Needing an estate car, I was settled on a Mondoe estate. With about £5000 to spend I was settled on buying one 3 / 4 years old.
However, I have seen some advertised in Auto Trader in the salvage section at just a year old for that sort of money. Clearly they are accident damaged.
The pictures in the ads give an indication of the type and extent of damage. I know that generally speaking Category D damage is less expensive to repair that Category C damage (where the structure of the car / chassis is damaged).
Has anyone bought a car this way?
Are there any guidlines available anywhere that give an indication as to how much body repairs costs for cars of any particular make or model?
Or must the car be taken to body shops for quotes for a realistic repair price to be obtained?
Regards
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If you do it that way it will cost you more than the car is worth.You need to diy or have a mate that owns a bodyshop and will do it cheaply and you have to source used parts to keep costs down.
If the car is recorded cat D etc the value will be considerably less than non recorded but if you are buying it nearly new and plan to run for a long time it can be cost effective.
If its recorded most insurance companies will only offer third party.
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If its recorded most insurance companies will only offer third party.
Mine was a Cat C & I have had no issue getting fully comp. Wouldn't buy a bread & butter car this way though as most people are predudiced about C or D!
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If it could be done easily and profitably then bodyshops would snap them up to repair and sell on.
You'll have trouble getting insurance for it, and you'll lose vlaue on the car when you sell it, as a HPI check will show its history.
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So you have 5 grand to spend
You buy a working car for 5 grand and you have a working car.
You buy a smashed car for 5 grand and you have spent 5 grand on a car you cant use. Where does your repair money (say 2 grand) come from?
Why not buy a better working one for 7 grand if you have 7 grand to spend.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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i hate misinformation........
any vehicle can be insured fully comp after catogarisation on the abi (ne hpi) register.......some insurance companies may require an engineers report, most dont and will happily take your money.
OP.........You really need to take a savvy man with you to view and estimate any damage both seen and unseen.....i would advise if you are green on this you do not tinker as there are people in the salvage job who specialise in giving badly damaged cars a little pull to make them more saleable (im sure it will have been covered on here before).
Finally you will normally find that a damaged (by accident) car will have a lot more damage unseen as you strip it down for repair, a favourite with mondeos is a twisted subframe and pickup points, damaged racks, pre-tensioners gone, cd packed, up red/blue key lost etc etc
A cat c vehicle also needs a vic check this can take 2 months to get a test date in the south of the country due to demand and unless you get a valid tax disc with the vehicle you cannot use the vehicle on the road till the vic is passed
keep a trader in business mate,give him your money or an auction and forget about the newer plate.
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You should be able to buy a nice Mondeo Estate for that money that you can just jump into and drive.
They don't sell for that much, anyway, without even bothering about buying an accident damaged one.
I really don't recommend going down that road; too many pitfalls for the inexperienced. Leave well alone!
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