Grade D Write Off

Termonator

Went to see an imported car from England and thought all was good with it, all looked perfect during inspection and drove perfectly.
Did an online check on its history when I got back home and came up as category D insurance write off.

Has anyone ever bought one or to what extent is a category D write off damaged? Read that it is when the cost of repair is in excess of the repair cost/ storage/ temporary replacement car.

djimi

Cat D is an economic write off; its perfectly possible for the car to be put right, it would just cost more than insurer would be willing to pay to do it. If you have had the car thoroughly looked over by a mechanic and they are happy that there are no issues then I wouldnt worry too much about it.

One thing to bear in mind however is that the car will always show up as a Cat D write off, which will make it harder for you to sell it. You will make savings up front now when you go to buy, but when you go to sell you will not get as much as you would otherwise get, and a lot of buyers will be put off the car altogether.

bazz26

What would concern me is that the seller did not disclose this information from the start.

Bio Mech

bazz26 wrote: »

What would concern me is that the seller did not disclose this information from the start.

Never trust any seller I would say. Research the car fully and take it on its own merits.

bear1

Now that you know this info, call the dealer and ask if the car has ever been written off or anything.
It could be the dealer hasn't a clue, but if they deny it then tell them the car is a CAT D.
Personally, I'd walk right away from it.

Termonator

bazz26 wrote: »

What would concern me is that the seller did not disclose this information from the start.

Yes this concerns me also.
I rang him and put the facts to him and he pleaded ignorance saying he never carried out a check before buying. I would think this is highly unlikely for anyone importing from overseas.

I think he didn't disclose due to the fact of a lower selling price himself. It is still up on the website and no disclosure of this has been added.

What are the insurance implications or are there any?

Termonator

bear1 wrote: »

Now that you know this info, call the dealer and ask if the car has ever been written off or anything.
It could be the dealer hasn't a clue, but if they deny it then tell them the car is a CAT D.
Personally, I'd walk right away from it.

It is a private sale.

djimi

Termonator wrote: »

I rang him and put the facts to him and he pleaded ignorance saying he never carried out a check before buying. I would think this is highly unlikely for anyone importing from overseas.

Its hard to know. Its entirely possible (probable even) that they are saying nothing in the hope that you wont notice and they can get a higher asking price, but I would never rule out plain stupidity either. Its very easy and relatively cheap to run an online check these days, but its frightening how many people wouldnt even bother.

Henry Ford III

The car would need to be substantially cheaper than a non write off. Maybe 30% cheaper.

Bet it's not though.

bear1

Termonator wrote: »

It is a private sale.

I'd walk away.

Smidge

Termonator wrote: »

Went to see an imported car from England and thought all was good with it, all looked perfect during inspection and drove perfectly.
Did an online check on its history when I got back home and came up as category D insurance write off.

Has anyone ever bought one or to what extent is a category D write off damaged? Read that it is when the cost of repair is in excess of the repair cost/ storage/ temporary replacement car.

How did you find out it was Cat D?

bazz26

Bio Mech wrote: »

Never trust any seller I would say. Research the car fully and take it on its own merits.

Of course being prudent and carrying out due diligence is a given but it's not about that, it's about a seller being honest up front about something that will obviously show up on any background check done on the vehicle.

It's more likely the seller hoped the buyer would not do a check, I bet the seller bought the vehicle for fairly handy money too because of it being a Cat D but trying to sell it on at full value.

Smidge

Can you get a full background check of an NI car from here?

Termonator

English reg and just a normal online check showed it up.

It was priced the same as other comparable examples and I would say he is just waiting for that one person to come along who doesn't bother to check.

Would this show up when going for insurance?

Just goes to prove the need to check an Irish reg import even years after importation or would this still be attached to the new Irish reg by association?

Smidge

Termonator wrote: »

English reg and just a normal online check showed it up.

It was priced the same as other comparable examples and I would say he is just waiting for that one person to come along who doesn't bother to check.

Would this show up when going for insurance?

Just goes to prove the need to check an Irish reg import even years after importation or would this still be attached to the new Irish reg by association?

Was that through Motorcheck/Cartell ?
Will it show up everything as well as cat d ie milage/owners etc?
I wonder can you still do a background check on a UK car that has just been brought over and NCT'd?

Henry Ford III

Smidge wrote: »

Was that through Motorcheck/Cartell ?
Will it show up everything as well as cat d ie milage/owners etc?
I wonder can you still do a background check on a UK car that has just been brought over and NCT'd?

Yes of course you can. I wouldn't trust the Irish sites though. HPI all the way for me.

Smidge

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Yes of course you can. I wouldn't trust the Irish sites though. HPI all the way for me.

Cheers for that!
I was curious to see if a car can be background checked even after it had been nct'd as I've heard of a few lemons lately

Smidge

Guess what?
The car I just checked is a Cat D!!
Seller(private) never breathed a word and sung its praises "Immaculate/Never a bother" despite many, many questions :rolleyes:

Smidge

I just HPI checked another car and the HPI is coming back as "Good News" saying there is nothing major untoward with the car.

The problem is its a used car and on the HPI its shows up as 0 owners (or keepers as the put it) AFAIK there are 2 owners on it(the guy who reg it here and 1 previous).

Other checks with this service(on different cars)have shown the owners numbers.
How can this be???

antodeco

Nothing wrong with a D or C! Car I bought was a cat C because the damage was €2000. Previous owner spent 10k on it and rebuilt fully. No issues with it.