Hi people just need abit of advice on something and your opinions of if you reckon this is a good deal.
54 plate Vauxhall Astra 1.7 CDTi SRi five door hatchback with 11000 on the clock, only problem is that it had front corner damage, but has now been fully repaired by vauxhall and has been recorded. Askin price is £8500, what u reckon? I've checked out autotrader and the price of these are around £12000 so this seems a good deal, but the accident repair is the main stickin point, and why has it hit the value so much?
Cheers in advance guys, much appreciated...
|
Yes the car has been repaired but if when you say it's been recorded you mean it's either a cat C or a cat D right off then unless you happy with the condition of the car and plan to keep it for a long time i would not bother.
You will have great difficulty in selling the car in the future as there is a limited market for this type of vehicle. The car will also be worth considerably less than a comparable vehicle that is not recorded as a total loss.
|
|
|
Retail on this car would be £11 - £12k as you say. However, this car was in an accident so serious that the insurer chose to write it off. (It's surprising that it was possible to get Vauxhall to repair a write off cost effectively.)
That means it's had one hell of a whack and it's hard to know, unless you are an engineer (and even then...) whether truly everything has been repaired, or if there is still some latent damage.
Yes, the car is cheap but Cat D cars always go for a third less - and sometimes the reduction is even greater - than 'normal' cars. You can also expect to lose most of this saving at trade in time; if a normal car is worth £5,500 in three years, this will be worth £3,500 at most because it's recorded and most buyers, including all traders, will check.
I'd never say never but I wouldn't have peace of mind if I'd spent £8.5k on a repaired write-off.
|
Just another quick thought - the car is worth around £11k, the general rule of thumb for a write off is 70% of the cars value so this would mean the repairs have come to over £7500 - that is more than just a little car park knock, the car has been involved in a major shunt.
Best advice is to walk away.
|
|
It doesnt say it had been written off but with it bein recorded does that mean it has or does the insurance compnay record it even with limited damage? It was the front corner of the car so what could that affect?
|
|
Oh and i intend to keep it a while, say 5 years... Would u guys recommend test driving the exact same car and test driving this one and seein the difference, or am talking a load of rubbish?
|
|
|
Recorded is just a term for a repaired write off - it's recorded against the registeration on the HPi register that the car is a write off.
The front corner is a nasty place for damage - it will have probably affected the suspension, moved the engine around and kinked the roof.
|
I think i've just found the very car on autotrader - i presume it's the one at the bottom of the page.
snipurl.com/eul9
Have a look at the Zafira a couple up from it, that states "recorded on Vcar" it's basically the same thing - a write off that has been repaired and is back on the road.
snipurl.com/euld
Have a look at the top Fiesta here that is "Hpi recorded" It is one hell of a lot less than all the other similar vehicles as is the Zafira. The astra will be cheap to buy now but it you will have to sell it very cheaply and you'll struggle to sell it.
I broke up the links so you'll need to cut and paste, or wait until Dave wanders along and tinyurls them. Mark.
{Or even snipurls them. DD}
|
|
I don't want to say too much but does the language being used in that advert, and the fact that it's a repaired write off, really strike you as a private seller Kev?
|
|
Yes it does sound a bit fishy - almost worth giving him a quick call and asking a few more probing questions.
|
blue haddock-can you please tinyurl those links you posted, as I cannot get them to work. they do not seem to past fully into my address bar.
Thanks
WTM
|
Might this be less sinister than it seems? The car is a 54 plate, and therefore presumably less than 1 year old when it was bent. In this case the insurance co would probably just replace it, and then be left with a bent Astra, which would presumably go through a salvage auction as Cat D, and be recorded. However, it's 3k below normal price, plus say 3k for straightening it out and profit, leaves a pretty low salvage price. Hmm, probably still quite bent! My thought is always that bent cars are never the same, and best avoided, however good the repair.
--
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
|
My thoughts on this is that if it was just a minor bump they would have just repair the vehicle and it would go back to the original owner and that would be the end of it.
Like you say Richard it is cheap and when you take into account the cost of the reapir work it will have been a very cheap piece of salvage so i believe that it was a major accident it has been in and you've no idea if things like the suspension have been properly repaired.
|
|
|
It looks like it is sitting on a private drive to me
|
Cheers for the replies guys. Yes it is the one in the advert, i didnt see it on the trader, the car is local to me and someone mentioned they'd seen one for sale... Anyway i rang the person up and it was a woman and she didnt sound like she knew too much. They are selling because her husband has now attained his motorcylce license and they now have a smaller car. Im not clued up about this insurance cat D and C and all that so didnt know what to ask.
I hear what your all sayin, the car might look ok now but could have suspension problems and what not. Not worth a punt at that price then? If you were to buy it what price do you reckon?
|
|
I would leave him to sweat for a month or two. He cant part ex or punt it to a dealer due to it being registered as a write off, auction value is destroyed due to the same thing. The sellers only hope is to find a mug or an dodgy dealer. If they dont come along 7k in a months time might get it. At that price if you intend to keep it its probably worth a punt.
|
|
|
|
It looks like it is sitting on a private drive to me
And that is part of the problem - dodgy traders often masquerade as private sellers. If you buy the car off a trader you have various legal rights whereas as soon as you have paid for the vehicle and driven off from the private sellers house your on your own.
As Renault guy says let him sweat - he has very limited option on what he can do with it so yes go in with a very low bid on it and see what he says. Also i would recommend before parting with your cash you get it properly inspected to make sure things like suspension geometry and the quality of repairs else otherwise you could be in for some big bills.
|
I didnt know his options were that limited so i think im going to hang fire. If i did buy it i'll be taking my mechanic down with me first for certain.
So the cars been written off but they have it back and repaired, how does that work? I thought if the insurance company pays out its their property?
|
A mechanic amy not be able to judge things just by having a look on a driveway - it needs to go on a jig to make sure that the suspension geometry is correct.
|
|
The advert says 'any trial' how far does that go?
|
|
Ok done abit of research but none the wiser. If the car is CAT A/B does that mean it has been written off or just invloved in a shunt?
|
The system is as follows
Cat A - Major accident, possibly involving loss of life so car is crushed.
Cat B - major accident but ok to be sent to a scrapyard to have parts removed
Cat C - Enough damage to the vehicle for the insurer to decide not to repair however providing it undergoes a vehicle inspectorate check it can be repaired and go back on the road.
Cat D - Vehicle damaged and insurer chose not to repair. This is often with older vehicles where even a small repair will cost more than the value of the vehicle. Stolen recovered vehicles are often this category.
Cat A & B will never go back on the road but Cat C and D are OK to be repaired and put back on the road.
Regardless of which category it is it will have been written off and will show if anyone does a HPi check on the vehicle
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don't buy it. You are buying on passion, not logic. Some years ago I bought a two year old Passat, which after I rang HPI said had been in a big rear shunt. One could not tell by looking because the repair was very good. The seller then showed me the paperwork, and the £280 he had paid to have it 'partially' taken off the register by having an industry inspection on a jig measuring everything. I phoned the inspectorate and they confirmed it passed with flying colours, and had had a first class repair.
It was then decision time. I knew all the facts, got another £200 off the already low price and bought it. It was a very good car for two years. BUT on reflection I would not buy one again. The paintwork was never really 'factory finish' and the boot always leaked. A car in a big smash is never the same again, even after a first class repair.
You are breaking all the car buying rules, and for one reason....price.
The rules for buying a private car need not be perfect, or go to a main dealer and have no problems, but they are important.
They are....
The car, man, house, and log book MUST be at the same address.
Is the car from a 'good family'
Is there some, if not all the service record.
Are all the MOTs there? If not why, as 'normal' peaople keep them.
Is it a 'normal' car, from a 'normal' family, used in a 'normal' environment. If the chap says 'I am selling it for my sister' run a mile. It is not normal.
On the 2 occasions I have broken these rules I have got hurt. On both occassions it was because I wanted the car, because I wanted to stop looking and this will do. It is fatal. My last car was bought for a fair but toppy price, from a dead straight chap, who knew it was good and would not give much on price. 6 years later the car is still perfect.
You want this car because of the price. Ask yourself, if it was only £1000 below price (still a great bargain) would you buy it? No, because the basic fundamental is broken, ie. it is not a straight honest car.
If you pay peanuts you will get monkeys. That is the basic law of life.
|
|
I agree with what ya saying MW. I've made my mind up, just going to wait a couple of months, and if its still there then get it checked a thoroughly as i can and offer him stupid money...
|
Sunny, I don't think you do agree with (or understand) what MW is saying.
Sorry if that sentence is a bit patronising but you need to be clear on all of these points before you make up your mind:
1. Cat A, B, C and D are all write offs where the car is deemed to be beyond economical repair. "On the register" means the same thing. This car has been involved in a major accident that will be difficult to repair, let alone economically.
2. It is true that a car that has been written off becomes the insurer's property. This means that it's very unlikely that a private owner of the car from new would bother buying it back when they could easily replace it with an identical car from a supermarket (or even a new one, under a new-for-old policy in the first year of the car's life). The only reason they would do it is to make a few quid from the gap between the payout and the repair - which means they've every bit as much incentive to be evasive about any faults as a true trader, except that you don't have the consumer protection legislation on your side.
3. "Any trial" goes as far as the seller wants it to go. It's not yet part of any contract, because there is no contract with you. If he means "Any trial [until I refuse because it'll fail]" or "Any trial [because I think by saying that they won't bother as they'll think I'm confident in the car's ability to pass]" then those are perfectly plausible interpretations.
4. I think MW is saying that because this car doesn't 'ring true' you should avoid it. I think that many, many cars on the market (maybe even most) are like that and, unlike him, I don't think it's 'normal' to have a car with everything right. Plenty of people neglect their cars, lose bits of history, fail to notify the DVLA of a change of address and so on. However, I agree with him to the extent that unless you're a trader, you only need to buy one car every few years so you can afford to run away from the ones that don't add up properly as if something has been looked after, it's almost certain to be a better buy.
|
Some other questions I would ask:
1. Who is current owner, how did they come about the car? Did they buy it as a write off and pay for the repair? If so, they did this purely to make money so walk away.
2. If they were the owner when it had the accident, presumably the ins company paid them for it. Why would they not just take the money and go?
3. Presumably if it is a full ins repair, then it will be guaranteed for 5 years. Ask to see the paperwork and speak to the bodyshop who repaired it. There is a good chance that there will be before and after photos available.
I am not saying all of the above so that you check these before buying - I am sure that by doing the above you will convince yourself even more to walk away from this deal.
In an ironic sort of way, if it was a dealer advert then it might not be as suspicious!
|
|
|
|
You have 'car fever' based on pure passion and a desire for a wonderful car at a fantastic price. Pay a fair price, for a straight car, from a normal family. The world is full of such cars. There is a world surplus of about 25% spare car making capacity. My brother recently bought a 1998 1.8 Mondeo from a one owner, 47k, full Ford service history, all Mots, a/c not working. He paid £1600. A bit high, but the car is a dream, with maybe another good 5 years + in it. That is cheap fair motoring.
This car is £4,500 below price because that is its true price. Supply and demand and the market rarely lie.
It's car fever.... car fever.
|
|
Went to view the car on tuesday evening, took me all of 30 seconds to make my mind up...
|
|
What clinched it for you?
|
|
|
|
