Cat D car

[haggis catcher]

Just a question. Would you buy a Cat D Elise ?

[pete]

Yes.

Well I suppose "it depends" is closer to it. It wouldn't bother me provided it was fixed properly and it could be proved and I'd expect to get it cheap.

[Mikie711]

Em, yes in fact I did. If the damage is in the right place and not to severe then, with a Lotus at least, it's a relatively easy repair.

edit: just to add, if I were to do it again I might even actually go and see the car before buying it, unlike AU55

[foz01]

it depends, as long as you know what your looking at, as in really know!

The old, was only clam damage chestnut is rolled out all the time but the reality is normally far from that!

[Corranga]

There was a pretty off putting car on SELOC recently, where the guy bought it, and 6 or so months later discovered some really bad sill damage (as in chassis replacement bad..) and that was after having an expert look the car over (damage covered by sill panel and clams...)

BUT

I'd say that could happen with any car, CAT registered or not. If nothing else, the CAT registration makes people go in with there eyes open, and lets you know that there was damage.

Too many CAT cars come up for strong money, they should be a considerable amount below the cost of non CAT registered ones.

Plus you'll probably find that the ones that are likely to buy them are people that have been around here for a while, and maybe have less fear - rather than first time Lotus owners, so the resale market is reduced accordingly.

So, in summary, I would strongly consider it, if its the right car and the right price, more so if its a more desirable / rarer model, S160, Exige 260 Cup, S1 Exige etc. as that would help in the resale market, but I'd have someone with greater expertise than me have a good look over it first.

[j2 lot]

Probably not - for most of the reasons above. They are often not that much cheaper so risk of dodgy repair and what that would cost vs what you save up front isn't worth it. I'd hold out for a straight car.

[ClarkyBoy]

I would,

As long as youbknownthe history etc.

There will come a point where most of them have had a scuff of some sort and insurance companies seem more and more willing to write a car off now that may have been repaired had it happened a few years ago. Light damage to an elise that means replacements clams etc. Could easily cause a write off when technically the damage is only cosmentic.

So yes, but make sure you know the history!

[Dark]

The SELOC horror story is here:
http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=398592

As said above history is everything. If the rebuild was carried out by a respected individual or company and the rebuild history was well documented then I might consider it. However if the rebuild was done properly then you're unlikely to see much of a discount against non-CAT car which might hurt come resale time. If the car / spec / price looks too good to be true then there's normally a reason!

[tut]

A lot of people including me, do not realise that in some cases the CAT letter does not mean anything, and can have no bearing on the condition of the car.

N1 TUT was classed as B which was ridiculous as there was no chassis damage as was assumed, just a clam and wishbone. That meant that it could only be bid for at auction by a licenced dealer, and went for far less than it was worth.

N3 TUT however was assessed as CAT D with virtually no examination as both clamshells needed replacing, so it was not economical to repair and they paid out the full market value replacement. They were not obliged to look any further as I found out when I challenged them, it is purely down to economics. I bought it back cheaply and sold it on to Luca with no idea of the condition underneath it was actually in. The rear subframe had rusted away, the Nitrons were knackered and had two broken springs, the chassis was pierced and had a flap partly ripped off, the upper wishbone mount had detached from the chassis, the jacking point had been pushed into the chassis, and it now turns out that the floor and chassis steel components were badly corroded.

I think that Luca gave up on it, but saw from a post that he may be trying again and was asking about corrosion treatment.

So N1 should have been a CAT D and N3 a CAT B- from the actual damage done, you have no indication of the actual damage in some cases without an inspection, so could be buying blind.

tut

[mwmackenzie]

My S1 was a Cat D, was propperly checked out pre purchace and it was just a rear clam repair that was found so I bid the guy low as he said he'd no idea it was a damaged repaired car, got it at a great price after leaving him to stew on it for over a week, once he realised I was the only person interested he accepted £500 more than my bid which incidently was thousands less than it was advertised for!

I was delighted with the car to say the least and devastated to sell and regret that to this day!

[haggis catcher]

Thanks for advice guys. The reason I ask is that the car im looking at has been up for sale for a while. It got me to thinking why it had not sold by now. The garage that is selling it is no means a back door garage, and has good quality cars for sale. However the thing that puts me off is if I bought it, I might not be able to move it on again. I have once already been in that position when I owned a Marcos V6 Coupe. Every dealer refused to trade my car in, against the cars they had for sale. Eventually I sold the car for three thousand pounds less than I wanted for it. So I am keen not to go down that road again.
I have asked the dealer who is selling the Lotus im interested in for some history on the damage the car had, but still awaiting a reply. Im also interested to think what he may offer me for my S1 Elise.
Does anyone really know what the trade price on a 1999 S1 Elise would be?

[woody]

Any more details on your S1 for a better idea? With these cases it depends a lot in who the garage is; specialist or not. WillB should be able to give you a good idea & he's usually looking for stock.

I'd be looking at who is selling a catD lotus; there are a free places who do regularly but have a very poor reputation.

[van cleef]

I bought a 53 plate cat D 111s which had front clam damage and the the good thing there is no stone chips on the front of the car. I had the car looked over when I bought it, and apart from the usual wear and tear consumables the mechanic couldn't see or tell that the car had been damaged in the past.

I picked the car up with a hard top, 54K miles on it, and loads of history for less than 10 grand so it's worked out for me.

[haggis catcher]

Any more details on your S1 for a better idea? With these cases it depends a lot in who the garage is; specialist or not. WillB should be able to give you a good idea & he's usually looking for stock.

I'd be looking at who is selling a catD lotus; there are a free places who do regularly but have a very poor reputation.

I do know the places who do have a bad reputation.

[haggis catcher]

I decided not to go down that road with this Elise. There is no photos, or history of damage repaired to the car. All they no about the car is it had a front impact.
Its a hame as it does look nice, and im sure it would have brought a better smile to my face on the road.


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