Cat N / Insurance...please help!!

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 11 Feb 2018 19:43
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - Sarah Skelton
Hi, I’m looking to buy a 2nd car for my son to learn to drive in. I thought I’d found one but it’s Cat n, light damage nothing structural. I’ve already had an insurance quote and they didn’t ask me about this, is that because they’ll know too from the car reg number or don’t they care? Was actually going to go ahead with a different insurer via compare the market but now I’m panicking I should have said something and the insurance is going to go through the roof. Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks very much
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 20:20
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - gordonbennet

one mans light damage is another's wouldn't touch it with a bargepole write off.

there are thousands of cars for sale, unless you happen to know this car and seller and know exactly what happened and who and how it's been repaired i'd advise looking elsewhere.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 20:35
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - RobJP

As said already by GB.

Unless you know exactly what the level of damge was, and how it was repaired - a full, photograped and documented list of what was done, and that it was done by a professional who actually knew what they were doing - then steer well clear.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 20:44
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - badbusdriver

Ditto, too risky. And while the car you are looking at may be cheaper, that will have a knock on effect once your son decides to change, so you aren't going to make any meaningful savings.

I like the fact that you can now filter out any insurance write offs on autotrader, but it irritates me that this is not the default setting. You have to select it on the menu, which i usually forget to do initially!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 20:46
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - Galaxy

I actually had to look up what a Cat N was! It appears they changed the Cat System recently which I was not aware of.

As others have said, unless you really know what you are buying, and I mean really know, then I would stay well clear of anything that's been placed in a category after being involved in an accident.

Also, bear in mind that any such vehicle will continue to bear that Category Marker for the remainder of it's life. It will always be worth significantly less than an identical uncategorised vehicle and, should the vehicle ever be subject to a total loss insurance claim, the insurance company will be well aware of the Categorisation which will result in a considerably lower pay-out.

My advice is to leave such a vehicle well alone.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 23:18
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - Andrew-T

one mans light damage is another's wouldn't touch it with a bargepole write off.

there are thousands of cars for sale, unless you happen to know this car and seller and know exactly what happened and who and how it's been repaired i'd advise looking elsewhere.

As is so often the case, it all depends. If a car is 10+ years old, it may automatically be an insurance write-off for almost trivial damage, but be fully roadworthy - if not aesthetically satisfying. If such a car can be obtained for peanuts it may still make some sense, as it is only a variety of bangernomics. But obviously the buyer needs to do some research.

I don't think insurers would be bothered if the MoT certificate is in order.

Edited by Andrew-T on 11/02/2018 at 23:20

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 21:04
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - Sarah Skelton
Thanks so much for the quick responses. I’ve walked away...you’re all right!
Thanks again
Sarah
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 11 Feb 2018 21:15
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - gordonbennet

Well done Sarah, good luck searching out something for the lad.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 26 Mar 2021 07:47
Cat N / Insurance...please help!! - Bilbo1234

Whilst it is always wise to be careful on ANY car you want to buy, straight or insurance claim, never trust anyone at face value. ALWAYS geta hpi report because the price includes a warranty on the report as claimed. If you dont know anything about cars get someone who does to take a looksee. My car is a £3000 ish value and was attacked with an iron bar leaving around 3 or 4 £1 coin size little dents, purely cosmetic and could easily be filled if required, and you want to pay of course. The Insurance assesors decided it would cost £3800 to pain the dents (b*******) but that was ok as I got offered an £1800 settlement + £800 leave car with them. I took the money and kept the car. Its exactly the same car and the damage really was cosmetic. Insurance was the same and never affected my NCB (Saga as stated) I would now sell it for about a grand and still feel happy as the car would stand me in zero. Buts its still worth the real money less the little dings. so go for it SUBJECT to a proper scrutiny of the car and HPI. Dont trust anyone least of all car dealers selling brand new motors.

Whats not fair is that good vehicles are written off in such a fashion but also whatever the write off version there is no declaration on record as to why it was written off.

So yeah be careful be wise but dont write off a write off just because some folk dont have a clue what that means and say stay awy from everything. My car could be had for £1k to 1.5k instead of the £3k its worth!! Hardly rocket science is it. Scare stories aint always based on commonsense

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance