How much would you value this car at?

[jb007]

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... 08#1505108

Thats my FS thread, I have yet to put a price and i'm really struggling to value this car. I don't want to give it away and I don't want to rip anyone off, I want to sell for whats its worth.

Im tempted to say £2,500 for example but is that way too much for the car based on the CAT C, despite its on 52,000 miles? I don't want to look an idiot and in the same token I don't want to say £1,000 and feel i've given it away.

Im not working at the minute so funds and tight and I need this money so obviously looking to get as much as I realistically can. The car is only advertised here, im away if it was on ebay I might get more etc but I want to sell to a club member, someone who will enjoy it and less chance of me being messed around.

Your the experts on the MK1, so if you were hypothetically looking to buy this car how much would you offer? Please give me your opinion it would be much appreciated.

Jon

[kaiowas]

If I was looking at a 'good looking' an n/a UK car I'd be expecting to pay somewhere between 1-2k. with the exact price point dictated by how solid it is underneath and I'd only determine that by ignoring what the seller is telling me about it's condition/history and inspecting the car myself in all of the places that I've learnt to look at over the years

[Lauren]

You'll never get 2.5K. Unfortunately though it's low mileage it's a Cat C.

Whilst I understand that it's not difficult to make an MR2 a Cat C it's worse than a Cat D.

That is the big issue IMO.

Your lower estimate is nearer the mark IMO. Sorry.

[jb007]

Im greatful for the replies and the honesty.

Just in VIC tests and tax and mots and new tyres it owes me £500 so its bad news indeed.

I was originally thinking £1,500/750 odd but then saw cars with double the mileage for 2K etc. Yes it looks like the CAT C is the gift that keeps on giving I would sell for £1500, I owe my step dad 1k and that leaves 500 for next months rent!

Im guessing the koni suspension would be worth more if I was to break the car but it would be a shame to break the car up, its time I dont have tbh.

[SuperRedMR2]

When I saw the photo posted on the advert I thought "wow" I then read about the CAT C - I wouldn't buy it based on that due to insurance costs would go up".

I then looked at further pictures on your photobucket profile -

Rust and scuffs on the front and rear arches and rust on the screen.

I bought my mk1b 7 years ago with 64k in better condition than this for £1700.

If you put it on eBay I reckon you'd get £1500 for it - the rarity of the colour may get you more interest as well. You'd have to spend at least 1k getting the rust and scuffs sorted.

I considered breaking mine when my engine blew up and for the hassle it would cause me to take it apart in my driveway it would have given me roughly the same amount anyway.

Sorry.

[jb007]

When I saw the photo posted on the advert I thought "wow" I then read about the CAT C - I wouldn't buy it based on that due to insurance costs would go up".

I then looked at further pictures on your photobucket profile -

Rust and scuffs on the front and rear arches and rust on the screen.

I bought my mk1b 7 years ago with 64k in better condition than this for £1700.

If you put it on eBay I reckon you'd get £1500 for it - the rarity of the colour may get you more interest as well. You'd have to spend at least 1k getting the rust and scuffs sorted.

Sorry.

Thank you for your reply. Based on what I thought in my head and what im reading now, id be happy with £1500 ish.

Insurance doesn't seem to be a problem though as I currently insure it for £20 a month, 200 a year and I have some points etc. I seem to hear mixed stories about peoples experiences with insuring a CAT C/D, but I thought £200 for me was quite good.

[PeteP]

£200 is not much more than I pay as a 44 year old with clean licence and 4 years NCD.

The Cat C is going to be the big problem though. I'm intrigued as to why it was C and not D, given that the damage was sorted easily and you got the VIC.

The industry needs to get itself sort over these cars because if it has had an official clean bill of health (which we pay handsomely for) then why would it matter what has been done to it? We don't forever mention MoT fails if the work has been done. Money making scheme by the government and insurers, I reckon.

[kaiowas]

£200 is not much more than I pay as a 44 year old with clean licence and 4 years NCD.

The Cat C is going to be the big problem though. I'm intrigued as to why it was C and not D, given that the damage was sorted easily and you got the VIC.

The industry needs to get itself sort over these cars because if it has had an official clean bill of health (which we pay handsomely for) then why would it matter what has been done to it? We don't forever mention MoT fails if the work has been done. Money making scheme by the government and insurers, I reckon.

Cat C and D relate to the estimated cost of repair compared to the value of the car (I think Cat D is above a certain %age of the cars value, Cat C is above 100% although don't quote me on that!). Both should be largely irrelevant on old, cheap cars like these as the thresholds are so easily exceeded with minor bodywork repairs. The issue lies with the public perception of cars which are on the register. Many people simply won't entertain buying them (either due to misconceptions about the assumed state of the car itself or concerns over resale value), others will buy them but expect to pay next to nothing for them.

In reality you could have a low value Cat C car which has had significantly less damage repaired than a much more valuable car which isn't on the register at all!

CAT B is where things get serious though, if it's Cat A or B is where the damage is serious enough that repair is not permitted and the car must be scrapped.

As someone who tends to run their cars into the ground (and is therefore not concerned with resale value) I'd have no problem buying a Cat C/D if there was sufficient evidence (documentation/photos) of the extent of the damage and the quality of the repair but I'd expect to pay less for it

[andyj]

Important to realise VIC is Vehicle Identity Check and has nothing to do with inspection of repair or validation of road worthiness. It checks things like the chassis and engine number, looking for signs of tampering on the serial number plates. It's to prevent stolen cars being given a new identity from a written off car.

I recently repaired a Cat C write off and had VIC on a vehicle. Insurance renewal premium identical but insurance company warned any future payouts discounted by 25% as they've already written it off once. VIC cost £40 and took 5 mins. They didn't want to see any receipts for repair or any details of the damage. Unlike MOT though, they won't let you watch it.

The fact that insurance companies value them less perhaps partly explains the lower market value.

[un1eash]

Cat C/D doesn't affect insurance, mines a Cat C now from a small bump in the drivers side rear arch.

To get near £2k and above you need to have rust free body work which is solid underneath and have the mechanics sorted.

I plan to run mine into the ground, break it and replace it with a mk3.

PS. It also has blue interior which isn't popular.

[jb007]

Looks like a job for ebay then...

And yes it was written off to cat c based on the wheels also, total cost was far over book price so they made it cat c. The inspection took 3 mins and didnt cover the mechanics which were unharmed. The whole thing felt wrong at thet time and despite being at non fault you end up suffering anyway, its still not over!

Im going to advertise it on my s2000 forum as a bit of fun for someone and also ebay. What puts me off ebay is the amount of time wasters/tyre kickers and test pilots that a £1500 car attracts Thats why I paid for premium membership to advertise here, hoping I would be able to sell to someone decent who knows the cars well.

Also the VIC test was a bit of a joke, was it stolen no, has the VIN been tamperered with or anything dodgy gone on, no! OK heres your car now you can tax it Its all about the money, thats it

[Lee H]

Cat C and D does effect the insurance. If you read the small print a lot of companies won't over cat C or D cars but don't ask you the question when you get the quote, it's up to you to disclose.

My Type R is cat C and Esure quoted me £420 insurance, however discovered they don't insure cat C or D cars so had to go with third cheapest quote at £550!

[stenky]

I love UK! I'll move there just for mr2s

Rust free AW11's in here are extremely rare and i threw 5.000EUR in the bin for the current one. Previous rust bucket was 2.000EUR and completely useless.

[un1eash]

I've never had any problems with my Cat C mk1. I've always been with Admiral and when It was written of they required a VIC check and engineers report to insure it again.

[chrismanchr]

as far as I thought the cat c/d only affects insurance if its written off again as its already been paid off as a write off ,it doesnt mean the premium is higher ,its a dam shame ,and also the cars history is supposed to be destroyed and a vic check done , when you buy a car thats just been written off as cat c/d you get nothing with it lol ,personally I wouldnt have put a claim through unless it had been properly written off as insurance companies write cars off at this value simply because it would cost more to send someone out to inspect it than just write it off ,and as for repair costs lol ,my advice to all is if you have a small bump ,scrape and the car is easily saveable and it is/was a great example ,for gods sake dont claim ,just repair ,loverly car mate but really sorry to say I wouldnt buy it soley because its a cat c , a good cat c/d is usually worth more in parts

[HT]

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... 08#1505108

Thats my FS thread, I have yet to put a price and i'm really struggling to value this car. I don't want to give it away and I don't want to rip anyone off, I want to sell for whats its worth.

Im tempted to say £2,500 for example but is that way too much for the car based on the CAT C, despite its on 52,000 miles? I don't want to look an idiot and in the same token I don't want to say £1,000 and feel i've given it away.

Im not working at the minute so funds and tight and I need this money so obviously looking to get as much as I realistically can. The car is only advertised here, im away if it was on ebay I might get more etc but I want to sell to a club member, someone who will enjoy it and less chance of me being messed around.

Your the experts on the MK1, so if you were hypothetically looking to buy this car how much would you offer? Please give me your opinion it would be much appreciated.

Jon

Hi regarding the sale of your CAT C, did your insurer not pay out and then you bought it back for less then you received?