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Damaged Repairable Cars – A Guide

11 September 2015 | Bruce Compton

Damaged Repairable Cars for sale

Accident damaged repairable cars or crashed cars for sale are the perfect opportunity to buy a car for a lot less money and providing you have the necessary mechanical skills and some free time, you can, with a little TLC, end up with the car of your dreams. Similarly, you can purchase damaged repairable cars which require restoration and with a little love and knowledge, restore them back to their original glory.  If you can use salvage car parts, you can save yourself even more money.

Insurance companies assess vehicles which have been stolen or sustained damage from fire, theft or an accident. Each claim is investigated and estimates are made as to the cost of repair back to its original condition. This estimate includes the cost of new parts and labour. If the damage is considered uneconomic to repair ( The car would cost more to repair than its market value) then they are considered to be insurance “write-offs”. The claim is settled with the owner and the vehicle is disposed of with a salvage company.

The insurance company then classifies them into insurance categories labelled A, B, C, D, E, F and X. These categories describe the extent of the damage to the vehicle and give a guide to how salvage companies should dispose of them. There are 4 main write off categories – these are A-D. They are often referred to as CAT. CAT A, CAT B etc…

In a nutshell, there are 4 main insurance write off categories, CAT A, CAT B, CAT C and CAT D. Insurance companies assess vehicles in a claim and put them in one of these 4 categories based on the extent of the damage that they have incurred from either an accident, fire, flood, theft or being used in a crime.

CAT A vehicles are the worst of insurance write-offs. Vehicles in Cat A cannot even be used for salvage and should be crushed or sold for scrap metal.  These are never repairable cars.

Example of a CAT A damaged vehicle

Example of a CAT A damaged vehicle

Cat B Insurance write-offs can be sold for spare parts. These are not sold as whole damaged repairable cars either.

Cat C cars can be fixed at relatively low cost, by using salvage parts, non-genuine parts and local garage services, you can save £££ over the full market value of the car.

Cat D cars can be fixed and the repairs will cost less than its market value. The insurance company’s decision to not repair it is based on more than solely the cost of the repairs. These are almost always sold as damaged repairable salvage cars and with the right expertise are worth fixing up.

Insuring insurance write off damaged repairable cars

If you are worried about insuring  CAT C or CAT D repairable cars which have been written off then dont be discouraged.  These cars are not impossible to insure. Sometimes insurers won’t want to cover a ‘CAT D’ or ‘CAT C’ repaired car, you will need to check first. It could be that your insurance company will insure a previously accident damaged car but it may well mean accepting a higher premium.

damaged repairable cars

Example of CAT C damaged repairable cars

You must always ensure that your insurance company is aware of the CATC or CAT D status of your car or this could affect any payout that you may get in the event that you need to make a claim yourself.

So long as the repairs on accident damaged cars have been carried out professionally or to a high standard, there is no safety reason why the car should not be insured.

Always remember for your own safety  ……Crashed cars, CAT C and D cars should only be purchased from a professional and accountable vehicle recycling and auto salvage facility such as AFF Vehicle Services.

AFF Vehicle services have attained compliance levels required to hold both Authorised Treatment Centre and recycler of End of Life Vehicles status, recognised by the Environment Agency.

If you purchase your crashed cars for sale from a reputable and registered company, you can be sure that the necessary documentation has been obtained and that the vehicle has been categorised as C or D. You should never be sold a CAT A or CAT B vehicle as a Damaged Repairable Cars for sale

For more information:

AFF Vehicle Services