My weapon of choice

[C.A.R.]

Don't know why we're all trying to steer him towards some dodgey Cat C Mondeo though, that's a very, very bad idea unless you know the extent of the damage / what was repaired in finite detail...

Don't be daft Chris! It's had to have a VIC check to go back on the road so it can't be that bad. Far better than buying any other Car that could of had a smash the insurance weren't told about and was repaired on the cheap by some back street bodger.

IIRC Aimees Astor hasn't ever been an official write off but if you know what your looking for you can tell its had a massive front end shunt as its had a whole new chassis leg welded on and you don't know what sort of muppet has done the welding.

Yea but a Cat C will always make it difficult to sell on in future, you'll never know the true extent of the damage / what was done to get it back on the road etc. A VIC test is fine, but think of all the deathtraps which still get away with an MOT every year and are still on the road...It'd still put me off.

My GTi6 was a Cat D car and that was reflected in the price, but I had nothing but problems with it. Windscreen was ever-so slightly scratched up which bugged me, car bloody broke down on the way from buying it, turned out that it had sat with no oil in it after the accident had smashed a hole in the sump...It was sold to me on the premise that the only damage was the bumper / slam panel. Because it had no oil in while it was sat in the yard and driven to the auction block, the damage was done. Even though the garage (who don't have a great reputation as it is) put a new sump on her they didn't check the bottom end and it was the route of the problem.

So yea, I will go out on a limb and say that as a result of one very bad experience, I wouldn't buy another insurance write-off unless I new the car inside-out! Oh, and provided it was dirt cheap and I had no intention of selling it on again but running it into the ground...