Buying a write off - would you?

[knobblywobbly]

Well I found a nice 2.0HDI, 2004 reg with 70,000 miles on the clock at a dealer. Looked in good condition from the pics, so I phoned them up, had a chat and arranged to go and have a look/test drive at the weekend. Very good price at almost £1000 below Parkers guide, which made me a bit twitchy from the start.

Anyway, the more I thought about the price the more worried I became so a paid out and did a vehicle check. Sure enough it came back as a write off (don´t know what category). No mention in the advert about this, and neither was it mentioned when I was on the phone but he obviously knew and priced it accordingly.

Anyway, now I know about it what are the disadvantages of buying an insurance write off? It would obviously need a thorough professional inspection, but what other pitfalls are there?

[Chris]

First of all it is a legal requirement for a dealer to declare this, so this would put me off. Depending on the category (C/D) the damage on a relatively low value car could actually have been very minor in order to write it off. I would certainly be looking to try to find out what happened (can you get the previous owner's details?). Personally, unless I could find out more about the history, I would be very hesitant.

I am sure that someone will come along and say that they have bought a CAT C/D car for a bargain price that has proved to be absolutely fine, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be the case if you can do your homework.

[Andre]

If you are buying it to use for your own personal use, then i would say no.

If you want to make a quick buck, then yes i would.

I don't think you can ever trust an ex write off, it never seems to feel the same and in my own experience, the oddest of faults pop up. (e.g, on the berlingo, the fuel gauge is prone to not reading exactly which is rather annoying!

[althemusicwizard]

See my thread.....

As a new member, I'm kind of in a similar position, only I know the history of the car as I had the accident, but I'm buying it back from the insurance company. No doubt, I'll have to register it again as Cat C/D? Anybody know?

Our car has been written off because it needs 2 new doors. The assessor told me that 2 new doors alone, before spraying and fitting would cost £1150 plus VAT! Obviously, they won't be anywhere near this price from a breaker's yard, so that's what I'm going to investigate. That's the reason the car has been written off.
The collision speed can only have been around 5-10 MPH in my case as it occured straight after pulling away. The car I estimate had travelled less than 8 feet.
So I guess it really does depend on the circumstances of the accident as to whether it's worth going for the car you found, or not.

Al