Cat S

[Winston Teague]

Hi all, what are the implications of buying a damaged Cat S vehicle privately as a project? The car is 1984, so it would probably be MOT exempt by the time it's rebuilt....
W

[Lightweight_911]

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Cat S indicates it was written off due to structural damage - I think the repaired car will need to be inspected by DVLA before being re-issued with a V5.

Obviously affects resale value if that's a consideration.

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[Nine One One]

Cat S can vary and be somewhat of a difference, as to what an insurance company or inspector has assessed it as. We got daughter a CAT S car, small dent to bumper, wing and power steering pump (which was behind the wing had a damaged plastic reservoir). That was it, yes structural damage to parts, but to nothing else at all?? It was a CAT N if anything
It did not need an MOT (very new car) or an inspection.
Categories changed several years ago 2017 I think?

Was it CAT prior to 2017 if so I don’t think it can be registered again under the old categories??

[Winston Teague]

Thanks for the wisdom, resale value is not the primary (or even secondary) consideration, I just saw something that piqued my curiosity. VOSA inspection and uninsurability would matter though. It's probably not a project we need, but if it was I'd want to be standing there with cheeky-offer level cash in my pocket and a trailer parked around the corner, and all due dil done beforehand......

[rhd racer]

My race car was a Cat C - minor body damage, wing, bumpers, lights and a crease to the frunk floor. I repaired it using a breaker I bought and had to have it inspected by VOSA. It was very easy - I got an appointment and drove it to the test centre (about 100 miles) with no tax but clutching the appointment letter. They took it away and inspected, then brought me out a bit of paper saying it was ok to re-register and tax etc. I can’t remember whether the MOT was before or after, I think after. They checked it for about 10 minutes, much of which was presumably identity checking and ensuring no cut and shut business had been going on.

[crisc204]

I've not ever had an issue insuring a CAT C/D or N/S car.

We've bought a couple of CAT S cars recently (2021/22).
I pulled the bumper straight and drove one to get an MOT same day
No inspections, no dramas getting back on the road

Got my mum a new ish Polo that needed a back bumper and a tiny dent on the back panel

Our Mini me's got a £8K retail 4 year old first car with lots of buttons to push for less than half that money .
(My first car I drove was a rusty 1.1 Fiesta from 1981... just sayin')

No more VOSA inspections on CAT S (They closed all those inspection centres)

Option of Autolign inspection to demonstrate via independent opinion that car is repaired correctly.
Autolign can enter "condition repaired" on the HPi lists.
This counters the CAT S status.
I did this wit mini me's VW because likely the next buyer will also be a young driver or parents buying for a young'un so it has a nice transparent history and proper repair detailed in print

But tbh there are a raft of people that dont understand a vehicle can be repaired correctly and be as good as new.
They won't buy a CAT S that needs a weeks work start to fin.
but they likely still buy a 1500 hr to repair basket case resto.

To be totally fair there are some yahoo repairers out there
On balance a properly documented & imaged repair with detailed input invoices ect is the way forward. IMHO