Garage sold us a cat D car..

Hi, we bought a car in Oct 2017, and it's just been in an accident (written off). Insurance co just callied with valuation and told us it was previously written off, in July 2017, a cat D. I think cat D is the lowest (least damage) cat; but I'm curious, is it legal for a garage to sell a cat D car without declaring it is a cat D?

I always thought that a garage had to declare it up front, but a private seller only had to if asked. I could be wrong tho.

I always thought that a garage had to declare it up front, but a private seller only had to if asked. I could be wrong tho.

You would be right. A private seller must tell you if asked but is under no obligation to disclose. A dealer or commercial seller must tell you everything that can affect your buying decision. Of course they might not have known either... but the DfT requires that they take all reasonable steps to check the status of such cars.

Did the garage state that cars are HPI checked? Doesn't a check usually show the cat rating?

I guess you now need to find out what they're offering, but also get in writing that the value for a non CAT D car would be worth.

Then write to the garage and ask for the difference.

Should the person who sold me the vehicle have said it is in Cat D?

If you bought the vehicle from a dealer then they should have told you its insurance status. You may be able to make a claim against them.

 

Private sellers do not have to tell you about the Cat D status. If you ask, they must tell you of any problems they know about — but maybe they didn't know either.

From autotrader, so it's not conclusive, but it seems to be a common theme on most websites that dealers are obliged to inform you.

The car should also have cost less, so if they didn't inform you and you paid full market value then they've defrauded you and you probably have a claim against them.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/safety_and_security_centre/insurance_categories

Did the garage state that cars are HPI checked? Doesn't a check usually show the cat rating?

 

I guess you now need to find out what they're offering, but also get in writing that the value for a non CAT D car would be worth.

 

Then write to the garage and ask for the difference.

Yup - I'd be after the dealer for the difference in the purchase price myself as a minimum.

The insurance co have offered more than what we bought the car for. Should we pay the dealer the difference?

Seriously though, if we had been offered less, we would have pursued for difference. Thanks for the advice.

Lol, if you haven't actually suffered any loss then there's no point in taking action.

Lol, if you haven't actually suffered any loss then there's no point in taking action.

Yeah! I was a bit shocked tbh, after the insurance co said it was cat D, I thought here we go. Assumed they'd offer about 50% of what we payed for it, or worse (you didn't tell us it was cat D, so insurance is invalid). Pleasantly surprised to hear them offer around 15% more than we bought it for!

I'm surprised the insurance didn't pick up on it themselves.

Is there a section which asks if the car is a previous write-off? I can't remember?

I'm surprised the insurance didn't pick up on it themselves.

 

Is there a section which asks if the car is a previous write-off? I can't remember?

Not sure, policy not in my name and I wasn't present when it was taken out over the phone.

The insurance co have offered more than what we bought the car for.

You must be the first person in history to come out on top from both a dealer and insurance claim!