Cat S refers to a car that\u2019s been written off due to structural damage. But while this may sound alarming, not all structural damage is beyond repair. We explain how a car becomes a cat S write-off, whether it could be worth buying your car back from your previous car insurer and how to get cat S insurance once you\u2019ve carried out repairs.<\/p>
When you make a valid insurance claim<\/a> for your car to be repaired following an accident, one of the first decisions your insurer will make is whether it\u2019s worth repairing the car.<\/p> If, following assessment, your insurer decides your car\u2019s not worth repairing, it will write it off<\/a>. This means that, rather than paying for repairs, it will give you a cash payout covering the car\u2019s market value, and the car will transfer into the insurer\u2019s ownership.<\/p> An insurer will typically write off a car in the following situations:<\/p> A category S, or cat S, write-off applies to cars that have been structurally damaged but can still be repaired back to a roadworthy state.<\/p> A cat S car can\u2019t legally be driven again until it\u2019s been repaired to full working order and is safe and roadworthy. It must also be re-registered with the DVLA.<\/p> There are 3 other write-off categories. Cat N<\/a> applies to cars that have had non-structural damage but can be repaired and driven again. Cat A and cat B are used for cars with damage that\u2019s so substantial the car can never be driven again. At best, with cat B, some parts may be salvageable. <\/p> You can read more about the different categories of write-offs in our full guide to written-off cars<\/a>.<\/p> To provide an average cost for insurance, we calculated an average based on 10 insurance quotes for a cat S and a non-cat S car. The results came out as shown below:<\/p>What is a category S write-off?<\/h3>
How much does it cost to insure a cat S car?<\/h3>
<\/th> Cat S<\/th> Non-cat S<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Quote 1<\/th> \u00a3476<\/td> \u00a3394<\/td><\/tr> Quote 2<\/th> \u00a3493<\/td> \u00a3404<\/td><\/tr> Quote 3<\/th> \u00a3497<\/td> \u00a3414<\/td><\/tr> Quote 4<\/th> \u00a3523<\/td> \u00a3417<\/td><\/tr> Quote 5<\/th> \u00a3524<\/td> \u00a3436<\/td><\/tr> Quote 6<\/th> \u00a3549<\/td> \u00a3447<\/td><\/tr> Quote 7<\/th> \u00a3565<\/td> \u00a3476<\/td><\/tr> Quote 8<\/th> \u00a3529<\/td> \u00a3432<\/td><\/tr> Quote 9<\/th> \u00a3455<\/td> \u00a3447<\/td><\/tr> Quote 10<\/th> \u00a3522<\/td> \u00a3450<\/td><\/tr> Average cost<\/th> \u00a3506<\/td> \u00a3431<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> \n