UK Cat N write off. Yay or nay?

dark crystal wrote: »

Hi all,


In the market for a new car and saw a nice 16 Hyundai i30 with UK plates for sale at a very reasonable price. Buyer says if I'm interested in buying, she would pay the VRT before I buy. 10k all in with VRT.

Got a full motorcheck report and turns out it was a Cat N write off in the UK in August last year. I'll be asking about the damage etc., but in general, would you walk away if the car was a previous write off or if the damage was just cosmetic, would you take a chance? Could getting insurance be a problem?


Cheers.

It all depends on the car and seller really. The last car I bought in Northern Ireland was a Fiesta ST which was category D at the time before they changed the letters. The buyer was upfront when I rang and told me about the damage immediately. He had photos and I took a punt to go north and view it.

I got a bargain as it was very light damage and I paid €13000 for a car which couldn't be got for less than €21000 here at the time. It had 3,000 miles on the clock. I sold it recently after a year and 23,000km and made €700 profit as I was totally upfront with the buyer. I mentioned it in the first few texts I sent to him.

I'm sure if I didn't and he discovered it on cartell after we did a deal and I didn't have photos or anything it would have been a tougher sale. As a general rule the car should be 20-25% discounted over a non written off car.

The fact that the seller didn't mention it to you at all would be a red flag to me. He would definitely want to have photos/repair receipts.

It had absolutely no effect on me or the lad I sold it to getting an insurance quote. You don't have to declare it either.

If something sounds too good to be true then it usually is, don't be blinded by a cheap price.

You could find it difficult enough to get insurance on these cars plus you could also find it difficult to sell it on.

They are probably buying them cheap in the UK and selling them on here for a tidy profit to people who don't do checks.

bazz26 wrote: »

If something sounds too good to be true then it usually is, don't be blinded by a cheap price.

You could find it difficult enough to get insurance on these cars plus you could also find it difficult to sell it on.

Why would you find it difficult to get insurance on a Cat N? They don't require an engineers report to go back on the road so they aren't considered unsafe. I've never heard of a car that was written off for being category S/D. It's cosmetic damage only. Although it could be flood damage too which I would avoid. This should be easy to find out if the seller is up front with you.

Plenty of Category S cars are perfectly usable and will never cause a days bother. As I said, I got a pristine car with demo mileage and it was possibly my best car buying decision ever and I have had a lot of cars. There are plenty of cars which have never been written off that are complete heaps waiting to go wrong.

You've to use your own (or someone who knows better than you) judgement to assess the car and more importantly the honesty of the seller.

bazz26 wrote: »

Insurance companies are a funny bunch, they could well ask you to jump through hoops to prove the car is in roadworthy condition before providing cover. That costs time, hassle and money. Then you have the selling it on bit. As soon as someone runs a history check against it, it will be flagged as a "UK write off". As soon as average joe sees that red flag they will run a mile. Doesn't matter what grade of write off you put on it, write off is all they will see and run. And being honest up front by stating it in the advert will just do the same for the majority of buyers. Those that won't be put off will think they can buy the car off you for half nothing. Not a problem if you plan to drive the car into the ground but these points need to be highlighted where something cheaper up front comes with unlisted costs otherwise we would all be buying these cars in the UK.

Have you sold a car that had a write off against it? It took me approximately seven days to sell mine and I had two buyers in case the first one backed out. That is why a 20-25% discount is expected on these.

I can see where you are coming from but I think that is the fear of what will happen with a cat D rather than the reality. I wouldn't mention that it is cat D/N it on the ad but I'd say it in communication to the buyer.

Maybe it's different when it's such a common and maybe not so desirable car like a standard i30. But in my experience a nice, clean car with a write off against it is not something to be feared so long as you have photos of the damage/receipts for repairs.

Just following up here. I withdraw my endorsement of any Cat D/N cars. The lad I sold it to found out the airbags were not replaced and bypassed the sensor meaning I had no airbags at all. Sickening to think I was driving around in that for a year.

Car seemed and drove perfect otherwise.