Afternoon,

I've been browsing cars as you do and have seen something that's Cat S. It's not been fixed up at all. This set my mind wondering. I know if you buy a car that's recorded as Cat S and fixed, you have to notify your insurance and it's worth less etc etc.

What do you do if you buy one that's not been fixed yet? The car looks perfectly driveable and only damage is a crumpled front wing. It has a current MoT so would you be able to drive it on the road with the panel damage after you bought it until you got it fixed? Or would you have to buy it, get it transported to a repairer, get it fixed and inspected before you can drive it on the road? I've seen cars on the road with a lot more panel damage than this one so it made me wonder? If so who does the inspection?

Thanks in advance.

cat s is structual damage,google it for more info,its worth a lot less.

CAT S requires some minor structural (this can be just bent suspension components), also it needs an identity check at the local VOSA depot, and an MOT, as the MOT voided at the time the CAT S is given out.


CAT N is all I'd buy to use or flip. CAN N is cosmetic only, so no structural work is needed, the MOT remains valid, and there's no identity check required.
CAT N also doesn't loose nearly so much of its value compared to CAT S. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

The other thing you need to realise is that the Cat s will stay with it for life… you have to declare it and it will be worth considerably less when you come to sell it.. a trader will want no part of it ….

If you are keeping it forever that can make sense but do your maths…. Also accept that the vehicle has been inspected by a qualified motor engineer who has deemed it beyond economic repair for the insurance company. It may have damage to the chassis which is not immediately apparent.

What's the point of buying a Cat.S when there is still a good choice of Freelander's for sale some at bargain prices that you can get into and drive away without the grief of having to start repairing anything.
And don't forget as previous posts your stuck with it for life.

With car prices dropping now if buying a cat s , wouldn’t it have to be cheap enough to balance out by the time it’s repaired it could of cost more then buying a straight one. I don’t know the average length of time it takes to get all the parts and get it repaired and back on the road and how much more it’s dropped in price in that time.

Interesting info here. It wasn't something I was considering buying, I'm more than happy with what I have but after seeing the pics of the car the damage looks very minimal and it drives so i was wondering what stops you buying it, leaving the damage as it is and driving about in it. Sounds like you need to get them repaired and inspected before they can go on the road.

Price wise, it looks cheap for what it is. It's a Metropolis with 28000 miles on it and it's up for just under £13k. I reckon that would be a £20k+ car if it wasn't CAT S. Damage 'looks' to me with a completely untrained eye to be a new front wing and a mirror cap as well as a cill trim. I guess there must be more damage than that for it to be CAT S though.

For anyone that's interested here is a pic of the damage:

Sounds like the same as Salvage Title here in the states.

Big problem with that is, even with very minor actual damage, the characterization stays with the vehicle for life, greatly reducing it's value.

So any money you put in for repairs, or ongoing mx, is probably not going to be recoverable.

That applies not only when you sell it, but also if you get in an accident... insurance in the states (either party's) will simply total out the vehicle and pay you the book value based on miles and salvage title... that's not going to be any more than you paid for it in the first place.

I'm currently driving a salvage Acura, owned it since new and somebody hit me. Cosmetic damage, but enough to total the car so I bought it back from insurance and fixed it up. But that's a one-off for me, I *really* love the car and it didn't cost much to fix the body panels. But I basically have almost no insurance coverage for the vehicle itself, since the book value is so low for salvage.

Only way around that might be if you can get an agreed-upon value with your insurance. We can do that here, typically for restoration vehicles. If your insurance issues such a policy, then any other party's insurance would be bound by the same agreed value if they were at fault.

Insurers now write off a vehicle over very small amounts of damage.
My Renault Clio was in an accident, damage to front bumper, front wing and small scrape on the rear door. Value of car about £8K, quote to repair £11K so they wrote it off. Could probably have fixed it using 2nd hand parts for about £500.

dan55 wrote:

Interesting info here. It wasn't something I was considering buying, I'm more than happy with what I have but after seeing the pics of the car the damage looks very minimal and it drives so i was wondering what stops you buying it, leaving the damage as it is and driving about in it. Sounds like you need to get them repaired and inspected before they can go on the road.

Price wise, it looks cheap for what it is. It's a Metropolis with 28000 miles on it and it's up for just under £13k. I reckon that would be a £20k+ car if it wasn't CAT S. Damage 'looks' to me with a completely untrained eye to be a new front wing and a mirror cap as well as a cill trim. I guess there must be more damage than that for it to be CAT S though.

For anyone that's interested here is a pic of the damage: