Damaged Vehicles

[RossP]

Alright guys im possibly looking in the near future at buying some cheap CAT D cars and exportign to Cyprus for resale. I would be buying all the spares for the car, and a well qualified bodyshop will be repairing them if this all goes to plan. It's to my undretsnading that CAT D cars are deemed by the insurers to be write offs even though they can viably be repaired, even if it is only light damage depending on the age of the vehicle. Does anybody have any experience with CAT D cars, what to look out for etc when you're going to buy one, how difficult it is for re-sale and how difficult it is to insure.

All help will be greatly appreciated

Cheers,

Ross

[Bibbs]

Hard to sell, a "loading" on insurance.

I was looking at a Cat D (could have been C) NSX .. as you could imagine, the work to repair an all ally car would be expensive.

They are sold for about 25% less than "normal".

The NSX I was looking at was sold to Ireland, lost the history, re-imported and sold for £8k more than it was origionally marked at (I kept an eye on the autotrader).

[Leeky]

My Lotus is a CAT C.

I would have never bought it so cheap if it wasnt. So its not all disadvantages. If your a buyer you can save a packet

[Fidgits]

My Lotus is a CAT C.

I would have never bought it so cheap if it wasnt. So its not all disadvantages. If your a buyer you can save a packet

but by the same token, you'll never hit market value when you come to sell...

Although, if you know the right people, you can pick up unregistered accident damaged ones..

(I got offered a TVR Tuscan for half its market value as an unregistered accident damaged car)

[Bibbs]

Half price Tuscan, and you're still in the IS ??

It must have been pretty damaged ..

[Johndcfc]

I know a man who might be able to help.....

[Fidgits]

Half price Tuscan, and you're still in the IS ??

It must have been pretty damaged ..

he reckoned it just needed the front end fibreglass (couple of grand max)..

But in all honesty, that 4.0 Speed Six engine isnt trustworthy in perfect condition, after a shunt god only knows... and if the cam does let go, thats at least 3 grand on a re-build.

And they have twitchy front ends - not something that would react well to a stressed front axle...

But yes, it was very hard to walk away from a 10 grand tuscan i can tell you! (it was the right colour too!)

[Bibbs]

But yes, it was very hard to walk away from a 10 grand tuscan i can tell you! (it was the right colour too!)

*SO* itching to type "pink" .. but I havent got time for another 3 page "discussion" :)

I was so close to that Cat C NSX too .. £15k for a midnight purple, targa, manual .. perface lift (better front lights ;)). Would only have been better if it had the 3.2 ..

[Fidgits]

But yes, it was very hard to walk away from a 10 grand tuscan i can tell you! (it was the right colour too!)

*SO* itching to type "pink" .. but I havent got time for another 3 page "discussion" :)

I was so close to that Cat C NSX too .. £15k for a midnight purple, targa, manual .. perface lift (better front lights ;)). Would only have been better if it had the 3.2 ..

lets not go there... again...

It was the deep flip blue... which of course added to the respray costs in all honesty...

that sounds nice though - why walk away? I imagine once its back up and running it should be pretty faultless?

[Bibbs]

It was up and running, I phoned the bloke and he was being "typical car salesman" ..

He apparently took a deposit of 1k, so if I wanted to collect that day (a Sunday) and pay cash .. and pay an extra grand to cover the deposit .. it was mine .. 16k cash on a sunday is a tad hard. Even with my wheeler/dealer ways.

I'd not even seen the car in the flesh. He was in Slough, the car was in a lockup in Cambridge ..

[sotal]

Yep - Cat A and B are write off's which should never get back on the road and have to undergo major tests to get them back on the road.

My Bike is a Cat C - I got it for about half market value and spent £300 to get it 99% perfect. I'm now looking at selling it and most people shy away from it even though it is very low mileage.

Also I was talking to the Yamaha Main Dealer and they were saying that delaers aren't allowed to sell Cat C or D vehicles so you can't part ex them in etc.

I had heard though if you sell a vehicle to someone in Ireland (only has to be on paper) then buy it back - then the vehicle loses it's hpi history and suddenly becomes hpi clear - not sure if this is true though?

[Bibbs]

I had heard though if you sell a vehicle to someone in Ireland (only has to be on paper) then buy it back - then the vehicle loses it's hpi history and suddenly becomes hpi clear - not sure if this is true though?

yeah, basically when you export a car no history has to go with it .. so the FSH and the Cat A writeoff don't have to be passed onto the new country (obviously the FSH, you would). Then the same when it's shipped back and re-registered.

Now of course if you pay for the shipping and exporting and re-importing and the car doesn't move off your drive. Who's going to know?

:!Removed!: :ffs:

[sotal]

You'd have thought the details would still be on the register at the HPI end of things though - as noone notifies them that it's been exported do they??

[Bibbs]

you have to fill in a doc similar to SORN to say the car is being shipped out, then another saying it's been shipped in.

I've two imported cars, the HPI only goes to the date it was imported.

If it's on a different plate, it'll not carry over.

When you export, you can also keep the reg, and when you import you can assign a reg you have kept. (the NSX I was looking at had an NSX plate).

The HPI will have details of the "first car" up till export, and then the HPI of a "new car" following on. When you get an HPI, you'll only get the "new car" ..

[RossP]

So then, it sounds like a reasonably good plan? See cars in UK are very cheap, cars in Cyprus are 2nd most expensive in Europe after Denmark. Labour is expensive in uk, cheap in Cyprus.

So got a good profit scope really.

[Fidgits]

whats shipping costs like though?

[RossP]

4-6 weeks on a RORO/Container ship, normally about 400-500 quid shipping per car