Cat 'd' Lexus Is200 Help Needed Plz

[phunt]

Ive found a car im interested in but the dealer tells me its registered Cat 'd'.

He tells me hes had it hpi checked and it doesnt show up anything in paticuler.ive also rang DVLA and they checket it out for me and couldnt find anything and that there is no police inteest in this vehicle.one thing that does concern me however is that it is an 'S' model but it seems to have all the 'SE' refinements i.e tinted glass,17" alloys half leather interior.its a W reg and has 26,500 miles. and for sale for £8995

Has anybody got any input on my situation,could it be a bargain or a total headache?

thanx in advance

Phunt

[Monster-Mat]

if the results show there is nothing wrong with the car...get it looked at by a lexus dealership

then part with your cash

[Monster-Mat]

phunt........if u put your location in the provided space in your profile....

then i may be able to help a little more!!

[phunt]

Done m8, North West, Cumbria :)

[Monster-Mat]

hmmmmm

well you would live somewhere like that wouldnt you

is the car at a lex dealers or at a private garage

[phunt]

Private garage in cambridgeshire.

[Monster-Mat]

ahha..........

try getting the chassis number, to do a check with lexus, they should be able to tell you about the car, which model etc etc

you could even ask our very own Chris shipley for his advice, him being a partnumber/chassis number expert

it could be the garage selling it, doesnt know what it is, and it actually is a SE model

[javaboss]

Don't touch it.

I wrote my last Lexus off. It was a cat 'D' write off. My main dealer said that the body shell was twisted and they wouldn't put their wife or kids in it. Cat 'D' means that it is uneconomical to repair. It could be put back on the road. However, it would never be as safe as a legit car. IMHO it's just not worth the risk.

Take a look at the pictures of the damage on my website at:

http://www.javaboss.com/news.html

Oh, and the reg number was Y788 JAR - It was put back on the road as the bloke that fixed it for "£1300" came round to my house seeking the service history. There's no way he "fixed" it properly for £1300 if I wrote the thing off with over £14k's worth of damage!

[BESTY]

i wouldnt touch it either,for a couple of grand more and a bit of searching you will get a sport model,i got mine for twelve grand twelve month ago 2000 V :)

[Matthew_McNally]

As someone who had their car written off as a "Category D - beyond economical repair" I would say steer well clear.

you would not want to have my vehicle after it was put back together.

[javaboss]

I agree. There's been talk on here before about people who fix cars like this as okay chaps. Maybe that's the case, but in the end it comes down to how safe you think the car is and what sort of risk you are prepared to put on your saftey and safety of others you transport in the car. Personally, I'd rather have an older car that was legit. You may also have trouble selling the car on yourself.

[phunt]

Well thanx for the replies, im going to veiw it tommorow,im taking a m8 who knows wat to look for and if its ok im gonna take it.theyve offered me £750 and the lex for my mazda 6 :) gonna gut me letting it go for that seing as i paid £13k for the mazda 4 months ago but im looking at it with the veiw that what car prices the lex at £13500 :)

[Steve ( West Mids )]

They are valuing you car at about £9500. Don't be misled - they are trying to make money not make you happy.

I would not touch the car ( as others have said previous ) unless I got the previous owner details off the V5 and spoke to them to ascertain the real extent of the damage. If they are valuing it at £9000 approx. then this is saying the insurance assessore reckoned there was about £5500 worth of damage ( 60% ) to it. Just think about it if it's what you wanna do then fine but I would feel sagfer & happier in the Mazda 6.

I have had a couple of serious damage accidents some years ago ( one where every panel including the roof & every bit of glass was damaged ) after it was reapired it just did not feel the same.

Whatever you do don't take it without a thorough AA or RAC type inspection.

[Matthew_McNally]

but im looking at it with the veiw that what car prices the lex at £13500 :)

whatcar carries prices for vehicles that have been written off?

[Bobski]

You could (and if you are definately interested) get an RAC/AA check done on it, which should flag any problems.

If you pay for the better one then they check the thickness of the paint all around the car, which will tell them what panels etc have been repaired.

Personally i wouldnt part with that kind of money without first KNOWING.

B)

[Bazza-old]

ask the dealer how confident he is that it would pass an aa/rac test

say, if he is confident he should pay if it fails

if it passes you pay

if he doesnt want to know walk away

remember £9000 is cheap for a lexus but its still a lot of money to waste

[Matthew_McNally]

heres a list of 18 IS's for less than £9k

[phunt]

yeah but about 90% ov all them cars has 100k+ milage.anyway i found this.

http://www.pistonheads.com/features/images...s/flowchart.gif

looking at this chart does it not mean that a cat d has no more than £2000 worth of damage?

plz help im so undecided :(

[Matthew_McNally]

looking at this chart does it not mean that a cat d has no more than £2000 worth of damage?

my car was written off cat d as beyond economic repair

because it was a 7 week old IS, this meant that the cost to repair had to exceed £13,000

my insurance company reckoned mine could be fixed for £12,000 - so therefore they wanted to fix it.

I won in the end and got a new car

but my car ended up being written off Cat D requiring an insurance company estimate of 12 thousand pounds to repair

plz help im so undecided :(

both javaboss and I are talking from experience off seeing an IS written off as Cat D, and we both say steer clear and find something else.

how much more help do you need?

:P

[Steve]

I would not touch it.

also when it comes to 2 years later when you come to sell it you will get sod all for it.. thats if you actually get to sell it.

i would rather have a car thats done motorway miles and serviced regular as clockwork than something thats been written off.

Sell that mazda for cash.. you'll get more for it

[Monster-Mat]

i see where matt and java boss are coming from, but i have also repaired technical right off cars.

if you like this car , take all the advice given......and if at anypoint you suspect anything...walk away

just because a car is a Cat D right off, it doesnt mean it had £1000, s of pounds worth of damage done to it...all it means is the insurance company deemed it not worth the outlay

i have recently repaired a peugeot 306 diesel.

it was a cat d right off, it cost me £2000 to put the car back on the road, it was jigged, and drives like new

infact when it went into Peugot, they could find no signe of ther repairs carried out..

which included, new left hand side

new roof skin

2 new doors

new bootlid

new bonnet

new wings

both bumpers

new radiator

whole new ecu and fuse box

new aircon pipes,condenser and compressor

the person who bought the car...is still totally happy with the car, and has no worries knowing the car was a previous right off

what i suggest is you take every possible measure to fully check the cars history and condition.........

[phunt]

Well ive just been offered this as a straight swap for the mazda :-

1999 LEXUS IS 2.0 S 4dr Saloon

Metallic Granite sky. 35,300 miles. Private plate, FSH, Tax Jun 04, MOT Mar 04. Climate control A/C, ABS, Trac control, PAS, Alloy wheels, chrome exhaust finish, Mud flaps, Multi CD, Elec windows/mirrors, Remote Central locking and alarm, Front and rear fog lights, rear spoiler. Immaculate through out. House forces reluctant sale. 35300 miles. £10500

do youse think this a better option?

[Steve]

not bad offer i guess... at least its not been written off

[UKPulse]

I'd sell the Mazda-6 privately and go for the Granite Sky 35K miler - particularly as it's got FSH, T&T until 2004 and is described as immaculate throughout.

The extra you get with a private sale will offset the higher price of the 'clean' Lex, and you'll have that added peace of mind.

I see what Supra' is saying, and it's a good point - there are mechanics out there who'll do a fantastic job of restoring a car. I guess your problem here is that you just don't know the cars history - i.e. what was dmaged, how badly, and anything about who repaired it

[NigeSt]

CatDee? Seen her on Saturday morning TV. Seems alright to me....