Cat B Z4 Coupe - testing the market..

[Newbers]

Toying with the idea of selling my coupe which has a bit of history and just testing the market...

The car is 2007 but I've owned it since 2011. Long story short the previous owner drove it through flood water which damaged the engine and the insurance company wrote it off as Cat B. Otherwise it was near spotless - no evidence of any water in the cabin (under the carpets was all as new etc.)

I had a salvaged engine put in and got a VIC certificate. The car has been MOt'd and serviced at BMW every year since (with exception of this year when I took it to a specialist).

The car is completely standard except KW coilovers, adjustable rear camber arms, CSL replicas and aero sills. The car is really well dialled in and drives much, much better now than it ever did. At about 86,000 miles, it's all round in really good condition. Brakes, tyres, suspension bushes, gearbox oil, water pump, rocker cover gasket have all been changed in the last 10,000 miles.

You'll read loads of stuff about Cat B but bottom line is the category system (now revised) was used by insurers and vehicle dismantlers. Nothing about it was legal. The VIC (Vehicle Identity Check) was designed to ensure that badly damaged cut and shut cars weren't put back on the market. That said not every insurer will offer cover so a prospective purchaser would need to be happy about this.

I'd take some better pictures before I advertise it but meanwhile, would anyone be interested or even care to put a value on it?

 

[Zedebee]

Well, 10+ years of ownership shows why it’s not necessarily a problem to buy an insurance-Cat car, however residual values will always be affected. Presumably you bought it cheap on the way in, and you will have to sell it cheap on the way out, so nothing lost really.

As to value, Cat cars are typically 25-40% less. If yours is in good nick and you can demonstrate many years of trouble free maintenance, then around the £8k mark for a Sport, a bit less for an SE?

Members will be queueing up to buy your aero skirts, though, so maybe best to capitalise and sell these separately.

 

[Optinium]

It's a nice looking car, I'd say between £8-10k for the Si also.
Like stated those skirts will fetch between £800-1000 depending on condition if you were to sell verbatim. There are sills matching your colour on ebay currently for £50 each, so a bit of money in that alone.

 

[Attilio]

Hi,

Very nice car, congratulations!

I might be interested in the aero side skirts if you may be selling them separately

Please let me know when you made the decision.

Attilio

 

[jamie_z4]

Just gonna throw a figure out there. 4k without the skirts.

Cat n/d sell not terribly
Cat C/S struggle a bit
cat B, never seen one listed so it'll be a slim market if any.

 

[Pondrew]

I'm confused by the CAT B rating. I looked it up and everything I found said they can't be put back on the road as the structural damage will be too severe. How does that equate to engine damage only?

 

[Wildfire]

Nice looking car but if it’s CAT-B it shouldn’t be back on the road?

Category B (unchanged)

Body shell should be crushed. Signifies extensive damage, although some parts are salvageable.

Should never re-appear on road, although reclaimed parts can be used in other road-going vehicles

You sure it’s not CAT-C or D?

You say there is nothing legal about the CAT rating and it was only used by insurers, there could be issues for the new owner insuring it, so price would reflect that.

I’d say strip the wheels and Aero parts etc. Off sell those separately and then your actual price for the car won’t change much.

 

[Z450]

I have to say I was under the impression a CAT B could not be repaired? That aside it looks like a nice car and could be a cheaper way to get into Coupe ownership

 

[bg1]

Category B write-offs
Category B write-offs have suffered severe damage that can’t be repaired. The remains of the car can be stripped for parts for use on other vehicles, but the chassis and/or bodyshell must be scrapped because this may have suffered serious or irreperable damage.

 

[mr.tourette]

Same here.. never known a cat B been able to go back on the road :?

 

[Ewazix]

I think that Cat B cars could legally be put back on the road after repair through the VIC scheme until about 2015/16 when it was abolished, then the rules about crushing and only licenced dealers being able to trade Cat A/B cars came in. By the sounds of it the OP's car could have been written off and re-registered quite legally, if the hydro-lock damage history and engine repairs are all documented it might be a better buy than something that's actually had a smack so the 25-40% reduction rule sounds about right.

 

[Chippie]

As others have said, you may have problems trying to sell what looks like a really nice car, the cat B rating will put a lot of potential buyers off, probably better off selling the wheels and skirts separately and then listing the car for around £9k and see what interest you get.

 

[jamie_z4]

As others have said, you may have problems trying to sell what looks like a really nice car, the cat B rating will put a lot of potential buyers off, probably better off selling the wheels and skirts separately and then listing the car for around £9k and see what interest you get.

9k on 86k miles cat B? You can get a hpi clear one for 10 :lol:

 

[Chippie]

As others have said, you may have problems trying to sell what looks like a really nice car, the cat B rating will put a lot of potential buyers off, probably better off selling the wheels and skirts separately and then listing the car for around £9k and see what interest you get.

9k on 86k miles cat B? You can get a hpi clear one for 10 :lol:

On second thoughts, leave the car as it is and ask £5k for a quick sale, after all it’s only money

 

[Newbers]

Thanks for the comments.

The guidance for Cat B was that it should be crushed but this was not a legal requirement just the definition under the insurance industry system. Apparently it was not uncommon for flood damaged cars as the electronics get ruined and there was a risk of contaminated water.

As I recall BMW wanted about £9k to fit a new engine which clearly wouldn't have worked (for the insurer) on a nearly four year old car.

As per the consensus I'll get the sills off and list them, I have the originals. Maybe the wheels too if some others come along - they have four brand new tyres.

Open to offers in the meantime until I can officially list it.

 

[Mr Tidy]

The guidance for Cat B was that it should be crushed but this was not a legal requirement just the definition under the insurance industry system. Apparently it was not uncommon for flood damaged cars as the electronics get ruined and there was a risk of contaminated water.

That sounds about right from what I remember when I was handling insurance motor claims back in the late 70s into the early 90s.

I know early on a few cars with water damage got repaired, then months later components would fail and there was always a big debate about whether they were just "end of life" or were water damaged. And as more electronics were fitted it only got worse!

My employer at the time decided that anything that had water damage above the centre of the wheels was declared a total loss to avoid that sort of hassle - which was handy for my mate in the salvage trade! I remember he got a 3 or 4 year old mid-80s Honda Accord that had got wet, and had an ECU under the passenger seat that cost over £500 new. He managed to source one out of a breaker, but insurers only fitted new so it often wasn't worth their while.

My mate did get a few cars through a VIC inspection, but it was very rigorous and wasn't cheap so he had to do the maths before repairing them.

As someone said earlier I'd rather have a car that had got wet but was fitted with a replacement engine than one that had actually been crashed.

I did buy a few Stolen/Recovered cars and never had any issues with them - but back then the general public didn't have access to the database!

I hope it you do OK from the sale - selling the Aeros will certainly put some cash in your kitty!

 

[Pondrew]

Discussing it on here probably hasn't helped the re-sale value, unfortunately, from what I've seen.
GLWTS and I hope you get what you want

 

[earthdweller]

Just to satisfy my curiosity, I assume the car is showing on the MID as a CAT B loss, given that, how easy has it been to insure and has the premium been heavily weighted ?

 

[Jembo]

After 10 years with same owner, where other cars that have led a normal life are having failure of window regulators, coil packs, abs sensors & pumps, roof motors, starter motors, ignition switches… etc… etc I kinda feel it’s proven anything g that’s likely to have gone wrong would have gone wrong by now…

At this 14 year age, likely it’s a reasonably good bet for someone wanting to get into Coupe ownership, though it’s history means it’ll never be worth premium money

I’d suggest as it stands feel anywhere between £7-8k would be fair, given any new buyer would be taking on its history