Cat D X5

[Kk78]

What are people's thoughts on cat D cars?

I wouldn't normally consider one but I've been offered one in a PX deal for my second car (350z roadster).

It's a 2007 3.0d SE with 80k miles. He values it at £14k which seems high considering similar cars that are not cat D are advertised around that price.

I was thinking the value should be closer to £10k with it being a cat D. It's not like there is a shortage of similar age x5's for sale.

I would appreciate advice on the cars value.

Thanks

[sid10]

Hi I would walk away best getting a car that hasnt been cat D plenty out their !

[Monty84]

I was also drawn towards a cat d recently while looking for my car, it will sell for a very good price for an 08 however i kept thinking about the old saying if it's too good to be true, walk away.

A chap at work tried to sell his boxster s last year, he couldn't flog it to anyone in the workplace let alone to the public, he still has it.

The insurance company has written it off once, your paying out 14k asking price so say you pay your suggested 10k, stick it in a ditch or even someone drives in to you, insurance companies are going to be walking away leaving you out of pocket.

I would personally avoid it.

[Kk78]

I was thinking at the right price, it might be a good buy. It was stolen and recovered.

I'd be keeping it long term so I'm not to worried about resale.

I would normally just go to a dealer but I'm sick of paying their prices and getting trade for mine. It's scary to think how much I've lost on car depreciation in the last 15 years.

It's also a nightmare selling second hand car.

I've decided if I can't find a fair private swap/PX I'm just going to keep the 350z roadster as a summer car. It's got no miles on it and it's suffered 99% of its depreciation already.

[Kk78]

[quote="Monty84"]
I was also drawn towards a cat d recently while looking for my car, it will sell for a very good price for an 08 however i kept thinking about the old saying if it's too good to be true, walk away.

A chap at work tried to sell his boxster s last year, he couldn't flog it to anyone in the workplace let alone to the public, he still has it.

The insurance company has written it off once, your paying out 14k asking price so say you pay your suggested 10k, stick it in a ditch or even someone drives in to you, insurance companies are going to be walking away leaving you out of pocket.

I would personally avoid it.
[/quote]

Do insurance companies not pay out on cat D cars?

I wasn't aware of that.

[kjb1]

they do!

[Denis O]

Of course they do and this is typical of the type of cobblers that is written on t'internet.

If you buy a Cat D, or C for that matter, then do it with your eyes open and with help from someone that knows what they are doing. Savings will be at least 30%, and up to 50%, which is well worth having. Will get you into a much nicer car than you could normally afford.

I'd want to see details/pictures of the reason it was Cat D and that it had been repaired properly. Without this provenance I would walk away.

Stolen recovered is a bit of a problem. I bought 1 years ago and after a bit of detective work I found out all the details of the theft and the repairs. It had some minor panel damage which had been well repaired but still was a V car-pre Cat classification. Sods law, it then got nicked again, and was found the following day with all the unidentifiable bits missing. Written off and insurance company paid out.

Tough decision but don't consider it a blanket walk away, there's plenty of good ones out there. There are but they're up to 50% more expensive.

[Monty84]

I apologise for what i wrote about the insurance company if it's not true, this is what I have previously read and been told.  It made sense to me that they won't write something of twice.  Will they definetly give you full going price for the vehicle?

[kjb1]

full going price in relation to what its valued at being a cat d etc yes.  Wouldn't worry about apologising

[Monty84]

The problem I found was that private sellers don't appreciate the cat d side to the car and want to sell it at normal going rate.  There was an x5 in London that I was interested in but just couldn't see past the cat d status for the price they were asking.  It's probably sound but without getting too far in to it, I wondered what sort of history it would have of repair.  Is this something that lives on a database somewhere to check?