15 replies to this topic

[Gashmonster]

hi all

 

just a question, ive been offered a cat B damaged car, thats back on the road.

 

when i looked up cat B, it says it should be broken for parts

 

i asked the seller about this and he said the car has had a VIC check so its ok to go back on the road

 

is he right?

 

 

 

 

thanks

[Globule]

Cad D requires a VIC, are you sure the seller said B not D? 

[Mrpeanut]

If it has a vic and an mot it's ok according to this

http://www.honestjoh...dex.htm?t=85787

[Badboytunes]

Cat B must never go on the road. Must be disposed of by a licenced dismantler.

[Mrpeanut]

Cat B must never go on the road. Must be disposed of by a licenced dismantler.

I can't find anything to support that. You got a link to anything. See

http://www.pistonhea...c.asp?t=1260919

[Badboytunes]

We use Raw2k for our cat b cars.........

 

A Category B Vehicle is a Salvaged Vehicle, which is so structurally damaged, or devoid of parts that it is not possible to repair it economically or safely. A Dealer who purchases a Category B Vehicle (a "Category B Dealer") shall be allowed to remove salvageable parts, and shall then be required to dismantle the Category B Vehicle and crush the shell, frame and chassis in accordance with ABI guidelines. Air bags and seat components must be properly disposed of in accordance with manufacturers instructions, the insurance industry requires that these items must never be resold.

The processing of Category B Salvage must comply with the guidelines displayed in the "Code of Practice for the Disposal of Motor Vehicle Salvage" (ABI Code of Practice) issued by Motor Conference. (See 10.2.1 of this Document)

Raw2K will only sell such vehicles to licenced and approved vehicle dismantlers

 

Also .... TAKEN FROM ABI WEBSITE.

 

Category A

SCRAP only (i.e. with
few or no economically
salvageable parts and
which is of value only
for scrap metal)
e.g. total burnouts

 

Category B

BREAK for spare parts
if economically viable
(excluding any residual
scrap value).

Category B must be treated as Category A once reusable parts have been removed.

THE BODYSHELL/ FRAME/CHASSIS MUST BE CRUSHED.

Air bags and seat belt components must be properly disposed of in accordance with the manufacturer’s

instructions - these items must never be

 

 

 

Category C

REPAIRABLE total loss
vehicles where repair
costs including VAT
exceed the vehicle’s
pre-accident value
(PAV).

 

Category D
Definition
REPAIRABLE total loss
vehicles where repair
costs including VAT do
not exceed  the vehicle’s PAV.

 

 

 

 

[nickadees]

You cant even buy cat b cars from auctions anymore not legaly anyway, to buy them you have to have special licences now.

[Mrpeanut]

But what is the rule/law that says that if something should be crushed that it cannot be put on the road if it isn't?

[Gashmonster]

ok

 

so i think ill side step this basket case then

 

especially if insurance is going to be an issue

 

 

 

thanks

[Dan]

  But what is the rule/law that says that if something should be crushed that it cannot be put on the road if it isn't?

 

 

 Nothing, if it hasn't been sold to an insurance company as a write off.  The insurer assesses the car to be a write off, and offers to buy it.  At that point if you decide not to accept the offer and keep the car you are well within your rights to rebuild it.  It will always be marked as having been a write off, and the fact will be reflected in the logbook.  It will have to be properly rebuilt, and pass a VIC which will check that it hasn't just been built with loads of second hand parts.  The V5 will also show that it has been VIC'd if it passes.  If it fails it will not be possible to register or tax it until it has been corrected.  Future insurers may well require an engineers report on the repairs. If however it was sold to an insurer when it was written off then the existence of the vehicle itself is evidence of fraud so it may be seized.  The dismantler was under contract with the insurer to crush the car and he has defrauded them.  It is technically a stolen vehicle.  The DVLA would not know about any of this as the dismantler would in all probability have fiddled the paperwork and certainly wouldn't have registered it as scrapped, but the insurance register would.  Write off classification is entirely an insurance industry scheme designed to prevent them having to pay out on the same vehicle multiple times and to get potentially dangerous vehicles off the road.  It is nothing to do with the DVLA and they don't record classes as I understand it.  They just mark the car as written off / VIC checked.

[Mrpeanut]

Interesting, thanks. So essentially there is no disadvantage of buying a properly repaired cat b car so long as it hasn't been sold to an insurer? Does a buyer have anyway of checking if it has been?

[Guess-Works.com]

You can't buy a CAT B car that has been repaired, because for a car to be considered a CAT B it's been written off by an insurance firm and a settlement has been made. At this point the insurance firm own the car, notify the DVLA, the vehicle then must go to a registered dismantler and the bodyshell crushed.

 

If the car does reappear on the road, it will not be under the identity of the written off vehicle, but probably a clone of another vehicle driving around... you know all the illegal stuff...

 

If however, a vehicle is repaired, which would have been considered a CAT B write off if an insurance claim had been settled then that car is not a CAT B, it's a CAT nothing as there has been nothing recorded against it...

 

For a car to be considered CAT B or A, then they need to be pretty messed up, with severe body damage, fire damage, or more often than not, those without roofs thanks to Fireman Sam and his mates, and those which are a little too gruesome / distasteful to be repaired.

[Dan]

  It is possible because on occasions the company assign a classification before they settle.  If you are keeping them on the hook, and they have sent the assessor to view the car at your home rather than in the recovery yard then he will class it before they have bought it and they will note this in the register.  They use this to try to talk you into settling early at their figure.  There is no actual law directly covering any of the write off classes that prevents you doing this.  The cars fall through one of the last remaining gaps between the DVLA system and the insurance register.  There is no automatic registering of the scrapping of these cars by the insurer, because only the breaker can register them as scrapped but the insurer destroys the registration document themselves before the car gets to him.  After that point it is 'in the trade' I believe.  The cars are rare though, and I suspect that in the near future it will become impossible for a car to get into this state.

 

  Regarding how you would know, HPi would show I would think.  And I think you would find out if you phone around for insurance quotes because they don't quote on cars that insurers already technically own.  There are some disadvantages.  It will never have a high value and it will always be marked as a write off.  I think you have to declare the write off in any advertising for future sale too and it will always raise this kind of reaction.

[ANON]

  It will have to be properly rebuilt, and pass a VIC which will check that it hasn't just been built with loads of second hand parts.  

 

 

VIC is only to make sure it's the same vehicle, nothing to do with parts used for repair or the quality of the repair. the only time that comes into it is if it has a serious fault, they then slap a prohibition note on it.

Edited by ANON, 05 June 2013 - 09:17 PM.

[sledgehammer]

I know someone at work - who has a Cat C Astra -

 

so far - he is finding it very hard / £xpensive to insure - compared to a non cat car

 

& no one wants to buy it trade wise

 

but he has had a low offer from We buy any car