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would you buy a Cat D car?

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Old 20 July 2007, 06:45 PM
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minty
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Default would you buy a Cat D car?

And if so how much would you pay for one with a blown engine as the reason for the cat D ?

Then if you still would buy one....how much would you pay for an R-reg Type R (black)

Cheers
minty.
Old 20 July 2007, 07:42 PM
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ONE 234
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if its in good nick id pay £2,500 tops, because even after your rebuild/new engine, it will still be on the register as a cat D, so affecting the resale
Old 20 July 2007, 08:21 PM
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I'm confused. How can a blown engine be the reason for a cat D? Only way I can think of is that it set fire to some of the rest of the engine bay or something. I wasn't aware you could claim off the insurance for a blown engine

Happy to be enlightened if there's something I've missed
Old 20 July 2007, 08:21 PM
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For the car to be a Cat D it was written off. With the damage being to the engine, do you know what caused the damage? The reason I ask is that insurance does not normally cover mechanical failure , so the car would not be on the register. I suppose flood damage would be one answer.....
Old 20 July 2007, 08:23 PM
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great minds and all that
Old 20 July 2007, 09:05 PM
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Originally Posted by rossyboy
great minds and all that
Or what was the one about fools.............
Old 20 July 2007, 09:15 PM
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Why would anyone buy a cat D car

TX.

PS

I wouldn't buy it

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Old 20 July 2007, 10:14 PM
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Cat-d cars can be a good buy as long as the previous damage is repaired correctly. Once the car has been repaired it can be independantly assessed and given a clean bill of health which will return some of the original market value. Insurance dont pay out for blown engines but it could have been another factor that caused the damage, such as the problems with fuel a few months ago.

I would buy a reasonably new cat-d up to 2 years old but dont think i would buy one as old as the one you are looking at.
Old 20 July 2007, 11:26 PM
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Neil..
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A cat-D write off, because of damage to the engine...


Do me a favour, and Phone a Subaru main dealer for a price on a complete new engine for this car...

I think you will find that the cost will be greater then the value of the car...

What happens is this..

Once a car has been involved in an insurance claim, they evaluate the cost of putting the car back on the road, against the value of the car.

If the cost of returning the car to it's previous condition is two thirds the value of the car,(ish) then the insurance company will 'write the car off'.

If a car has engine damage, no matter how small it may seem, then insurance companies are reluctant to get involved.
Trust me..I am in the motor trade, and deal with insurance companies all day long.

It is easy to see why this car will have been written off....
Old 20 July 2007, 11:28 PM
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i thought that the engine wouldnt have cost 65% of the car thats for sure......

* 1998 Impreza Type R STi WRX P1 22B 2 Door * Damaged * on eBay Subaru, Cars, Cars, Parts Vehicles
Old 21 July 2007, 07:16 AM
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As a keeper, there'd be nothing wrong with paying £2,500-2,800 for that, if the rest of the cars is as described.

Then either just buy a S/H engine from someone like Grade A, or depending on the damage, get something a bit tasty built from the remains of the existing motor

It wouldn't be great prospect for a 'buy it, fix it, sell it on' project though.
Old 21 July 2007, 09:13 AM
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Neil..
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Originally Posted by minty
i thought that the engine wouldnt have cost 65% of the car thats for sure......

* 1998 Impreza Type R STi WRX P1 22B 2 Door * Damaged * on eBay Subaru, Cars, Cars, Parts Vehicles
Maybe yes, maybe no...

If you were to send the car into a main dealer to be repaired, then probably yes..

If you were to do it yourself, then no..

This would be an ideal candidate for a high power build....
Old 21 July 2007, 09:19 AM
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Stolen and recovered also classes as cat d, even with no damage to the car if the insurance has paid out prior to the car being found/returned.

Last edited by pippyrips; 21 July 2007 at 09:24 AM.
Old 21 July 2007, 09:22 AM
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Minty,

Selling on is a nightmare. It took me several months to shift mine only to find it was really a CAT-C! I didn't check in the first place and took the previous owner's word for it that it was a CAT-D
Also you have to really check things for yourself. I spent loads on putting mine right after it was badly re-built prior to my purchase. Then as I was thinking of selling on (2yrs later) the engine failed as they do in a lot of Scoobys.
The potential buyers will also think about the difficulty of selling on.... and so on..
Be careful and don't let your heart rule your head.

Nick
Old 21 July 2007, 11:17 AM
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Looks like a good car to be honest but a HPI check is a must. I wouldnt take it to a dealer for repair, it would cost far too much. A specialist could turn it into a super quick car for you, but you would need to plan on keeping the car for a while to get the benefit of the work involved.
Old 21 July 2007, 01:08 PM
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ONE 234
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personaly, i think the car has reached its limit on ebay, unless the bidder has a doner car with a good engine.
its over £2500 now, which i think is its money.
i will be interested to see what it fetches.
i also wonder if him or his mate are bidding on there own car, to up the anti?
Old 21 July 2007, 01:21 PM
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I wouldnt buy one.
Old 21 July 2007, 01:34 PM
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Mick
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I bought mine Cat - D at 2 1/2 years old after being fixed - uneconomical repair - don't need too much damage to do that to a nearly new car when you're talking main dealer prices

Still got it 8 years on - and love it just as much - a few mods here and there when things wear out - or I spot a bargain

You can get them checked by Autolign or another place - escapes me now - but they will check and make sure it is repaired to insurance company standards - it used to come off the 'at risk' register - but i don't think they do anymore.

I had to have my old Legacy turbo Cat D checked - cost ~ £200 at the time - & then I wrote it off properly 6 weeks later - Cat B I think - 'Not for repair'... M89BEG in Dark Blue - anyone running it now

Mick
Old 21 July 2007, 01:36 PM
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i have looked at the bidders and i think bidder 4 (iirc) looks like him bumping it up.

I would like to keep it if i did buy it but i guess it depends upon the real reason for it being a cat D.

I have an engine sitting in my garage i am itching to drop into a shell and this one caught my eye being a type R 2 door car eh.

I'm also keen to put the engine into a wagon though too, where can i find a wagon with an engine that has gone bang for sale?
Old 21 July 2007, 04:02 PM
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I have brought both cat C and D cars... theres nowt up with buying them aslong as the price is right... you just need to check over them carefully before you buy... but I wouldn't buy owt that was heavy damage... Just the easy fix's for me...

I got hold of a Corsa that didn't run on a K-reg for £50 quid!!! This was a donor car...

Had a cat-D L-reg 1.2 corsa with 59K on the clock, and a full tank of fuel in from the salvage yard back in Sept 2005... all it wanted was locks, and the drivers door repairing where it had been bent back...
A good clean, bent the door back and touched in where the paint had broke... job was a good'en...
Had it on the road for just over 3 weeks with for sale signs in ( wasn't advertised anywhere else )... sold it for £750 quid... the car was mint... mileage was great... why not... Cheap and tidy 1st car for someone...

Then I got a cat-C P-reg 1.4 corsa sport with 69K on the clock, with 3/4 of a tank of fuel in from the salvage yard back in Nov 2005... all it wanted was a smart repair in the bonnet once the dent was pushed out... a headlight replacing and the bumper putting back on its mounting point on the O/S front... a quick VIC check @ £36 quid, abit of polish and most marks come out... Chucked a set of 15's on it and lowered it...
That was sold on for £1650 quid... was a really nice car for what it owed me... lol

Between the 2 cars alone I made £1K profit!!!
I'd rather buy a cat-C / D car with low mileage on in good nick bar the accident damage... than a older car with higher mileage on out of the paper...
Value for money if you've got your head screwed on...

Looks like the majority of you lot on here would run as soon as someone mentions cat C or D... Thats great... more bargains for me...

Last edited by Scoobyslammed; 21 July 2007 at 04:07 PM.
Old 21 July 2007, 04:21 PM
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my '2nd car/runaround' is a Cat 'C'.. cheap as chips its all legal , above board, has a full VIC test on it.. even the fella that tested it was stunned by how much I had paid for it, and how much it had cost me so far to get it roadworthy (oh the joys of salvage yards for body parts )
Old 21 July 2007, 04:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Scoobyslammed
I have brought both cat C and D cars... theres nowt up with buying them aslong as the price is right... you just need to check over them carefully before you buy... but I wouldn't buy owt that was heavy damage... Just the easy fix's for me...

I got hold of a Corsa that didn't run on a K-reg for £50 quid!!! This was a donor car...

Had a cat-D L-reg 1.2 corsa with 59K on the clock, and a full tank of fuel in from the salvage yard back in Sept 2005... all it wanted was locks, and the drivers door repairing where it had been bent back...
A good clean, bent the door back and touched in where the paint had broke... job was a good'en...
Had it on the road for just over 3 weeks with for sale signs in ( wasn't advertised anywhere else )... sold it for £750 quid... the car was mint... mileage was great... why not... Cheap and tidy 1st car for someone...

Then I got a cat-C P-reg 1.4 corsa sport with 69K on the clock, with 3/4 of a tank of fuel in from the salvage yard back in Nov 2005... all it wanted was a smart repair in the bonnet once the dent was pushed out... a headlight replacing and the bumper putting back on its mounting point on the O/S front... a quick VIC check @ £36 quid, abit of polish and most marks come out... Chucked a set of 15's on it and lowered it...
That was sold on for £1650 quid... was a really nice car for what it owed me... lol

Between the 2 cars alone I made £1K profit!!!
I'd rather buy a cat-C / D car with low mileage on in good nick bar the accident damage... than a older car with higher mileage on out of the paper...
Value for money if you've got your head screwed on...

Looks like the majority of you lot on here would run as soon as someone mentions cat C or D... Thats great... more bargains for me...
Agreed, as long as you do your checks properly then you can get great deals.

I completely understand the stigma with Cat D's etc but remember they can be classified as this even without being damaged
Old 22 July 2007, 01:21 PM
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Trouble is that it's difficult to tell how badly damaged the car was when it was made Cat D & isn't it just amazing how "light" the damage was when you speak to the owner! I would never buy one as it could be a death trap that I wouldn't want to run the risk of. Good luck to those that get cheap deals however you'd never sell it on to me!

TX.
Old 22 July 2007, 02:57 PM
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I've only had light damaged stuff...
The 1400 sport I had was a bargain...
But, if the insurance had repaired it... would have been new bonnet, bumper, headlight... then theres labour plus paint...
Hence it being written off...
I put a new headlight in it, smart repaired the original bonnet, and put the bumper back on the one side... quick polish... job done...
If you buy accident damaged stuff... imho you dont go buying brand new parts 'if there not needed'.
The people out there that buy near brand new cars that are damaged, must be in the trade... theres some stuff I've seen about some yards that I've looked at and thought, how the f**k do you fix that... lol
But theres money to be made and saved in doing it...
Old 22 July 2007, 05:40 PM
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I got a cat-d bug eye a year ago and its been fantasic. Absolutly faultless car and a bargain.
Old 22 July 2007, 08:12 PM
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Just hpi checked it and its not recorded as damaged under any catagory???
Insurance company is showing as checking date of first registration back in March but no claim is showing.
Old 22 July 2007, 08:29 PM
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Originally Posted by scubbay
Just hpi checked it and its not recorded as damaged under any catagory???
Insurance company is showing as checking date of first registration back in March but no claim is showing.
Seem's strange to advertise a car as cat-d if it isnt. Ask the seller what the score is as its starting to sound dodgy to me.
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