Selling Cat N Cars
On occasion we will purchase selected light or cosmetic bodywork damaged Category N cars. This is a vehicle that we can repair by replacing with new parts and sell at a discounted price to our customers. Typically, this will be an older low mileage vehicle ideal for 1st time car purchasers.
What is a category N car: This is a car that may have experienced NON STRUCTURAL cosmetic bodywork damage or has a problem with its suspension, steering or brakes that the insurance company has deemed not financially viable for them to repair.
Unfortunately, the insurance industry since Covid have categorised cars for significantly more minor damage than ever before, many times this is not due to the damage sustained to the vehicle itself but due to other factors including the time it takes (typically 6 weeks) to get a slot for repair at an approved repair centre, also the lead time to get parts such as headlights or plastics like a front grill. This on many occasions means the damaged vehicle would be off the road and the insurer would require paying for a HIRE CAR and this cost combined with the repair cost makes the vehicle uneconomical to repair. This is when a car is placed as a Category N vehicle and available for business like ours to purchase.
Selling a Category N car requires full transparency. We must disclose that the car was marked as category N and that it was repaired. This is a very important distinction as this allows you, the customer, to be made aware of what the damage was. If we had purchased
a vehicle that was not a category N vehicle and required to carry out repairs or paint, we would not be obliged to advise a customer of this.
Any category N vehicle we purchase will have been personally selected and professionally repaired at our insurance approved repair centre. We do not repair panels unless it is superficial damage such as a scratch or car park dent of under 25mm any other damaged
panel is replaced and professionally painted, any damage such as grill or headlight replaced with new parts purchased with warranty.
Some buyers may be wary of a Category N car due to concerns about repair quality. Others may see it as an opportunity to buy a well-repaired car at a lower price. A Category N (Cat N) car, which is a car category by an insurer for non-structural damage, typically sells for and maintains a value of 20% less compared to a similar car that hasn't been category N.
The link below is a document of just a selection of Category N vehicles both PRE and POST repair showing value saved vs a non-Category vehicle, our view is if we can provide a professionally repaired vehicle to our customers at a significant saving, especially first car purchasers that allows them to driver a newer and lower mile, reliable vehicle we should.