Bought car - found out it was crashed in UK

connundrum

Before anyone says, I do realise that I should've checked this out before buying.

Anyway, I've a VW Passat which is giving hassle with the electrics:

the key lock/open button doesn't work. Added to that, if you manually open the door and start the engine the hazard lights may come on and stay on. The only way to turn off the hazards is to press any one of the lock/open buttons on the key (can take 1 or 20 attempts). Recently I've just disconnected and reconnected the battery to clear the lights fault

So I called a VW garage for info and they asked for the reg, only to tell me that it was written off in the UK.

The car is a 2001 model and was written off in 2003 as a 'Category D Insurance Loss'.

The car was bought off a private seller, who was actually a mechanic based in Lucan. I realise that I probably have no comeback as it was a private sale.

Has anyone any experience with this? Do I just suck it up, hope that it wasn't too bad of a crash and move on?

Mr. Presentable

Make sure it is certified safe to drive, and be ready to move on tbh. Oh, still inform the guy you bought it from as to your displeasure

Harcrid

Cat D cars can be legally put back on the road so it depends what damage was done at the time of the accident and was it repaired correctly. I am wondering was it written off due to flood damage now that you are having electrics issues?

MugMugs

Cat D isn't a huge deal. Beyond economical repair. They can be repaired and driven.

connundrum

I know it may be a duff question, but would the NCT not have picked up on any issue regarding it's safety? (Hopes)

Apparently Passats have a notorious issue with damp causing problems for the Comfort Control Module located under the carpet in front of the passanger seat.

mickdw

As said, could be water damaged and so there would be nothing for NCT people to see. Anyway, cat D would not have been too heavily damaged if it was crash damage so it not like there would be mad chassis damage underneath for the nct guy to see.
On an old car, it wouldnt bother me so much. Believe me, there are people happily running around in €50,000 cat C & D cars.

Gophur

All Passats (and VW) of that age are a disaster with electrics. Nothing to do with any crash it may have been in. It's also 11 years old, FFS!

maidhc

Category D means it was economical to repair, but wasn't for various reasons (i.e. a part was hard to find, stolen and recovered or the insured kicked up enough of a fuss).

Cat C is the normal "economic write off". Cat D is something less again.

I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

Btw I think a flood damaged car would never be a cat D. They can often be Cat A or B,. i.e. crusher or scrapyard respectively.

connundrum

Gophur wrote: »

It's also 11 years old, FFS!

I'm sorry, old things don't matter? Ageist!

lomb

Nothing to worry about, Cat D is not flood damage, and also it means panel damage and no structural damage. I drive a Cat D myself and Ive no worries at all. I can actually see where the panels were welded on and I can also see the actual structure underneath to be untouched. Id rather a UK Cat D than an Irish crasher tbh.
As far as the problems go then that is something separate to the write off red herring.

maidhc

lomb wrote: »

Nothing to worry about, Cat D is not flood damage, and also it means panel damage and no structural damage. I drive a Cat D myself and Ive no worries at all. I can actually see where the panels were welded on and I can also see the actual structure underneath to be untouched. Id rather a UK Cat D than an Irish crasher tbh.
As far as the problems go then that is something separate to the write off red herring.

Cat D isn't even recorded in Ireland. Cat C is recorded sometimes on websites like Cartell. Cat A and B are recorded on a voluntary basis only with Shannon and only since recently.