I
used to buy salvage cars, fix them up, run them for about a year then sell them on (usually at a slight profit) and use the proceeds to buy my next car. This way I slowly got a newer and newer car. The cars I bought were usually Stolen and recovered, missing the seats, trim, door locks and minor scratches.
However, a couple of years ago, between jobs (and the company car I'd become used to) I bought a Cat 'C' Vectra. The damage was far less than your Cat 'D' examples, but of course the car was much older even at that time. I thought I'd bartered the seller down well, but I by the time I'd bought the bits needed to fix it (including a secondhand bonnet in the right colour to avoid having to get my old spray gun out
) I reckon I could have bought one from a small dealer. Trouble is that I'd overlooked the stuff that you would normally look at on any used car, tyres, MOT bushes and cambelt, so this ate into any profit I was going to make. Then I got offered a job with a company car, so I sold it on. Of course being Cat 'C' it had this recorded on the log book and I had trouble selling it, eventually making a slight loss.
Yesterday we collected a 52 plate Corsa diesel for my Missus. It came from a small dealer and is HPI clear and not be damaged (as far as I could tell
). TBH I couldn't find any salvage that was worth my time and effort, despite the thoughts of getting her something newer/better for the same money. Maybe you have to be 'in the trade' to get them at the right price, but most Salvage I Googled up was way over priced. But given the minor damage that I've repaired over the years, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's just some of the stuff really shouldn't go back on the road, especially when you've got airbags, seat belt tensioners, etc that
all need to be replaced if the job is being done properly.
One of my cars was inspected by the RAC before the new owner completed the sale: It was a (then) 3 year old Sierra 2.0 GLSi that I got with no bonnet, lights, locks, seats and door cards. I had to respray the whole offside due to key scratches. The RAC guy told me that the car was in good condition, but had a 'high quality' respray (he spotted a small bit of overspray on one back light). It's a shame I couldn't have a copy of his report as it was a feather in my cap (unbeknown to him).
Pictures of the Vectra FYI.