Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I suspect that my 928 S4 may end up becoming a CAT D. I took a very small bump to the rear which damaged the plastic rear panel. I sent the car to the approved Porsche repair shop who removed the damaged panel. The rear panel would in my opinion probably have been salvageable but the body shop cut it off due to rusting bolts etc and intended to replace it with a new one. It turns out Porsche don't make the S4 rear bumper panel anymore, only the GTS one. I'm digging my heals in insisting that the car be put back to original spec, hence why I suspect that it will be a CAT D as this may not be possible with new parts. If this does happen then I am considering making an attempt to purchase the car back as it seems that it will be a very easy fix if I can get a good quality used panel. Does anyone have any opinions about what CAT D status would do to the value of the car? And would it be difficult to sell in the future? The car itself is low millage (75k) 1990 black on black and in good all round condition with good history.

Keep any pictures of the damage before the repair, and pictures of the work you will carry out. this will help when you come to sell it.
The car will be worth less and it will put off some buyers, but if you are keeping it, it wont matter. and if you buy it back cheap your laughing.
My cab was a cat D many years ago, i cant find any details why, but as its still going 10+ years later and i'm not selling it, im not worried and it also it only cost £3500

As long as you can demonstrate why it was Cat D and back that up with pictures and invoices you should be ok if you sell it on.

With insurance companies I have found the following to generally be true.

They will make you a low ball offer for the vehicle.

Negotiate upwards, find examples of cars in the same or better condition as your one was and quote these adverts.

Remember, the insurance company has entered a contract with you to compensate you should the worst happen, and repair or replace your vehicles with one of equal or better condition.

This will mean, if yours had new shocks all round, insist that the replacement should not have 20 year old shock absorbers, and therefore yours was worth more than the ones quoted.. Just an example.

Once you have gone back and forth with offers and counter offers and you have agreed a value, then tell them you will accept their offer, as long as you keep the salvage and they do not list it is a cat-d.

As amazing as this may sound, you are in the position of power, they are in a contract with you, and if you start grumbling along the lines of "non fault lawyers" they will give in as long as you are reasonable.

Do not pay more than about 15% of the claim value for the salvage, 10% is more normal, often you can negotiate it for free as well as not being registered as a cat anything.

I was going to offer him £100 for it Jon, but I don't think he'll take it now.

Good to know. I didn't realise you could get them to waive the CAT' status.

Sorry for scuppering that deal

Insurance companies like to assume the position of power in the event of claims, acting as if they are being very charitable in their offer in your time of need. However the owner of the car is in a real position of power.

Many people also believe they have to have their car repaired at the insurance companies chosen bodyshop, which again is not the case, even if it says so in the small print.

The motor insurance cat database was originally put together to protect the public from written off cars getting back on the road, in particular cat A and cat B cars. Cat C and D are just markers for the insurance companies discression. So in particular when the damage is minor and should not effect any future buyer of the car being ripped off or exposed to a dangerous repair, they are not obliged to place the marker on the car, so if it will close a file, which they are negotiating to close (irritating if you do not accept their offers) they will jump at it in a flash.

I have saved lots of members and customers cars over the years with this and by producing valuations as well.

Once a marker is there though, it is much harder to remove. Also a catC or catD effectively will reduce the value of the car in the insurance companies eyes by around 25% for future claims, so it is worth making sure the car is not listed.

I personally am not put off by cat-c and cat-d cars, especially if it is possible to research the history of the claim. Two of my old 968 Club Sports were cat-c's. One had minor damage to a rear quarter from the 1990's which was a cat-c because the owner refused to use a direct line approved bodyshop, so he took the insurance money and took it to porsche (I would have helped him get the money without the marker if I was involved) and was listed as a cat-c because the insurance company could not comfirm it had been repaired. the other was a cat-c because it was stolen, the insurance company paid out before it was found, marked it as a cat-c and stolen, then it turned up.. so the insurance company removed the stolen marker but could not remove the cat-c marker, no damage other than to the door lock and steering lock.. Not exactly a hazard to the buying public in either case.

I would estimate that a large number of Porsche are cat-c or cat-d at some point in their history for very similar reasons (not wanting to use the insurance companies bodyshop, wanting a specialist or OPC to repair, or through the car being stolen and not turning up until after the insurance company paid out.

Thanks for the advice guys. I still don't know what is happening yet. As far as I know the garage has requested the full list of parts required from Porsche (rear bumper panel, light cluster, mudguard and various fittings etc) and has asked them to advise him in writing if they cannot provide the parts. They will then speak with the insurers.

In regards to potential write off value, I have an agreed value so hopefully that should negate any need to negotiate prices. As for the Cat C/D markings not being necessary, this is news to me, so very useful information. If it is written off and I buy the car back I would much rather it didn't have a Cat C/D on its records.

I’ll be back with an update once I know how things are going to pan out.

Cheers,
Mike

Any update?

Hope it is all going well for you!

Still waiting to find out if they can get the parts. I spoke to the engineer at the insurance company and it looks unlikely that they will be able to get a new rear bumper. They hope to be able to tell me one way or another next week.

I read somewhere that insurance companies usually replace the rear bumper with a GTS one, as they are available ..., unless you maybe locate a good used S4 one ???

Ken