My cat B car so far!

[toehold]

As some of you might have read in another topic on this forum I bought the cat B car that had been discussed a couple of months ago. Here are a couple of pics when I got it.

Here are 2 recent ones as you can see I have had the wheels restored in black diamond cut and changed the number to "slow knob"! Some might prefer the originals but they needed restoring and I like black rims, each to their own.

I paid £3500 for it and as soon as I could I took the car into Ian at 123 Works (he is 3 miles from my home) for a full service and the once over. All he could find like myself was that the car had work done to the drivers front inner and outer wing. All the door shuts and panel gaps are spot on and it drives like a new car! There are 1 or 2 very small spots of rust other than that it is in great condition inside and out. He sorted out the air con which needed a couple of parts other than that it needed nothing doing above the service.

I have changed some things besides the wheels firstly the original headrests had built in monitors as it has a separate DVD system with remote headphones installed but the leather was the wrong colour.

I got amongst several other things a new steering wheel off eBay in Germany £150 as the original had the silver leather missing, chrome rings for the Speedo and a new plastic front as mine had a crack in it. A new maple facia trim strip as the original had stress marks where someone had been forcing it off again off eBay for £15. New AMG mats, door pins and pedals, a new centre armrest in leather and maple to put my phone in £100. Also I had a Becker that I had not used recently that I installed after getting the latest navigation SD card and updated software disc off eBay in Germany for £50. It is the Becker 7945 Pro which has voice recognition Bluetooth phone IPod adaptor CD player etc and once understood is a great unit that looks nice and original when fitted.

I bought a new AMG shift knob and a chrome bezel around the bottom of the shifter.

Also put a set of K and N filters in.

So far so good, the car really is spot on only thing not working is a rear electric window that I will need to look at. I have no idea why the car has been a cat B but it drives great and Ian gave it a thorough looking over when he serviced it and found nothing amiss. I have had several damaged repaired cars the last being a low mileage water damaged BMW E90 M5 so far I have been lucky and as you buy them cheap/cheaper you must sell them likewise and I have always manged to resell them quite easily.

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[Mudster]

Did you have a problem insuring the car?

I was of the understanding you had to declare the category at time of quote?

 

[timk]

Car looks nice but I thought Cat B cars are very badly damaged beyond safe repair and have to be broken for spares by a licensed breaker?

Cat C and Cat D are damaged but beyond economical repair and thus written off but fully repairable and can be legally sold on...

* Cat A: vehicle must never go back on the road, and no parts of it may be reused.
* Cat B: as Cat A but parts can be reused.
* Cat C: can be repaired and put back on the road but it must be inspected by VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) before being used on the road. VOSA will issue a Certificate if the VIC (Vehicle Identification Check) test is passed.
* Cat D: very light damage but uneconomical to repair as the car is probably worth very little. The car can be put back on the road, and it may not need a VIC test as any damage is usually cosmetic.

 

[BULLITTBOSS]

I am wondering this as previous post said cat b used for parts only and not allowed back on road,these vehicles are normally purchased by breakers yards as spares,with understanding that they are not allowed to be sold on,also breakers yard has to supply images of crushed bodyshell,with vin number,dvla will not issue replacement v5 when applied for.
Richard

 

[trapperjohn]

DVLA has just done a reg plate transfer so everthing must be above board as far as they are concerned.
Great looking car toehold. "SIL" plates are used mainly by Silver Service private hire cars in our neck of the woods as I'm sure you know. Cannot see them running a 55 or a 210 tho.

 

[Mudster]

I am wondering this as previous post said cat b used for parts only and not allowed back on road,these vehicles are normally purchased by breakers yards as spares,with understanding that they are not allowed to be sold on,also breakers yard has to supply images of crushed bodyshell,with vin number,dvla will not issue replacement v5 when applied for.
Richard

I can only assume (and this is a guess) that this car has been wrongly categorised and is in fact a C or D with the DVLA but is a B on HPi.....

I don't think it's too far fetched to have an administrative error. I am genuinely interested how the OP got it insured.

 

[Vlad]

Toehold.....is it really a CAT B?

 

[moonloops]

Toehold.....is it really a CAT B?

Hope not and it's a mistake - CAT B is when it is too dangerous to repair..

Here's the text I found on it:

"A vehicle from which spare parts may be salvaged, but the bodyshell should have been crushed and the car should never return to the road."

 

[Adam230K]

That cant be a Cat B...

 

[toehold]

When I bought the car it had just been sold I think to a chap on this forum who posted a topic of "buyer beware" with the registration number showing as he had done an HPI and it was indeed classed as a cat B. He had taken the car back to the dealer Sovereign Trading and got his money back. I bought the car over the phone for £500 less than they were asking because it was a cat B. The DVLA would not give me any info as I was not the registered keeper.

My thoughts were if it was dangerous or illegal at worst I could sell parts from it and not be out of pocket. I had the car delivered and was amazed at how good it was and could only find repaired accident damage on the front drivers wing? Once the car was in my name I rang the DVLA to find the car is not registered as any category and has never needed a VIC check. They say it shows in their records as having been damaged but not enough for any category. They say I can sell the car as such and I should try and find out through HPI which insurance company had provided them with the details showing cat B as this was in error. They assured me that I did not have to insure the car as a cat anything and would be doing nothing illegal in trying to sell the car as anything but a straight one.

I am very surprised the dealer and the guy off here did not pursue this with the DVLA as there is no way this car has ever been written off. So for once I have had a little bit of good luck I bought a very nice 81,000 mile E55 with lots of extras and DVD system with expensive good tread tyres and a full MOT for £3,000 without seeing it. But believe me I have had lots and lots of nice cars (check my profile on Pistonheads under "Barefoot") and this is the 1st time I have been lucky!

 

[d w124]

The car looks very nice,i can see you`ve also changed the steering wheel to the facelift one.Just one thing though,what`s that white car on the garage?

 

[toehold]

A quick update I found the original topic re "buyer beware" and have copied it below bloody hell they were asking £5250 for it and notice the original buyers comment "This car looked and drove lovely.....as thought the car was fantastic"



I just thought I would make anyone aware of this low mileage and fully kitted out example...!!!

I saw this car in Sussex prior to buying my E55 and this car looked and drove lovely was up for £5,250ono at the time - I put a deposit down on the car as thought the car was fantastic.

Got home and did a HPI check - car is a Cat B , rang up HPI and spent much time going through all the possibilities but the bottom line was the car was a Cat B so just wanted to warn anyone in case they were tempted to do a deal.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1680763.htm

Regards,

Harry

 

[harry_dhuga]

I can only assume (and this is a guess) that this car has been wrongly categorised and is in fact a C or D with the DVLA but is a B on HPi.....

I don't think it's too far fetched to have an administrative error. I am genuinely interested how the OP got it insured.

I went to see this car put a deposit on it only to learn that it was a Cat B and did pay extra to HPI to clarify that it indeed was a Cat B or was it a Cat C and maybe been put down wrong?

The result was the same it is a Cat B - as this was gonna be used to take my little one to nursery, there is no way I would have risked it regardless of the the condition.

Bottom line is you have to declare this to your insurers and as far as I know they won't cover a Cat B car to be driven on public roads.

 

[harry_dhuga]

The car looks very nice,i can see you`ve also changed the steering wheel to the facelift one.Just one thing though,what`s that white car on the garage?

Look's like a E30 M3 perhaps a Evo version..??

 

[d w124]

Look's like a E30 M3 perhaps a Evo version..??

That`s what i thought

 

[toehold]

The white car is my E30 M3 road registered track car here is a link from Pistonheads if you scroll down the 1st page to my post as "barefoot" lots of pics and history of what I have done to it.

E30 M3 2.3 with a few extras=

 

[gurpz]

Nice car you got there. I see your car has factory fitted xenons and in pic 2 the lense looks clear however in pic 4 the lense has fogged up (as they do). Give the lense a good polish and it should come up new again

 

[d w124]

The white car is my E30 M3 road registered track car here is a link from Pistonheads if you scroll down the 1st page to my post as "barefoot" lots of pics and history of what I have done to it.

E30 M3 2.3 with a few extras=

Very nice mate thnx for the link

 

[toehold]

Harry

I hope you did not mind me copy and pasting your original quote, I have a 5 year old son and am of the same mind. As soon as I got the car I and a trader friend who owns a body shop gave the car a good looking over. I then took it out and gave it some stick and it performed very well in all handling breaking departments as well as leaving his E46 M3 behind! As soon as the log book was in my name I rang the DVLA. Obviously realising now you never owned the car you could not have done that but Sovereign would have saved some money if they had bothered as they gave the car away.

 

[harry_dhuga]

Harry

I hope you did not mind me copy and pasting your original quote, I have a 5 year old son and am of the same mind. As soon as I got the car I and a trader friend who owns a body shop gave the car a good looking over. I then took it out and gave it some stick and it performed very well in all handling breaking departments as well as leaving his E46 M3 behind! As soon as the log book was in my name I rang the DVLA. Obviously realising now you never owned the car you could not have done that but Sovereign would have saved some money if they had bothered as they gave the car away.

Hi, no problem at all - even now I still say it was a nice looking car which performed just fine when I drove it but I just didn't want to take any risk with regards to the Cat B write off business.