Insurance Cat D

[Mike2165]

I'm confused (ain't hard!), when a bike/car is rated cat D, and it's been repaired, is it still deemed cat D? and what differece would it make on price? insurance? etc..

[kwak zzr]

cat d is light cosmetic damage and it stays with the bike for life, anyone who HPI's the bike will see it, prices are usually about 70% of what it should cost if it hadn't had an accident.

[kwak zzr]

they can be a good buy if you know the history and you know it's been repaird right and not forgeting if its cheap enuf.

[Biker Biggles]

Put it this way.You buy a two year old cat d in perfect nick worth £3000,but you get it for £2100 cos its a cat d.You keep it for three years when it will still be a old cat d but who will care?It will be worth about £1700 still,so a bit of a bargain all round.

[Ceri JC]

Put it this way.You buy a two year old cat d in perfect nick worth £3000,but you get it for £2100 cos its a cat d.You keep it for three years when it will still be a old cat d but who will care?It will be worth about £1700 still,so a bit of a bargain all round.

I like that man's thinking.

Out of interest, does Cat D just mean it has at some point had an accident reported to the insurer, which may or may not have been fixed, or does it actually require the bike to be deemed beyond economical repair and bought back. IE would my bike, which had £1.6K worth of damage done to it when it was worth £3K, come up as a Cat D in a HPI?

[kwak zzr]

I like that man's thinking.

Out of interest, does Cat D just mean it has at some point had an accident reported to the insurer, which may or may not have been fixed

no the bike has been paid out on as a uneconomical repair, the owner of the bike can then buy it back off the insurance company for £ ??.0 and then fix it his self cheaper because he isnt paying £50 + vat for every hour labour used.
my sv1000s rides perfectly, i rode it home @ 90mph on the M54:rolleyes: yet my insurance company estimate £5k of damage inc labour :money::money::money:! i think i can get it all fixed for £400.

[Bluepete]

Cat D can also refer to a vehicle that has been stolen, insurance paid up on, and the recovered by those good ol' boys in blue!
My mate bought a CBR600rr on a cat D. No probs, just he couldn't make it turn right and shattered his femur! Probably NOT the bikes fault then!

[-Ralph-]

I always discount cat D when looking in Autotrader. I didn't understand the categories. So basically a cat D if fine so long as cosmetically it's been repaired properly? So a bike thats bent the forks for instance would be a Cat C?

Do the insurance companies always check theres nothing more than cosmetic damage? What I mean by this is that if an insurance assessor goes to look at a fully faired sportsbike thats slid down the road, and he can see it's going to be written off on cosmetic damage alone, but further damage is not immediately obvious or is hidden from view (ie: a slightly bent fork or out of shape wheel) does he write it off cat D or do they still do further investigation to see if it should have been a cat C?

[Dan]

Category D doesn't mean solely cosmetic damage, it simply means "damaged but insurer has declined to repair - but can be returned to the road'

Cat C means 'extensively damaged but insurer has declined to repair - but can be returned to the road'

[Ratty]

Cat D can also refer to a vehicle that has been stolen, insurance paid up on, and the recovered by those good ol' boys in blue!
My mate bought a CBR600rr on a cat D. No probs, just he couldn't make it turn right and shattered his femur! Probably NOT the bikes fault then!

Talking of stolen, Pete

Can you keep an extra eye out for Mrs Ratty's Silver / Grey Clio Extreme 5 door. She is gutted. PE53 GMO.

Ratty

[kwak zzr]

i cant belive they rate my sv1000 as a cat c? the only thing that was bent was the exhaust system and thats straight now, the dealer said it they were to repair it they would do a frame alignment check, i surpose this is where the assessor got it from.

[MR UKI (1)]

Mine was valued at £3,000 and the estimated repair bill by the assessor was £2,000. The exhaust had a fair dent in the end can, so to put back to stock (without cutting the pipework) would have been £700+ for a new standard exhaust system. Told the solicitor this at the time as i was being pressured by family to give up biking, so a write off would have been best option, but it was Cat 'D' and i got it back for £600. Cost £1100 (all cosmetic) to put back on road with the bonus of a Fuel can. Turned out to be the best decision I ever made without knowing it :)

[-Ralph-]

Mine was valued at £3,000 and the estimated repair bill by the assessor was £2,000. The exhaust had a fair dent in the end can, so to put back to stock (without cutting the pipework) would have been £700+ for a new standard exhaust system. Told the solicitor this at the time as i was being pressured by family to give up biking, so a write off would have been best option, but it was Cat 'D' and i got it back for £600. Cost £1100 (all cosmetic) to put back on road with the bonus of a Fuel can. Turned out to be the best decision I ever made without knowing it :)

Full respect for sticking to your guns! :smt023

[MeridiaNx]

Agree with what's been written above about Cat D being fine, as long as enough research is done/price is right/depends on cost of repair.

As it happens, I just bought one myself 3 days ago! Was waiting to get some nice piccies before posting up my new baby. In short, the bike in question was nicked and then recovered. Damage was minimal (dent in tank, scrape on plastics, bent lever) but the owner claimed and the bike was subsequently sold by the insurance company to a dealer. It was then bought by a new owner and nearly everything replaced - new tank, full plastics, new headlight assembly, aftermarket can, chain & sprockets, engine rebuild, new rims and spokes, mirrors, levers, ignition barrel. Then due to needing a different type of bike it was up for sale again and I got it.

So in my case I'm happy with it being Cat D given that someone else has put a lot of work into getting it back into shape leaving it in good nick for me!

[kwak zzr]

sounds like a bargain!