CAT D SL60

[rockits]

Mercedes SL60 R129 V8 AMG AMGplate | eBay

Thought this one was a little interesting. How does an SL60 that cost circa £100k in 1997 become a CAT D write off in 2000 for 'minor damage'?

Would have been worth what circa £50k at 3 years old? That is one expensive 'minor' claim isn't it?

 

[Sam87]

Shame it was written off, such a rare car....
I know where that garage is, he's been fixing Mercedes for the past 20+ years

 

[Will]

I would tend to agree for a mainstream car but it’s feasible on an SL60 I guess if there was a particular part that was unavailable or on back order etc at the time.

Cat-D over a C would suggest the repair costs would have viable but the vehicle wasn’t repaired. In other words - any other SL60 out there could have had repairs in the past of similar claim value and not been recorded at all.

The MoT history speaks for itself and it’s being sold by a respected Marque specialist in London so aside from the claim against it 18 years ago it could be a decent car.

Nice plate too

 

[rockits]

Agreed that it could well be a decent car. The plate isn't included I don't think and was for sale separately as I'm sure I saw a previous as for this car that stated this.

Would be interesting to know the damage and why it was deemed more viable to write off. It would have meant a total claim of upto the value of the car. So either the ancillary or associated costs were going to be huge or the repairs were or both combined. Either way it would have needed to have been maybe a 30-40k claim which is a fair bit. That is a lot of hire car charges if not repair costs.

 

[Will]

Agreed that it could well be a decent car. The plate isn't included I don't think and was for sale separately as I'm sure I saw a previous as for this car that stated this.

Would be interesting to know the damage and why it was deemed more viable to write off. It would have meant a total claim of upto the value of the car. So either the ancillary or associated costs were going to be huge or the repairs were or both combined. Either way it would have needed to have been maybe a 30-40k claim which is a fair bit. That is a lot of hire car charges if not repair costs.

SL60 amg 1997/p amg plate included

valuable AMG605L number plate included

Pretty sure it includes the plate

Regards the claim - could have been anything from a specific ‘HWA’ numbered AMG part (eg a bumper or wheel or something like that which could have been unavailable at the time) right up to a full on heavy impact etc - without pictures or a detailed inspection etc it would be hard to know.

In theory could have been £2k or £20k worth, but less than the pre-accident value. If you buy it expecting the worst then you can’t be disappointed. Maybe a call to the garage would reveal more - I suspect it would be a decent car if a Mercedes specialist garage have bought it, they’d know what they are buying and what to look for

Being realistic - even your ‘55k could have ended up recorded if you’d claimed against it. With brand new MB parts (bumper/lights/grille etc) and replacing every last clip/trim plus insurance bodywork rates it’s easy to see how cars get markers on them for sometimes relatively minor damage.

I would say one thing though - 99% of categorised cars claim to have suffered light damage, but when browsing the salvage cars pre-repair there’s some quite badly damaged stuff too so it’s a bit of a gamble if you don’t inspect/fix it yourself or get to see photos etc of the damage.

 

[rockits]

Pretty sure it includes the plate

Regards the claim - could have been anything from a specific ‘HWA’ numbered AMG part (eg a bumper or wheel or something like that which could have been unavailable at the time) right up to a full on heavy impact etc - without pictures or a detailed inspection etc it would be hard to know.

In theory could have been £2k or £20k worth, but less than the pre-accident value. If you buy it expecting the worst then you can’t be disappointed. Maybe a call to the garage would reveal more - I suspect it would be a decent car if a Mercedes specialist garage have bought it, they’d know what they are buying and what to look for

Being realistic - even your ‘55k could have ended up recorded if you’d claimed against it. With brand new MB parts (bumper/lights/grille etc) and replacing every last clip/trim plus insurance bodywork rates it’s easy to see how cars get markers on them for sometimes relatively minor damage.

I would say one thing though - 99% of categorised cars claim to have suffered light damage, but when browsing the salvage cars pre-repair there’s some quite badly damaged stuff too so it’s a bit of a gamble if you don’t inspect/fix it yourself or get to see photos etc of the damage.

Agreed about the plate...I stand corrected. I think I must have been thinking about another car.

I guess the market is fairly small with that plate. I understood there to be circa 300 RHD global and 49/50 Euro RHD SL60's. Not sure how many globally LHD. I guess this is a UK plate so very small marketplace so reduces the value a fair bit I guess.

Will see if I can find out the damage details but also keen on not wasting people's time as that isn't fair IMHO. I don't think it is a car for me really. I would consider a CAT D but not on such a rare car as an SL60.

 

[Wolfie1]

Is it just me or is the rev counter squint?

 

[rockits]

Is it just me or is the rev counter squint?

Nothing wrong with your eyes....it is asquif. They are all like that and supposed to be out of the factory. My old SL60 was as well. Can't remember why now.

 

[Wolfie1]

Nothing wrong with your eyes....it is asquif. They are all like that and supposed to be out of the factory. My old SL60 was as well. Can't remember why now.

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 37751]

In reality, the markets Cat D and Cat C are a nonsense - I’ve seen Cat C’s with a light scratch and Cat D’s where you can’t even tell which car manufacturer it is...

 

[Petrol Pete]

The 'squint' rev counter. Any more info on this ? I am intrigued as to why someone like MB would purposely put the rev counter in on the pi$$

 

[BTB 500]

The 'squint' rev counter. Any more info on this ? I am intrigued as to why someone like MB would purposely put the rev counter in on the pi$$

That would have been AMG rather than MB. The cluster is identical to my '97 SL500, apart from the rev counter being straight on that

 

[Will]

In reality, the markets Cat D and Cat C are a nonsense - I’ve seen Cat C’s with a light scratch and Cat D’s where you can’t even tell which car manufacturer it is...

Hence the change to the new system, S and N I believe (Structural and Non-structural), which in theory makes it easier to identify more heavily damaged vehicles regardless of the repair costs relative to vehicle value at the time.

But on the old system it almost always came down to money at the end of the day, whatever the reason. This car is a good example of a Cat-D vehicle that could have suffered extensive damage due to its value before the claim - whereas if it were 10+ years old at the time of a claim with the same damage the repairs could have been more than the pre-accident value hence a Cat-C marker applied instead - same damage same car different marker due to the age/value only.

And if same damage had been repaired under insurance - no marker at all of course, which would be quite possible for a 3 year old SL60 - no one would be any the wiser.

I think there was/still is scope for error though as humans make the judgement and I guess mistakes can be made. I’ve heard it rumoured too that it’s not been unknown for insurers to categorise some (higher value) vehicles more lightly than you’d expect for the damage to maximise salvage resale value...! Not sure if it’s true or not but I guess financially it would benefit those dealing with them. There’s got to be times where the thresholds are close for the various categories so some discretion must be involved.

It’s a shame when nice cars like this get a marker against them though. I wonder how it would do over in Europe - do they recognise the UK register for damaged vehicles? Other option would be to have it assessed by the Autolign scheme - this removes the C/D marker and registers the vehicle as condition ‘Inspected’ if all is as it should be.

Having said all that, if the car is straight it only really matters if you’re buying it or selling it, who cares what marker was applied to it 18 years ago. I’m sure most of these have had some sort of paint and restoration work now after 20+ years. If you want a 60 to drive/use it could be perfect

 

[d w124]

How much was it??

 

[Will]

It was £30k (£29,995)

 

[rockits]

Who bought it?

 

[zipdip]

Well we are talking about a Cat D around 2000,lets suppose it was two wings a front bumper a rad and the bonnet,the insurance company have to fit new parts,and although now we say what a rare car how desirable,back then it was losing money fast,I wonder what the value of it was in 2000,I suspect around what was being asked by the dealer in the advert

 

[Will]

Well we are talking about a Cat D around 2000,lets suppose it was two wings a front bumper a rad and the bonnet,the insurance company have to fit new parts,and although now we say what a rare car how desirable,back then it was losing money fast,I wonder what the value of it was in 2000,I suspect around what was being asked by the dealer in the advert

Quite correct - now let’s say it was something like the AMG bumper on back order or something like that. Easier and quicker for the insurance company to cut their losses and salvage the value back on the car if the salvage+repair costs are similar to the payout for the car.

I can’t remember what they categorised stolen/recovered vehicles back then either. Funny enough a member on here had a silver SL60 stolen in London which wasn’t recovered until after the insurance had paid out IIRC. It was some time ago - 10+ years I think.

 

[alabbasi]

I'm a salvage dealer and buy a lot of cars that were written off and repair them myself. They don't have to be hurt really badly to be written off. Insurance jobs a considerably more than private work so the repair estimate could be quite high, especially if new parts are used. The insurance company would typically work out if the pay out is less than the cost of repair + cost of the salvage. If it is, then they'll write it off and sell the car themselves.

If you really want it, get it checked out by a body shop that's familiar with these cars. They'll tell you if it was repaired well.

 

[Doodle]

I can’t remember what they categorised stolen/recovered vehicles back then either. Funny enough a member on here had a silver SL60 stolen in London which wasn’t recovered until after the insurance had paid out IIRC. It was some time ago - 10+ years I think.

Stolen/recovered was/is Cat X.

I'm a salvage dealer and buy a lot of cars that were written off and repair them myself. They don't have to be hurt really badly to be written off. Insurance jobs a considerably more than private work so the repair estimate could be quite high, especially if new parts are used.

IIRC the reverse is true here - insurance companies negotiate preferential rates with bodyshops that are far less than Joe Public will get charged.