Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Wed 5 Jun 2013 18:14
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - usedcarbuyer

Hi,

I have bought a Honda Jazz off an auction. The description said that it's Cat C. After recovering the car to a Honda dealer's garage to be repaired, they say, they cannot gauranty if it'll work. Apparently this car had an incident in which the fron-bottom of the car is damaged. This damage includes the engine, potentioally gear box, one of the wheels. It's the engine that the engineers cannot guaranty that it's fixable.

The only thing the engineers have recommended is to scrap it, which means this car should have been classified as Cat B.

Do you think I can challenge the auctioneer or the insurance company that this car isn't a cat c and instead is a Cat B?

Many Thanks,

John

Edited by usedcarbuyer on 05/06/2013 at 18:17

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 5 Jun 2013 21:08
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - tony g
(Do you think I can challenge the auctioneer or the insurance company that this car isn't a cat c and instead is a Cat B?)

Hi John ,I don't think so ,the cat system must be a matter of opinion as well as professional skill . To challenge their verdict would be costly and complicated .

I would take the car to a competent local garage ,get them to remove the engine and gearbox and inspect both ,perhaps you could have them repaired or replaced with second hand parts .


Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Jun 2013 11:09
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - TeeCee

After recovering the car to a Honda dealer's garage to be repaired

There's your problem, right there. Now take it to a local independant workshop and offer to tickle their palms with cash.

The reason the insurers write them off is that a perfect repair will cost more than it's worth. Your mission is to get the thing back on the road looking "good enough" for rather less than that (e.g. scrap panels rather than new, straighten and fill rather than replace, secondhand engine if necessary, etc.).

Cat C means it's repairable, as in that the shell structure is not fatally compromised so the vehicle can be made safe again. That's it. From your description of the damage it sounds like a C is correct. It would only be a B were there to be serious damage to the vehicle's underlying structure. Whether it's worth trying to fix is your judgement call....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Jun 2013 18:14
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - TedCrilly

There is no gaurantee that a Cat C will have a sound shell and no structual damage. That is an assumption and how and why people find themselves in the position the OP is in. Its all about costs to repair against value......NOT the nature or extent of the damage.

Assuming parts are available ANY car can be repaired if time and money is not an issue.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 13 Jun 2013 14:22
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - TeeCee

Of course there's no guarantee, that's purely the opinion of the assessor who looked at it, who decided that, as a C, it was repairable but the repairs would cost more than the car's worth.

On detailed investigation it might turn out to be a B, irreparable but with salvageable parts. In general though, insurance assessors are quite good at what they do and if one of them has offered the opinion it can be repaired it almost certainly can.

From the description here, it sounds like this one's definately a C. It can be repaired, but it's going to require a lot of expensive bits and a load of work to do it.

Buying a C means ensuring that you also think it can be repaired and also knowing where and how to get it done for considerably less than the insurer would have to shell out. A main dealer is definately not the place to start.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 6 Jun 2013 21:18
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - martint123

(1) It is the insurer who determines what category of write off it is so you can't go for teh autioneer - good luck tackling the insurer.

Just because a Cat B has to be scrapped due to substantion structural damage does not mean the reverse - not worth fixing has to be cat B.

Buying a cat of any description to be repaired at a main dealer is balmy if you don't mind me saying so - the insurer wrote it off because it was uneconmoical to repair - at their approved repairers, A main dealer would cost even more.

You buy cat C/D to do up yourself or by a trusted and cheap independant that you know.

Always remember that the car will always have the stigma of an HPI check saying it has been written off.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 9 Jun 2013 10:30
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - Simon
As far as I am aware the insurers 'Cat' system has no legal basis, it is just an agreed voluntary set of guidelines.

I'll be more direct with this question - what were you thinking when you bought a written off car at a (salvage) auction, then took it to a main dealer to be repaired, presumably thinking that you would be saving money? Cars are 'written off' for a reason.

Good luck, I think that you are going to need it!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 13 Jun 2013 14:29
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - Rats

Sorry to be harsh, but I think this is what the term "a fool and his money are easily parted"

Surely if you buy such a motor, you would already have done some research into fixing one up and have "somewhere/someone" to take it to if you can't DIY, common sense dictates that "somewhere/someone" isn't a main dealer?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 14 Jun 2013 16:14
Honda Jazz - bought catC car, no one can gauranty it's fixable - SlidingPillar

The other point is, anything is repairable but at a cost.

If you don't believe me, you only have to look at some before and after pictures of a restoration of a vintage or veteran car. When I rebuilt my three wheeled Morgan, I purposely didn't keep tally of what I spent as I know it would frighten me! However, you certainly could have bought a very nice second hand car, and probably a cheap new one for what I spent. And that takes no account of my time.

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