok but do it thro insurance and boom cat d or maybe a c. so buy this thinking all our cars are cat d. its only a letter, dont matter a f*** really.

Cat D is estimated cost of repair exceeds 70% of value of car.

so just factor it in, along with the date it was wrote off, that way you can gauge the repair cost if not known or visible

it may only be a letter but come re-sell majority of potential buyers are put off by the letter! so buy cheap, sell cheap etc if going for it

For £600, I wouldn't really worry mate.

It's not the repair cost exceeding 70% of the cars value, it's the entire claim.
Very very minor damage can result in the car becoming a D.

Nothing to worry about OP.

Thanks everybody. At the moment the car is going to the blokes daughter anyway so it doesn't even matter

Few years old? I work in a bodyshop and we painted a bumper on a 65plate fabia the other day as it had been damaged in main dealer show room.

Cat D isn't very reflective on the car's damage just what it costs to repair vs. its value.

If teh car is old, worn and not worth much its going to end up as a Cat D just for a cracked bumper: Indeed thats what happened to my mates missus's 15year old 200,000mile Astra...neighbour knocked the bumper off, insurance wrote it off as the cost of the paint and fixings was more than the car's value.

Now, things take a turn if the car is new and worth alot...take a 6month old Audi RS4...these are £55K when new, so consider how much damage has to be done to make it a cat D in comparison to a £800 Astra...quite alot!

So as mentioend Cat D isn't teh issue, its what caused it to be wrote off, and when. If its a low value car and it was only recently written off, its likely to be cosmetic.

Hi,
Just to let you know that the majority of insurance schemes have no problems with category C or D written off vehicles. If anyone needs a quotation please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

Is the payout on any further total loss reduced by a percentage say 25% as suggested by my post or would it be the same as for a none cat c/d car of the same make and model etc?