buying a damaged car with no log book

[scaff]

hi all

I'm looking for some advise

ive seen a damaged car for sale, it does not come with the logbook. but it will have a receipet and proof that the seller {a garage} purchased it from an auction.

i have been told i need to apply for the log book with dvlc, fair enough

my worry is what if the car is stolen, or for some reason i get it taken away one i apply for the log book

has anyone done this before


thanks

[panza4]

If you realy want the car, get the chassis number, reg and all the info and spend 20-30 quid on a hpi check, that is well up to date and will tell you if theres any outstanding finance on it, and if its on the police and insurence lists as stolen and what category damage its classed as. Spending that small amount now will save you a hell of a lot in the future. Plus do a standard check via ya phone by texing the reg to 83600 and that will confirm what car it is, cc, colour and its its an insurence write off or if the plod have an interest in it.
Hope this helps and good luck.

[scaff]

thanks for the reply

ive done the texcheck, and it came back clean, its a cat d, so minimal damage. ill pop over to it tomorrow and get the vin number and see what that produces

[monster]

Bear in mind that if you spend a fair whack of cash making the car roadworthy again, it will always have that mark against it, making it harder to sell on and will always reduce it's value.

[MonzaPhil]

In my very recent experience of buying an undamaged car without a logbook, an hpi check is utterly worthless. A dvla check is free but doesn't really give anything away so your best bet is apply for a logbook, £25 and see what happens.

Sent from my HTC Desire C using proboards

[mattfletcher]

Be careful when you apply for the log book that DVLA doesnt reply with a letter saying its a Cat C and you need to have it VIC checked. Ive found most the time you need to reapply for a v5 on a damaged vehicle this occurs. Mainly due to the previous owner knowing it will be harder to sell with a cat c marker against it and blags you saying its a cat d.

[MonzaPhil]

Or for example say the car was cubed 6 years ago........ Not saying that could happen.....

Sent from my HTC Desire C using proboards

[retrowrongun]

I bet that will be a cat c not a cat d as you state , this would mean a vic check first before you can apply for a logbook 

[scaff]

Interesting points

Thanks for the replies.

How long does a log book take to arrive,

I'm thinking if I decide to take it, I'll put a deposit on it until I get the log book.

[stealthstylz]

Contact seller, ask for vehicle details and say you're going to leave a deposit and apply for a logbook. If he's lying and it's Cat C (which seems fairly likely) it might scare him enough to come clean.

[Dez]

I thought they didn't revoke the book for cat d anyways, only c and above?

[dodgerover]

Oct 20, 2013 20:02:05 GMT scaff said:

Interesting points

Thanks for the replies.

How long does a log book take to arrive,

I'm thinking if I decide to take it, I'll put a deposit on it until I get the log book.

6 weeks now unless you have the new keepers bit.

[stinkwheel]

I have just donr exactly this, i.e. bought a car thats is a cat c and does need a vic check to return to the road. The DVLA will not supply a log book until after the VIC check has been done.
Ideally they like to see the car repaired and MOT at point of the VIC check. the check will cost you 50 quid.

They don't care about standard of repairs but they just want to check its not a ringer.

After the VIC test has been passed you will be able to apply for a log book. that logbook will ALWAYS note the fact this car was 'substantially damaged and repaired'

Unless its very cheap or in the case of my car an unusual model that i don't intend to sell, ever, you will be fine.

Do a vehicle check on DVLA tax website with reg number and make, this will tell you if the car needs a VIC check.

[panza4]

Oct 22, 2013 14:59:17 GMT stinkwheel said:

I have just donr exactly this, i.e. bought a car thats is a cat c and does need a vic check to return to the road. The DVLA will not supply a log book until after the VIC check has been done.
Ideally they like to see the car repaired and MOT at point of the VIC check. the check will cost you 50 quid.

They don't care about standard of repairs but they just want to check its not a ringer.

After the VIC test has been passed you will be able to apply for a log book. that logbook will ALWAYS note the fact this car was 'substantially damaged and repaired'

Unless its very cheap or in the case of my car an unusual model that i don't intend to sell, ever, you will be fine.

Do a vehicle check on DVLA tax website with reg number and make, this will tell you if the car needs a VIC check.

Good points there stinkwheel, I've bought cat c and d cars a few times, and I could tell what category it was by looking over the car and a good inspection, sometimes cars are written off due to being beyond economical repair. I bought an Audi a2 which was a cat c because the owner has clipped a car in front cracking the bumper and the air bags going off, the repair bill by the owners insurence company was well over £2500 so they wrote it off as the a2 needs a new complete dash after the bags have gone off!!
Cat c I sent that bad as long as the repairs have been done to a good standard by an approved repairer, buying a cat c that bob blogs bought through a salvage auction online and him repairing it in his garden shed I sent the kind to be buying. So there's pro's and cons for buying either a cat c or d, just as long as its been repaired to a good standard.

Buying a 70s or 80s classic that's been damaged and put into cat c I sent a major problem, as IMO the cars built back then were big pieces of metal welded together with no fancy crumple zones or stupid sensors to consider.

Let us know what car it is scaffold and how your getting on with it.

[composimmonite]

Ask yourself why garage haven't applied for the logbook if its that simple.!
Unless rare or scrap price then I'd walk away. After all whilst it might be an easy repair you have to wonder why garage aren't doing it themselves to make a few quid. Something doesn't seem right.

Paul h

[dodgerover]

Unless its newish or going to be worth good money its probably not worth a garage repairing it and selling it on, not worth the time and/ or hassle of explaining its been damamged and repaired, factor in how long a repair would take if you cost the time out when you could be repairing a customers car.

Having said that why go to the trouble of buying it in the first place unless it was to swap a load of bits over - either that or its worse than they thought it was.

[ChasR]

Oct 21, 2013 7:46:51 GMT Dez said:

I thought they didn't revoke the book for cat d anyways, only c and above?

When my Focus was a CAT D I had to send the logbook back to the insurance company as they were deciding what to do with the car (only to have it sent back when I bought the car off them as salvage!

As said I would be tempted to apply for the logbook first and see what happens before shelling out the entire amount for the car. Another thing is to take note of the chassis nos. It sounds stupid, but a friend of mine in similar circumstances got burned badly on a car in similar circumstances (whilst the no. plate was correct the VIN (the car itself) should not have existed (i.e the car was scrapped by the insurance company when it was a CAT C)). Worst of it all it was from a garage where the customer could not fork out to repair the car...