Firstly, this is not a for sale post. I need advice on something that has come up today.

I have a 55plate Mondeo ST TDCi for sale. A guy from Northern Ireland a coupe of weeks ago got in touch and I sent all the details, history, pictures he asked for over to him via email. Spoke regularly on the phone. Agreed a deal and to sell it to him for 4800 quid. He booked his flight and ferry crossing and let me know the details.

I have an email from him today from an Autocheck he has done, which has come back saying the car is classed as a CAT D writeoff. This data was added to the Experian database on January 15th this year. Now I owned the car then so got in touch with the buyer for more info. He gave me Autochecks number. I called them up and they advised that the car was involved in an accident in August 2007 (before I bought it) but for some reason the insurance company didn't update the database until January this year (18months later and now I do own it).

To say I was shocked was an understatement and the buyer is going to contact Autocheck later on this evening to get more info as they wouldn't tell me much else because I wasn't the purchaser of the report.

If he comes back to me, what do I do? I've told him he can walk away from this and no issues as I'm not trying to hide anything. I have a feeling he may come back and want it at a reduced price, but I am already selling it cheaply as I want it gone quick. Can someone give me some advice on how much realistically the car is worth now its classed as CAT D as I can't find much pricing for this sort of thing.

Bit gutted to be honest as its a bloody good car and I've never had an issue with it.

Picture of said beast.





Cheers

Matt

 

tbh i wouldnt budge on price, cat d is minnor, if its as cheep as you want to go then dont go no lower,

 

cat D can be as little as a bumper change?

 

Id be contacting the original insurance company and finding out what the delay was!

you bought a car, that theoretically had an accident note on it, but you werent away because they took their time updating it all!!

Id kick off personally!

 

Maria

I have a feeling it was because it was a company car, that was the reason behind the delay. Whether I would have many rights as I didn't do a check myself when I bought the car, I don't know. Autocheck won't tell me or the buyer who the other insurance company is either, so I don't know how far I could push the issue.

The buyer has come back to me with an offer of 4K which I've rejected and gone back with a counter offer of 4.5K. I won't go lower, the only reason I'm entertaining this at all is because I feel bad for the buyer and because my wife is due to pick up her new car on Wednesday on condition of this sale.

 

It's a bugger that is! The only way forward is to drop your price, on reading your first post I was going to suggest £500 off, I think that's the kind of drop I would want on a car in this price bracket for Cat D. In a way you're lucky he's still interested. But you have to face the fact that you've been stiffed, already, through no fault of your own, and you've just got to get on with it.

 

surely there's some sort of time limit on how long it can take an insurance company to update details of a write off?

finding the above info would be my port of call then going for the insurance company would be my second (if they've breached any time limit's of course!!)

Shocked for you though fella

 

Well its sold for 4450. Not very happy, but on the plus managed to wangle some more money off the cost of the car I am buying, so it kind of evens out.

Needless to say, every car I buy from now on gets checked

 

Which wouldn't have helped in this case?

Bad luck, didn't do too bad in the end considering.
Would want some compensation off someone, as you paid over the odds no doubt when purchasing.

 

I've looked into this, any accident damage car. No matter how minor the damage, if claimed through the insurance is worth at max 2/3 of what it would be worth on trader books
I got told this, so take with a pinch of salt.

 

I did a check on a moody 3 door,cant remember who with and they told me the insurers name and claim number,contacted the insurance company and they told me everything they knew about the car which helped me to establish that it was a stolen,clocked shed.funnily enough it ended up on the cover of a non ford mag a couple of months later and was being advertised by a garage for 4k more than what it was being sold for.always do a check if you are parting with good money,even from a garage.

 

True, but at least I know the benefit of them now. Why take the risk.

 

If you had done a check on the Mondy at the time you purchased it, it would have come through clear for you as the records had not been updated then,
I would have a go at chasing it up as through no fault of your own youve been bummed dry style.

 

cat d is just a light bump, just panels, but mostly they are written off due to cost of hire cars for the owner, for example, 1000 quid mondeo, if it was gonna cost 200 quid to fix the car but will take 2 weeks then the policy holder would want a hire car, so if the cost of the hire car is 500 quid for that 2 weeks its over the limit in cost limit on the car, hence it being cat d, id try to avoid cat c's thought unless the repair has been photographed, and cat b and a are real bad, cat b some parts can be used off the car but the car must not go back on the road, cat a, the car must be destroyed or crushed.. hope this helps, mat

 

and the car should be worth 80% of the normal value of a normal unwritten off one. if it had a vic check certificate with it then possibly 90%.. i wouldnt run away from buying a cat d but you do have to think about when you come to sell it as it frightens lots of people off mate

 

I think you did ok if you only dipped 500 notes IF the car was at an average price prior to the cat d info being discovered.

They are harder to sell unless cheap cheap, so it's gone and you can move on, you may have been stuck with it for ages.

Not aimed at you, but I still find it amazing people don't hpi a car, even those that do a 3 quid text check - in your case it wouldn't have help anyway.

I ALWAYS do a written hpi check, it's 20 quid, and could save you a bunce. At most i would use the 3 quid txt check for a cheap check prior to travelling, checking the main stuff, then if the car is ok on site, then hpi it via the phone and have a paper copy sent to me.

So many dodgy motor out there and so many possibilities to get ripped off, got to be worth a few quid to check it out.

 

how many miles has that done?

i'd have given 4.5 for that all day long! cat d or not!

 

some of you lot should of gone to universal salvage auctions now copart and seen some of the shit i have seen cat d, i have seen a range rover totally bent with a new bare shell sold as cat d and cars that look cat b never mind cat x or d that need major repairs.
fact is the newer the car the heavier the damage to right it off,i have had cat d's with just the indicators and head rests missing and door lock damage and i have had cat d's needing major fucking about.
i'm a member of copart and have seen thousands of smashed cars over the years.

 

102K, ex HSBC company car. Fully specced options. More I think about it, the more pissed i am but as a previous poster said, its gone now and I may have been lucky.

 

Noted for next time, once bitten, twice shy.

 

the problem for the buyer would be if it gets hit, insurance finds out and gives him 25% of the value cos its total loss
just a bumper or not if some twat mullers it hes only gonna get value, ona write off thats 25%

my missuses car was cat c'd for a headlamp!!! gits cos me 30 for a vic when the car too 5 mins/£20 to fix