It pays to be cautious if you’re considering buying a written-off car, but don’t be put off entirely, because you could pick up a bargain
Claire Evans claire.evans@haymarket.com
WHEN YOU’RE BROWSING used cars for sale online, you might come across some that are significantly cheaper than the rest, and they could have a ‘Cat N’ label next to their listing. Cat N is one of four write-off categories introduced in 2017 by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which regulates the salvage code for car insurers. While your immediate reaction might be to steer well clear of these cars, you could be doing yourself out of a bargain.
When cars are involved in accidents, a significant number of them get written off by insurance companies, because repairing them would cost more than they are worth. The reasons for this are twofold: more expensive and sensitive technology is being fitted to cars, and garage overheads are rising due to high fuel prices and inflation. As a result, a minor shunt that would once have cost a few hundred quid to fix is now likely to total more than £1000, once the repair work and the recalibration of systems are factored in.
Some of those written-off cars get scrapped, but others are actually still fit to be on the road and can be resold once they’ve been repaired. The four categories reflect the level of damage sustained by written-off vehicles, with Cat N denoting that a car has suffered only minor damage that doesn’t affect its overall safety or driving integrity. It should be easy to identify a car that’s been written off as an uneconomic repair, because the Cat N label should be emblazoned across any advertisement from a reputable seller. If it’s not, a history check will provide you with this information.
The write-off categories in detail
CATEGORY N: CARS WITH NON-STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
This is one of two categories for cars that can be repaired and resold; the other is Cat S.
The ‘N’ in the name stands for ‘non-structural’ and denotes that while these cars have been involved in an accident, they haven’t suffered damage to their structure. They might have sustained cosmetic damage to bumpers or other panels, or they might have mechanical or electrical problems that aren’t economically viable t
