Came across this when surfing Ebay...

eBay.co.uk: 2001 AUDI RS4 QUATTRO SILVER (item 140029491833 end time 24-Sep-06 22:31:46 BST)

I thought category B was a bit :eek:???

Total-loss on insurance.

ERR NO CHANCE!

Wouldnt touch it with gloves on!

Chris

oops...

Its a nice car but not a catB i would personally never touch a cat C but thats just me

If it's been repaired correctly then there should be no problem, it's had 18 months since it was repaired to iron out any of the inevitble little faults that occur after a crash too.

It'd be interesting to see how much damage it had sustained though, possibly all panel damage and no stuctural.

Ask the seller if there are any pre-accident repair pictures and judge for yourself, it can be a way of getting a car that you'd never have any chance of affording otherwise, and the only person that knows is you (and anyone reading this).

A Cat B should NEVER go back on the road.

In fact the DVLA will be automatically informed of the category when the vehicle is entered on the MIAFTR register.

I asked for pics of the car damaged but was simply told 'sorry no pics'.

Run a mile from it.

The way I see it is that a cat B car is a write off. For the price of this car used, you would need to have a lot of damage for the insurance company to put it beyond economical repair (Cat C), so Cat B is going to be worse. The repair cost for a Cat C car is usually the book price, so this car has had over £15K worth of damage.

As far as I know a Cat B car is defined as one which is badly enough damaged that it cannot be safely returned to the road, however certain spares can be sold.

This leaves three options.

1. The car has been bodged together. Not good, and really not good if you have an accident and it falls apart.

2. The car has been re shelled using as many of the original parts as possible, so structurally will be OK but will not be assembled to factory standards. This is improbable as the chassis number would be different to the original (although I do know guys that used to do this professionally).

3. The car is a ringer (stolen and re identified as the written off car).

Considering the performance of the car, I would not want a repaired frame, particularly as it will tend to be less rigid than the original so will not drive as well. I would not want a re shell as it will nearly always suffer rattles, creaks and electrical problems that factory cars wont have. I would not want a ringer as it is helping people who steal cars and may be identified sometime. Why not spend a similar sum on a straight decent car?

Chris

I thought It was just category 'A' cars that could never be returned to the road and had to be destroyed?

I thought category 'B' cars which are usually heavily accident damaged or fire damaged etc could be put back on the road provided they pass a Vosa/SVA test similar to that of jap imports only more strict and concentrating on the standard of repair work?

I thought It was just category 'A' cars that could never be returned to the road and had to be destroyed?

I thought category 'B' cars which are usually heavily accident damaged or fire damaged etc could be put back on the road provided they pass a Vosa/SVA test similar to that of jap imports only more strict and concentrating on the standard of repair work?

No, its category A and B. Here's an excerpt from the ABI code of practice:-

MotorVehicleSalvage.pdf

My nan reversed a Rover 200 across a road into a wall. It was a Cat B because the body needed to be replaced. The work was done very well and the car had less creaks and rattle sthan the original.

So not always a bad thing - could be a bargain*

*but probably not

Cat A means it must be destroyed.

Cat B means it must be destroyed.

Cat C means can be repaired but needs to pass a test

Cat D means can go on road without test

Cat F means fire damage.

Cat B means it must be destroyed.

Category B can be broken for parts. Category A is crusher only, no salvage permitted. Either way, the car is risky with extremely poor resale possibilities. Think of what else you could buy with that sort of money.

Chris

What I can't get my head round is how a CatB can be legally returned to the road?

Wasnt this sort of thing what Q plates used to be used for ?

ie. you've changed so much of the car (the body) that it is no longer the original vehicle?

What I can't get my head round is how a CatB can be legally returned to the road?

Dodgy fix is still legal as it is still repaired and the body was salvaged, just nobody in their right mind would buy it. Re shell or ringer are the other options.

Chris