Cat X Salvage – Buying brand new damaged repairable cars

admin    Uncategorized    

A quick insight into buying unrecorded brand new cars.

Category X or unrecorded damaged cars are a buyers dream, once repaired there is no record of the damage and cars are not recorded on the HPI register. Also this means no need for a VIC.

Typically Cat X car will be sourced direct from manufacturers or from the likes of rental companies who are either not able to re-sell the car as ‘new’ or are not willing to progress the insurance claim.

New cars direct from the manufacturer are often referred to as ‘MOT’ Cars (Don’t ask my why) These cars are not registered and cannot be sold as new as they have damage to multiple panels. Although the damage is likely to be very light and easily repairable. Often occurring from careless driving when being PDI’ed (pre delivery inspection) or whilst being held in a manufacturers or dealers compound.

Pro’s of buying a brand new Cat X damaged repairable car.

• You can register yourself cheaply and easily, and it will be on the newest registration plate i.e 58 plate
• Damage is likely to be light so its an easy repair

Cons of buying a new Cat X

• Parts can be harder to source on new cars, especially if its a new model. Second hand parts may also be a no-go. On a new car always try to replace with new OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) parts.
• Little profit to be made, once you have bought and repaired, and factored in depreciation. Remember – A new car looses 10 – 25% of its value as soon as you drive away from a dealers, its the same situation here.
• Check the spec of the car closely, and make sure you don’t end up with a dodgy spec car nobody wants to buy.

Stick to these golden rules and you should be fine.

Here is a good example of a car currently for sale at South West Salvage

Picture courtesy of South West Salvage

NEW CAR. Very high spec inc parking plus (camera) Navigation, heated elect memory seats, paddle shift, full leather, cruise, xenons, telephone, prep, auto dim mirror etc. Scratch on o/s/f wing, needs bonnet & screen from dents

Damaged Repairable essentials – Part 1 – Dent Removal

admin    Uncategorized    

This is part one of a series of helpful tips which will aid you in repairing your chosen car salvage.

When buying a damaged repairable or salvage car there are more than likely to be quite a few dents over some panels.When your looking to sell, don’t under estimate the impact dents & dings have on the final sale value. A mint car with straight panels, is always going to sell for more than a ropey example. If your are spraying panels anyway, it makes complete sense to have all dents removed.

If you don’t have a dent pulling kit, be sure to borrow or purchase a dent pulling kit (e-bay is a good source for kits, and training DVD’s, but be warned kits can pricey £200 – £400)

There are 7 steps to removing a dent…. (please note this is not paintless dent removal – I’m assuming you will be respraying panels anyway – for paintless dent removal try one of the specialists)

1. Locate the centre of the dent, and drill a hole in the dent with a 1/8″ drill bit. Alternatively, you can use a hot glue gun to glue a plastic adapter to the centre of the dent. These plastic adapters and glue guns are included in many dent removal kits.

2. Thread the dent pulling tool into the newly drilled hole, or attach the dent pulling tool to the plastic circle that is glued on the dent. After the dent pulling tool is in place, pull on it to flatten the dent or pull it out.

3. Carefully hammer the front of the dent using the metalworking hammer, while at the same time holding the dolly firmly against the back of the dent. It may be necessary to go underneath the car, or to open the boot or hood of the car, in order to reach the back of the dent. (Often this can be the trickiest part – remember with the removal of access panels body trim that it all needs to be put back properly, as otherwise you wont end up with the professional finish that you are after.

4. Use a medium grit disk mounted on a drill to grind the paint down to the bare metal, extending the area out at least one inch around the dent itself. Then fill the entire area with a good quality body filler.

5. Allow the body filler to dry completely, then carefully sand the area with sandpaper which has been wrapped around a block of wood. When sanding, begin with a 36-grit sandpaper and work up to a 120-grit sandpaper.

6. Use a spray primer to prime the area, being sure to use a primer specially designed for automotive use. (If you are not confident at spraying take to a reputable bodyshop – see links on left for some good examples) Six coats of primer should be used, allowing each coat of primer to dry completely before applying the next coat.

7. Sand the primer using a 600-grit wet and dry sandpaper. This will help to remove any scratches. The area should then be touched up with a matching paint. If the paint is not smooth, re-sand and re-paint the area until you have a smooth surface.

Hopefully by the end of this you should have a dent free panel, then just repeat for all other panels.
I cant stress enough how important a good paint is here, if you are not 110% confident, leave at stage 5 and take the car to a reputable bodyshop.

If you have any more specific dent related queries, please post a comment and I will get one of our specialists to post you a reply ASAP.

Hope you found this useful, more Salvage essentials to follow soon!

Help support Wrecks to Riches .co.uk

admin    Uncategorized    

This site is intented as an online resource for anyone looking to buy, repair and sell crash damaged cars.

As time goes on we will be adding expert posts and hints and tips on how best too source the best auto salvage and also get it repaired as best and cheaply as possible.

However, in order for us to be able to continue and be able to become the best salvage website on the web, we need your support, here are something you can do to help support wrecks to riches .co.uk

• Dont be a lurker – If you have read a post which is of interest to you, or you have a comment or opinion, dont just leave the site, post a comment or reply! In doing so your helping others who read these posts, which ultimately is the core goal of the site!

• Click on any links that may be of interest – by doing so your helping support this site – It takes money to run a website, and building content doest come for free! By clickin our sponsors links, it helps keep the site up and running.

• Are you an expert salvage repairer, bodyshop, or salvage yard? Would you like to get some free traffic to your website from wreckstoriches.co.uk – In exchange for a useful hint / tip, or post that would be of use to our readers I will add your site link.

• Advertising opportunities on wrecks to riches .co.uk, if you would like to drive some serious quality traffic to your salvage related website, we have advertising opportunities available, at very reasonable rates. Post reply to this thread and I will be in contact.

Thanks for all your help and support in keeping wrecks to riches .co.uk running. Our base of avid readers is growing all the time, and I’m sure it wont be long till we are the biggest auto salvage resource online!

Vehicle Identity check – VIC Required for all Cat C Cars

admin    Uncategorized    

Following on from previous posts on auto salvage categories, I thought it would be useful to dig into Vehicle identity checks in more detail.

Any cat C or B car (if and when repaired) will require a VOSA Vehicle check. This essentially ensures that the vehicle is indeed genuine and is the car which it actually is. I.e. Not been a cut and shut, or had its identity changed for that of another car.

The VIC scheme was introduced in 2003. In any instance where a car is written off the insurer will notify the DVLA – this will apply for salvage categories A, B or C.

The car is then flagged at the DVLA and will be given a ‘VIC marker’ against the DVLA vehicle record. Whilst a VIC marker is set against a car the DVLA will not issue a V5 registration document. One will only be issued once the car has passed a VIC.

The VIC check is carried about in about 20 or so minutes, and costs around £36. Its important to note the VIC check purely assess the car’s identity and by no means gives and steer on the quality of the repair work carried out – Just that repairs have been carried out to a satisfactory standard, and that the car is considered road worthy.
So if you are buying a car which was previously a CAT C make sure you thoroughly check all repairs.

Personally if I were to buy a car to repair and sell, I’d try and avoid Cat C cars which require a VIC, not only are these cars usually significantly more damaged than a Cat D car. There is the added hassle of a VIC check, and the subsequent resale value is that much less.

More detailed information on VIC checks are available here at direct.gov.uk