Salvage vehicle categories | A to X – All you need to know

Motor Salvage, Salvage Vehicle Categories, Vehicle Auction, Vehicle Repair

As we continue to sell an increasingly large volume of salvage repairable vehicles through our online auctions we’ve been inundated with questions regarding the vehicles that we have passing through. Specifically, what the different salvage categories mean and their impacts upon a buyer.

Please check out our handy and convenient guide taking you through each category. If you have any questions feel free to get in contact via our Facebook and Twitter pages and we’ll be more than happy to help you out.

Please note: Click here to see up-to-date information regarding vehicle salvage categories, in light of changes that came into effect in October 2017.

What are the different salvage categories and what do they mean?

Category A

Vehicles that have received extensive flood or fire damage and have no salvageable parts. Insurance companies have written off these vehicles and are not suitable for resale. It is required to be completely destroyed including all parts at an Authorised Treatment Facility (such as ours). This vehicle is a complete write-off by insurance companies. Only ATFs are legally permitted to handle such a vehicle. A Certificate of Destruction is created to notify the DVLA with the information also recorded with the HPI.

Category B

Vehicles that have severe chassis and/or structural damage and have been written off by insurance companies. These vehicles are not deemed suitable for resale, are not roadworthy and deemed unsuitable for any repair work. Parts from these vehicles can be removed provided that the body shell is destroyed. Like Cat A vehicles it is only ATFs such as ourselves that can handle and process vehicles of this category.

Category C

Vehicles that have sustained heavy damage and have been written off by insurance companies. Costs of repair exceed the pre-accident value of the vehicle leading it to be classified in this manner. These vehicles can however be sold on for repair but it is required to take the vehicle for a VOSA Test to ensure that it can be driven safely and legally on the road again.

Category D

Vehicles that have sustained light damage but have been written off by insurance companies in-spite of the costs of repair being less than the pre-accident value. These vehicles can be sold for repair and no VOSA Test is required.

Category U

Vehicles that are not owned by an insurance company and may have sustained accident damage. The vehicle is not governed by ABI categorisation guidelines and is unlikely to have been reported to the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud Theft Register (MIAFTR).

Category X

A category X vehicle is considered the most desirable of salvage category. Once the vehicle has been repaired there is no record of the initial damage and cars are not recorded on the HPI register. These vehicles are typically sourced direct from manufacturer or rental companies who are unable to re-sell the vehicle as new or are unwilling to progress an insurance claim.

You can now scan our auctions and buy salvage vehicles confident in the knowledge that you know the ins and outs of the different salvage categories and their impact upon you the buyer.