Cat D nightmare!

[Tango23]

After owning my 1996 S2 coupe for nigh on 2 years, I was thinking about selling the vehicle since I am spending more time out of the UK than in the UK- due to business demands.
A potential buyer was interested in looking at the vehicle, only to cancel since he found that the car has been declared cat D on the 01st January 2009.

I obviously should have been responsible enough to check the car when I bought it- only thing is that my wife bought it for me back in Sept 2010.

I have since had the vehicle up at Bahnstorms in northants where the front end was stripped down.
There is clearly no signs of structual damage or repairs- in fact the original headlight was still in use (albeit with 3 broken tabs). The only evidence of repairs, was a slightly pushed in n/s front bumper, where it meets the front n/s 1/4 panel.

I am understandably P*ssed about this but, can anyone inform me of what this really means. This is an undeniably straight vehicle without structual damage-a fender bender in my books, which is merely cosmetic.

Can I seek to reinstate the integrity of my vehicle by means of any 3rd party inspection?

Any help will go along ways into improving my day guys!

Cheers
Sean

[dm80]

Cat D just means it was declared a write off by the insurance company as it was uneconomical to repair. A very common scenario given the quotes given to insurance companies by their approved repairers. Your potential buyer obviously didn't do his homework. A cat D just needs a valid MOT and it's roadworthy again. EG: a replacement bonnet and front bumper etc would render it uneconomical to repair in 2009. Owner then gets it from the isurance co., for 10-15% of it's settlement value, fixes it himself, MOT's it. Sorted.

[poor-boy]

I have an MG ZT Cdti (non Audi ) and had a scratch on the rear bumper - Cat D as the insurance repairers quoted £700 to remove bumper, paint and refit..

Cat D is just and easy way for insurance companies to pay you a percentage of value and de-value your car.. It's not a big deal.

[Tango23]

Thanks for the feedback gents,

I gather that once the motor has been tagged as Cat D, that there is no way to remove it?

Sean

[poor-boy]

I am sure there is no way but not 100%..

[Rusty]

I think you can get it inspected by an approved assessor, which is beneficial to resale but on a 18+ y/o Audi, I'm not sure how worth while this would be.

[Tango23]

Thanks Rusty,

Would a report from the AA be akin to going through the accredited insurance assessor?

Cheers, Sean

[Rusty]

Best check on that one as I think it would not suffice.

[Tango23]

Okay, just to clarify Rusty,
Would I need to get an inspection done by my insurance assessor or by the insurance company whom provided the cover at the time of the accident?

Sorry for the back and forth- just don't have time to be pushed from one co. to another.
Sean

[Jamo]

It's a vosa inspection and it changes from cat d to something like cat approved
To be honest it's not worth the hassle as cat d means nothing in this modern age

To clarify you can't get the cat classification removed only changed to say the repair has been done to standard but it will still show on a inspection report

[Rusty]

Cheers for clarifying that Jamo

[Tango23]

Many thanks Jamo.

Starting to feel more settled about what status the motor is.

S.

[spink]

To be honest it's not worth the hassle as cat d means nothing in this modern age

In general I have to disagree,on tango23s occasion I agree it doesn't matter but I often see heavily damaged newish cars being given a cat D and I think it is wrong as they ought to be a C.If tango's car(due to its age) had been damaged in the same way as some of the new cars I see it would be an instant cat B(which is essentially a breaker),I think its a way for the insurance companys to claw back a bit more money myself(ie they get more for a cat D than a cat C at auction)

[Jamo]

Your talking about new cars completely different scenario on these cars due age most repairs will be cat d for panel or body repair

[driftin jo]

Your talking about new cars completely different scenario on these cars due age most repairs will be cat d for panel or body repair

Crack a bumper and smash a headlight and bingo, cat D.
It doesn't take much if your car is worth sub 5k, I couple of dented panels and
the cost with paint is over half the value of the car, instant cat D from insurance assessor.