Vehicle write offs

[MelanieCoops]

I am looking to buy a car and it's a Category D write off. How can I find out exactly what damage it has sustained?

[Toureman]

Only one way, go and inspect it, preferably with an expert. Cat D is the least damaged cat. but it can still have a lot of damage.

[jake-the-peg]

Don't forget to check out insurance companies - some won't cover repaired Cat Ds

[MelanieCoops]

No - it's not an old wives tale, I've had it AA checked and it came up as Category D. The owners tell me it was a crushed bumper

[funkymoped]

dont quote me on thisone, but some years ago my mrs was involved in an accident. the other driver refused to enter into any discussion about the accident.

because i was only 3rd party f&t covered, my insurance company told me to get a "pro former invoice" from a garage. (a 100% cost and repair quote)

dont know if write offs are assesed on a pro former basis, but may be worth asking if they are...

[funkymoped]

was told by an M.O.T. mechanic that any vehicle that has been wrote off, whatever the category, will show up at M.O.T. time... the new system is computerised and linked to swansea`s computers... (last 18 months or so)

[jake-the-peg]

Not an old wives tale

My wife put her landrover in a ditch and we were going to repair it as a cat D but we'd have needed a new insurer as our underwriter had a policy of not coverrng repaired cat D cars.

Basically if a car is a repaired write-off it affects it's value and that makes it a hassle if there's a subsequent claim and some of them think it increases their exposure to fraud.

It's just the way some of them think.

Just check that your insurer will cover you - but for goodness sake do't "forget" to tell them its status because if you make a claim and you've not told them they'll be in a perfect position to say you've not disclosed material information.

However you might like to check these guys out:

http://www.autoligninspections.co.uk/inspections.html

I think they're the only people in the country authorised to have a car taken off the HPI register after inspection

[chrisham]

Hi

Just spoken to HPI about cat D removal and although an Autoline inspection will remove the cat D status it is still listed as a former insurance write off, which seems a little unfair as Cat D is the lowest level of insurance write off anyway. So what have you gained for a �250 Autoline inspection?