Retail on this car would be £11 - £12k as you say. However, this car was in an accident so serious that the insurer chose to write it off. (It's surprising that it was possible to get Vauxhall to repair a write off cost effectively.)
That means it's had one hell of a whack and it's hard to know, unless you are an engineer (and even then...) whether truly everything has been repaired, or if there is still some latent damage.
Yes, the car is cheap but Cat D cars always go for a third less - and sometimes the reduction is even greater - than 'normal' cars. You can also expect to lose most of this saving at trade in time; if a normal car is worth £5,500 in three years, this will be worth £3,500 at most because it's recorded and most buyers, including all traders, will check.
I'd never say never but I wouldn't have peace of mind if I'd spent £8.5k on a repaired write-off.
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Just another quick thought - the car is worth around £11k, the general rule of thumb for a write off is 70% of the cars value so this would mean the repairs have come to over £7500 - that is more than just a little car park knock, the car has been involved in a major shunt.
Best advice is to walk away.
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It doesnt say it had been written off but with it bein recorded does that mean it has or does the insurance compnay record it even with limited damage? It was the front corner of the car so what could that affect?
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Oh and i intend to keep it a while, say 5 years... Would u guys recommend test driving the exact same car and test driving this one and seein the difference, or am talking a load of rubbish?
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Recorded is just a term for a repaired write off - it's recorded against the registeration on the HPi register that the car is a write off.
The front corner is a nasty place for damage - it will have probably affected the suspension, moved the engine around and kinked the roof.
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I think i've just found the very car on autotrader - i presume it's the one at the bottom of the page.
snipurl.com/eul9
Have a look at the Zafira a couple up from it, that states "recorded on Vcar" it's basically the same thing - a write off that has been repaired and is back on the road.
snipurl.com/euld
Have a look at the top Fiesta here that is "Hpi recorded" It is one hell of a lot less than all the other similar vehicles as is the Zafira. The astra will be cheap to buy now but it you will have to sell it very cheaply and you'll struggle to sell it.
I broke up the links so you'll need to cut and paste, or wait until Dave wanders along and tinyurls them. Mark.
{Or even snipurls them. DD}
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I don't want to say too much but does the language being used in that advert, and the fact that it's a repaired write off, really strike you as a private seller Kev?
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Yes it does sound a bit fishy - almost worth giving him a quick call and asking a few more probing questions.
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blue haddock-can you please tinyurl those links you posted, as I cannot get them to work. they do not seem to past fully into my address bar.
Thanks
WTM
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Might this be less sinister than it seems? The car is a 54 plate, and therefore presumably less than 1 year old when it was bent. In this case the insurance co would probably just replace it, and then be left with a bent Astra, which would presumably go through a salvage auction as Cat D, and be recorded. However, it's 3k below normal price, plus say 3k for straightening it out and profit, leaves a pretty low salvage price. Hmm, probably still quite bent! My thought is always that bent cars are never the same, and best avoided, however good the repair.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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My thoughts on this is that if it was just a minor bump they would have just repair the vehicle and it would go back to the original owner and that would be the end of it.
Like you say Richard it is cheap and when you take into account the cost of the reapir work it will have been a very cheap piece of salvage so i believe that it was a major accident it has been in and you've no idea if things like the suspension have been properly repaired.
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It looks like it is sitting on a private drive to me
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Cheers for the replies guys. Yes it is the one in the advert, i didnt see it on the trader, the car is local to me and someone mentioned they'd seen one for sale... Anyway i rang the person up and it was a woman and she didnt sound like she knew too much. They are selling because her husband has now attained his motorcylce license and they now have a smaller car. Im not clued up about this insurance cat D and C and all that so didnt know what to ask.
I hear what your all sayin, the car might look ok now but could have suspension problems and what not. Not worth a punt at that price then? If you were to buy it what price do you reckon?
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I would leave him to sweat for a month or two. He cant part ex or punt it to a dealer due to it being registered as a write off, auction value is destroyed due to the same thing. The sellers only hope is to find a mug or an dodgy dealer. If they dont come along 7k in a months time might get it. At that price if you intend to keep it its probably worth a punt.
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It looks like it is sitting on a private drive to me
And that is part of the problem - dodgy traders often masquerade as private sellers. If you buy the car off a trader you have various legal rights whereas as soon as you have paid for the vehicle and driven off from the private sellers house your on your own.
As Renault guy says let him sweat - he has very limited option on what he can do with it so yes go in with a very low bid on it and see what he says. Also i would recommend before parting with your cash you get it properly inspected to make sure things like suspension geometry and the quality of repairs else otherwise you could be in for some big bills.
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I didnt know his options were that limited so i think im going to hang fire. If i did buy it i'll be taking my mechanic down with me first for certain.
So the cars been written off but they have it back and repaired, how does that work? I thought if the insurance company pays out its their property?
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A mechanic amy not be able to judge things just by having a look on a driveway - it needs to go on a jig to make sure that the suspension geometry is correct.
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The advert says 'any trial' how far does that go?
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Ok done abit of research but none the wiser. If the car is CAT A/B does that mean it has been written off or just invloved in a shunt?
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The system is as follows
Cat A - Major accident, possibly involving loss of life so car is crushed.
Cat B - major accident but ok to be sent to a scrapyard to have parts removed
Cat C - Enough damage to the vehicle for the insurer to decide not to repair however providing it undergoes a vehicle inspectorate check it can be repaired and go back on the road.
Cat D - Vehicle damaged and insurer chose not to repair. This is often with older vehicles where even a small repair will cost more than the value of the vehicle. Stolen recovered vehicles are often this category.
Cat A & B will never go back on the road but Cat C and D are OK to be repaired and put back on the road.
Regardless of which category it is it will have been written off and will show if anyone does a HPi check on the vehicle
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