andrew-theasby
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| posted on 4/7/08 at 10:36 PM |
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Cat C damage
Can anybody please pass on any top tips as im going to look at a damaged repaired focus tomorrow. It is cat C and is booked in for its test on monday
so doesnt yet have the certificate, but when it does, does that mean it will all be straight? or dont they check it in that much detail? The story is
its a body shop thats selling it, the insurers had it 8 months deciding to repair or not, then when they decided not to, he bought it , its had new
front o/s wing bumper bonnet a/con radiator and another bit i cant remember the name of, think it was the bar above the radiator, then resprayed upto
(including) the door. He says it has no history with it as the insurers kept all that, just a new mot, and on mon will have the certificate for its
repair and a/con gassed up. undamaged they seem to be advertiseed for 5.5k but minimum hell take is 3. Any thoughts would be much appreciated as ive
no experience of this before. Thanks
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eccsmk
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| posted on 4/7/08 at 10:55 PM |
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with a cat c test they only check the chassis and engine numbers etc match ive tested one that was still damaged so no they test to see if its
straight
also it WILL be stamped on the log book and come up on HPI check
all the best
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Chippy
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| posted on 4/7/08 at 10:56 PM |
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I believe that when you come to sell it, you must/should declare that the car has been written of, so the resale value "can" be sweet FA,
depending on the buyers attitude towards it. Cheers Ray
To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy
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tootall
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| posted on 4/7/08 at 10:58 PM |
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the vic check is to see the work has been done properly as far as they can see but mainly to see if it is the same car eg not a ringer or a stolen on
with your plates and numbers on?
ive done a few when i see a car i like i always try to find a damaged one to straighten first u can get a cheep car that way and u know its been
done right if i do it my self.
i did a escort si last year on 1998 R cat c needed a door lock repair and new lock, drivers window and door painting cost me £15 for window and a few
hrs of my own time to repair and paint door and give it a polish and it was back to new. carnt work out why it was a cat c though with such small
damage low milage and 1 owner from new. so if the focus has been repaired properly by a good body shop and not bodged together it should be fine
some people dream of sucsess, others just get on and do it !!
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Peteff
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| posted on 4/7/08 at 11:07 PM |
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If you're not looking to make money on it you can get a newish car for older car money. I used to get them from salvage yards and put them back
on the road to run for 4 or 5 years then sell them cheap and get another.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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eznfrank
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| posted on 5/7/08 at 07:01 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by tootall
carnt work out why it was a cat c though with such small damage low milage and 1 owner from new.
I worked in motor insurance claims for 7 years and it's surprising how often TL's are incorrectly registered with MIAFTR.
It's also not uncommon for perfectly good cars to be written off down to economics. Mainly with imports, rare cars and French stuff you can
find that say for example a £6k car may need £2k repairs but because the parts are on back order they need to put the customer in a hire car for
weeks, maybe even months which pushes up the costs of the claim so much it's cheaper for them to settle early and TL the car.
[Edited on 5/7/08 by eznfrank]
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fatfranky
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| posted on 5/7/08 at 09:08 AM |
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I think it should also be borne in mind that if you buy the car and it's subject to a further claim (e.g. someone runs into the back of you and
the car is written off) the insurance company will pay out a much lower value on the basis that it's already been written off once.
I'm not trying to put you off, like others i've repaired and ran a few myself but you should go into it with your eyes open
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 5/7/08 at 09:39 AM |
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The last 2 posts are spot on.
I would like to clear up the confusion about categories
Cat A - Absolute total loss, burn out etc
Cat B - Severe damage where it would be unsafe for that chassis to go back onto the road, break only
Cat C - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car (no more, no less. A £90 car with car cracked headlamp costing £100 would be Cat C)
Cat D - The repair costs exceeded the value of the car less the salvage value. ( A £500 car with a £350 repair, but the Insurer would get £200
salvage, so it would cost them £300 to total loss rather than £350 to repair)
25 years as a bodyshop estimator/manager and Insurance Company Motor Assessor
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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andrew-theasby
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| posted on 5/7/08 at 10:02 AM |
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Thanks for all the comments. Having second thoughts now its chucking it down as its hard to see flaws in the rain. Would the cost of insuring it be
any different, would i need to tell them?
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Brook_lands
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| posted on 5/7/08 at 12:36 PM |
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Just bought a repaired Cat D car last weekend, no problem with the insurance premium only paid an admin fee to swap over from previous car which was
virtually the same make and model. Got the car for a good price, intend to run it til its scrap so no resell price problems, accept that I would have
to accept a lower payout if the car is written off. But that's an acceptable risk given the price I paid for it.
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