CAT S - Should I Avoid???

[RAYK47]

Hi all

New to the forum as although I have wanted a Z4 for some time, I am only now seriously considering buying one.

Was doing my usual browsing to see if anythign caught my eye when out of nowhere a car that has exactly what i wanted and for a great price, there has to be a catch.

2010 - M Sport Highline 2.5 Auto , 55k miles
Satnav, heated seats and all the gadgets.

at £6500 it seemed too good to be true, then i spot that it is a CAT S.

I called to garage and asked
- if they had any pics of the car before it was repaired (they didnt as they said it had came in as a trade in).
- what was the damage (was told it was rear ended and they were very surprised it had been written off :? :roll: )
- They said it has been repaired to an excellent standard and looks and most importantly drives "mint"


Now i am not necessarily against a CAT S in have never bought one before and its making me nervous. Also this garage is 200miles from my home, if it was local i would whip over there have a look and a drive and see what it feels like but being so far away i am struggling to find the time to get there.

What does everyone think? am i right to be cautious or would you consider this vehicle?

 

[Rockhopper]

If you are worried now then so will the next buyer be when you come to sell. Garages always say they are surprised a cars been written off - well they would say that, wouldn't they!!
I'm sure it'll be fine but it will always have that marker on the VCAR file.
Personally I'd move on to the next one, its not like they are in short supply.

 

[Scubaregs]

Where is the car located, someone local may be able to give it a look for you.

As said above, resale will be tricky. If you are planning on keeping it for many years, less of a problem.

 

[enuff_zed]

Although it may look good and have been very well repaired, what would worry me with an E89 is how much shock went through all that fragile roof electrickery?
It could well be that even though the impact did not affect the roof mechanism directly it has shaken it all up a bit and you may have issues in the future.

 

[RAYK47]

Cheer all, i think i have heard enough and i will probably leave it. I have heard some people sharing stories of issues with the roof mechanics. SO if it really did get a hit from behind it could well have misaligned something etc.

The car is in Oldham

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307189779953?sort=relevance&advertising-location=at_cars&include-delivery-option=on&make=BMW&minimum-badge-engine-size=2.4&model=Z4&postcode=sg29lz&price-to=7500&year-from=2010&fromsra

 

[Rockhopper]

If you do a Car Vertical check you can often find photos of the car when it was presumably auctioned off after its accident.

 

[Rockhopper]

Also their web site fails to mention its been written off - walk away for that reason alone.

 

[RAYK47]

Thanks Rockhopper, my search will continue.

 

[buzyg]

Cat S is not for me. I didn't even by my own car back as it would have then been CAT S and hard to shift a premium car with such attached.

 

[Ole gits rule]

I would leave that alone, what is your budget?

Also a few months and the typical winter drop will come in

 

[deltasierra]

Written off cars mean it will cost more than trade price to repair it to a proper standard so it’s been repaired on the cheap, it may well be safe and if you plan to keep it a few years then break it it may well be worthwhile but you take the risk on failures,

 

[Rockhopper]

Not at all true and Cat S might be something as minor as a damaged rear bumper. But its fair to say that most repaired cars I've looked at still have evidence of the original accident if you look close enough.

 

[deltasierra]

Not at all true and Cat S might be something as minor as a damaged rear bumper. But its fair to say that most repaired cars I've looked at still have evidence of the original accident if you look close enough.

Sorry mate CAT S is structural damage needing professional repair CAT N would cover bumper repairs and cosmetic damage

 

[RAYK47]

Cheers all, I am going to skip it and wait until winter. Realistically my budget is around 8-10k but I do want and E89 and I do want one with the screen and idrive. I am in no rush, the highline seems to be a decent spec model.

Looks like I will be keeping the E90 for a little longer, plus the KIA bus and the street triple for fun.

 

[RAYK47]

Not at all true and Cat S might be something as minor as a damaged rear bumper. But its fair to say that most repaired cars I've looked at still have evidence of the original accident if you look close enough.

Sorry mate CAT S is structural damage needing professional repair CAT N would cover bumper repairs and cosmetic damage

To be fair sometimes the insurance companies are very quick to write off a vehicle. Someone wrote off my old Mondeo while it was parked outside my house. I didn't even realise it had been hit at first, the grill was broken and part of the bumper was hanging off. I guess it was too much paperwork for them to worry about and it was only worth about £5k.

 

[Mr Tidy]

To be fair sometimes the insurance companies are very quick to write off a vehicle. Someone wrote off my old Mondeo while it was parked outside my house. I didn't even realise it had been hit at first, the grill was broken and part of the bumper was hanging off. I guess it was too much paperwork for them to worry about and it was only worth about £5k.

My recent experience suggests you are absolutely right! They seem to want to put a Cat marker on anything over 10 years old.

My nephew had a 2004 E46 325i Sport Touring that had a bump in 2018 and his insurer made it a Cat S based on photos from his phone. It had no structural damage at all so he kept it and after a new wing and 2nd hand bonnet it was better than before the accident.

Someone hit the back of my 2005 330i a couple of months ago. His insurer admitted liability so I took it to their nominated repairer for an estimate. Before they came back to me it already had a Cat N marker on it. :headbang:

It only needed a bumper cover (£620 from BMW in primer) painted and fitted but their repairer wanted to blend the rear wings and came up with an estimate just over £2,000 by the time they had added "Diagnostics", checking sensors, Safety Procedure Shut-Down (whatever that is) among other nonsense!

Photos of my scrapper here. :lol:





But I think you did the right thing walking away from that Cat S. It would be a nightmare to sell on so unless it was really cheap (which it wasn't) you ought to be able to find another 23i fairly easily.

 

[keving1]

I do have to laugh at the people on here who wouldn't buy a CAT D or CAT S - how many people know the total history of any car they have bought?
How many cars have been in accidents and been repaired by the insurance companies but not written-off? So if your £20k Z4 had been in an accident and then repaired by the insurance company costing £10k to repair it, it wouldn't show up on any report that you can buy on the internet!!! How many of the self-righteous people on here can say that their Z4 hasn't had big repair work done that they don't know about?

 

[RAYK47]

I think of it were a coupe then I would be less bothered but a smash up the rear on a convertible is a little more worrying.

It is considerably cheaper at £6.5k 55k miles than the same model not written off (about £9.5k 88k miles). I am always a little sceptical of a vehicle that is that much cheaper.

 

[RAYK47]

I think of it were a coupe then I would be less bothered but a smash up the rear on a convertible is a little more worrying.

It is considerably cheaper at £6.5k 55k miles than the same model not written off (about £9.5k 88k miles). I am always a little sceptical of a vehicle that is that much cheaper.

 

[MikeyH]

I do have to laugh at the people on here who wouldn't buy a CAT D or CAT S - how many people know the total history of any car they have bought?
How many cars have been in accidents and been repaired by the insurance companies but not written-off? So if your £20k Z4 had been in an accident and then repaired by the insurance company costing £10k to repair it, it wouldn't show up on any report that you can buy on the internet!!! How many of the self-righteous people on here can say that their Z4 hasn't had big repair work done that they don't know about?

I think it’s more to do with the problems selling the car later on.