Please do share your thoughts. I understand one thing to look out for as a proper repair certificate from a thatcham engineer??
In a word, safety. Modern cars are designed to be safe if crashed once; they're not designed to be crashed and repaired. If you buy a new car, you're putting your faith in Euro NCAP testing and the manufacturer's quality assurance program; if you buy a structurally repaired car, all that goes out of the window and you're putting your faith in whoever carried out the work. Modern materials have greatly improved the structural stength of lightweight steel structures, but that has been at the expense of using types of steel which lose much of that strength if deformed and reshaped.
It's particuarly personal to me because Ladykitching was once involved in a head on accident in which she only just survived, and that was in a modern, undamaged car with all the safety systems working as they should. It would have only taken one part of that safety system to have been slightly compromised and she would have lost her life. Something as simple as a previously bent and repaired chassis leg, or a seatbelt pretensioner which didn't fire at the correct time, and she would likely have died that day.
I can understand the appeal of a cheap newish car, but some things are beyond price.
The existing system is flawed because at the present time there is no way of telling whether a written off car has suffered damage to any part of the safety structure. There's a world of difference between a written off car with a repaired cracked plastic bumper, and a written off car with repaired slam panel damage. Also the system is only voluntary (though most insurers will comply); an example of the kind of issues which can arise if the guidelines aren't followed can be found
here.
The new rules will help to identify those written off where the structure has been damaged, but IMO they do not go far enough. Cars not written off will still not be recorded in any way, so subsequent buyers have no easy way of finding out if their prospective purchase has repaired structural damage. Buyers of prereg cars also need to be on their guard as cars damaged in transit have been known to be registered, repaired and sold on that way.
Personally I won't buy any new or newish car which shows any evidence of paint repair; I'd rather walk away from a good one than be stuck with a lemon. If I ever were to buy something properly expensive, I'd go over it with a paint thickness gauge before accepting delivery.
I would like to see the law changed so that any car that has ever been structurally damaged has that fact permanently recorded on the registration document. That way, subsequent buyers can make an informed choice.
Now let's talk about the effect on value. Consider a '16 plate Panda TA Lounge with 10k on the clock and fsh. WBAC will offer you £6100 for that if unrecorded; change the status to Cat D and the offer drops to £3415; that's almost 45% less.
You'll need to find a private buyer if you want to get much in the way of a resale price, and most private buyers will walk away as soon as they see the Cat D tag. Also if you're unfortunate enough to have the car written off again, you won't be getting a lot in the way of an insurance payout, even if it's not your fault.
