thanks thought as much, the seller said front end damage,

but its a virtually brand new 61 plate, and its a cat d,

so i guess the concensus is keep away, but he does welcome

AA OR RAC,

but i guess you cant trust anyone,

sal RANGE ROVER OVERFINCHED 4.2 S/C
FRONT BUMPER O/F
REAR BUMPER. O/F
BOOT SPOILER O/F
22" ALLOYS. O/F
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST O/F
CARBON FIBRE WING MIRRORS & A PILLARS & CENTRE CONSOLE

I was speaking to a coachbuilder the other day regarding a re-shelled car which is for sale, his advise was to walk away as they are never as good as factory finished cars

hi,

not reshelled, its supposedly panel damage.

sal RANGE ROVER OVERFINCHED 4.2 S/C
FRONT BUMPER O/F
REAR BUMPER. O/F
BOOT SPOILER O/F
22" ALLOYS. O/F
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST O/F
CARBON FIBRE WING MIRRORS & A PILLARS & CENTRE CONSOLE

47p2 wrote:

I was speaking to a coachbuilder the other day regarding a re-shelled car which is for sale, his advise was to walk away as they are never as good as factory finished cars

The amount of work ive done on the RR I feel like I have reshelled it  One day your life will flash before your eyes......................................make sure yours is worth watching!

i think that 90% of forum members feel like that,

any little rattle or noise and thats it FFRR to the rescue,

well not rescue it costs us money, but its damn addictive

sal RANGE ROVER OVERFINCHED 4.2 S/C
FRONT BUMPER O/F
REAR BUMPER. O/F
BOOT SPOILER O/F
22" ALLOYS. O/F
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST O/F
CARBON FIBRE WING MIRRORS & A PILLARS & CENTRE CONSOLE

I'd agree....... It would take a fairly large amount of damage to w/o such a late vehicle. Flood damaged Cat D's can look attractive on the surface, however it's what's going on behind the dash and within the looms that doesn't bare thinking about!

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

hi guys,

just thought id update u on this mad purchase,

61 plate mini clubman at a crazy price with 1,500 miles on the clock.

bought it in late jan done no work on it as it was already repaired, just clocked 20,000 miles on it

all i can say i was lucky or a very shrewd buy.

just going into bmw for its first service next week as sold with the chilli pack

sal RANGE ROVER OVERFINCHED 4.2 S/C
FRONT BUMPER O/F
REAR BUMPER. O/F
BOOT SPOILER O/F
22" ALLOYS. O/F
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST O/F
CARBON FIBRE WING MIRRORS & A PILLARS & CENTRE CONSOLE

I have owned the following cat c and cat d cars

cat c peugeot 307sw (flood damaged when on dealers forecourt only needed airbag module)
cat d bmw 330ci (needed new wing and door)
cat c bmw330ci (needed new wing , wishbone , track rod end and wheel)
cat c TVR chimaera (new front and rear end , only 1 year old at accident)

I have repaired all of them apart from the TVR - all have been sold on after using for a year or two at a profit!

If you buy wisely , there are bargains to be had.

The current RR (cat d ) only 60k miles , immaculate in and out , repaired by me at a cost of 2k , bought at salvage auction. Could make a decent profit easily but its a keeper.

Dont forget it could have been written off if the airbags have deployed in the dash and interior panels as they are a nightmare and lots of money to replace.

I've had a Cat D/C before. A citreon Xantia 2.1td that had a light rear shunt. Bumper was fine and rear panel bent in a bit. Pulled it out and drove for years afterwards and sold it on and was honest about its issues and history and it sold for about the same money as other similar mileage ones, but they were at the bottom of their value then.

They make very good value for money cars for people who are going to pile a few miles on them, great when they are diesels as well.

Also older cars say 6+yrs tend to be written off for just one panel for the average car, but are cheap to repair with second hand bits or go straight back on the road, say if its a dented wing or door for knockabout cars or cars for dogs and stuff they can be great, gives the car another lease of life instead of becoming an organ donor

PS glad its working out for you SalB  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.


Last edited by kingpleb on 8th Nov 2013 2:26pm. Edited 1 time in total

With flood damage it depends more on where it flooded upto.

Hydro locked engines are the most common ones where the intake pickup is very low down so the interior isnt always affected and then its a case of engine swap and going over the electrics to make sure they are clean.

It can be a lot of work to do it right but often worth it if you like the car. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

I considered one when I bought my VX220. With their plastic bodies they're easily written off, but also easily repaired. The car was always going to be a keeper so selling it on wasn't going to be an issue. A RHD car would be hard to sell on in Switzerland anyway. Also, it was only a £10k car so it wasn't a huge risk.

In the end I just found a much better deal with a non Cat D. I would consider it again in similar circumstances though.

Salb - pleased to hear your story. Seems you measured the risks and it's worked out well for you.

In answer to the many quotes of "can it be written off if almost new for just panel damage"....

The answer is YES 100%......mostly old for new or gap insurance claims.It does not take much to write off a year old Mini or Fiat 500 etc.....few panels,airbag kit......those alone could add up to around £3000!....Then add on hire car,excess on insurance,parts and labour at brand new main dealer prices......and there you have it.....the insurance company write it off on paper,saving themselves thousands of pounds!.....They then sell the damaged car to a repairer to recoup some losses and Bobs your uncle everyone is happy.

Example....

2011 Mini....retail £12000ish

Damaged needing front panels,Xenon headligjhts,paint,labour and airbags.....£4500-£6000ish at MD prices

plus.....Rental car for say three weeks......

plus....If insurance company write it off they deduct your excess....

Or they just replace your car at £15000ish

Sell the damaged car for £6500ish

They save splashing out £5500ish plus rental plus save the excess....lets say all in £7500ish

All in all the cost to insurance company is minimal.

NOTHING wrong with a CAT D or C at all as long as its repaired properly  If you have nothing nice to say,say nothing at all.

hi guys,

i did get asked earlier how much i paid for it, well here goes

it is a MINI CLUBMAN HAMPTON IN A DARK BLUE,

every conceivable extra in fact the same as the ffrr it has 1476 miles on it.

I have the original purchase receipt of a whopping £23,600 yes thats right £23,600 i couldnt believe

it myself, it was bought from a salvage company by a sky engineer who repairs and sells cars as a hobby.

I BOUGHT THE VEHICLE FROM E-BAY...................................

A 61 PLATE WITH 1,476 MILES ON IT 14 MONTHS OLD FOR £8,200 YES £8,200.......

now clocked 20,000 with no work done on it, another 4 years and ill pass it on to my daughter who loves it

and has already said she wants it for her 18th birthday.

Just think im lucky with this one, as for the FFRR only done 1,000 miles in it since February but i have had the alloys repaired

and sprayed tungsten grey and the calipers painted red, pics to follow

sal RANGE ROVER OVERFINCHED 4.2 S/C
FRONT BUMPER O/F
REAR BUMPER. O/F
BOOT SPOILER O/F
22" ALLOYS. O/F
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST O/F
CARBON FIBRE WING MIRRORS & A PILLARS & CENTRE CONSOLE

wowsers! it would probably sell for more straight away!

wonder how much the guy bought it for... FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Well, I've just been speaking to an assessor about my AMG who yesterday wrote it off the insurance company gets 29% of the write off value for the salvage... Mine needs a full repaint, NSF suspension, a wing and front bumper and the damage comes to £14k so not worth them repairing