When a vehicle is damaged, the insurer compares the repair cost against the vehicle value. If repairing it does not make commercial sense, they write it off, pay the owner and take ownership of the wreck.
That is an economic judgement about one vehicle at one moment. A ten year old car with £2,500 of damage is written off. The same damage to a two year old car is repaired. So "written off" tells you the repair was uneconomic for the insurer, not that the car is unsafe.
Where it becomes your problem is that the wreck is then sold at salvage, repaired by someone, and put back on the market. Sometimes that is done properly. Sometimes it is not.
| Category | What it means | Can it be driven again? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Scrap only. The entire vehicle must be crushed, including every part. | Never. Nothing may be salvaged. |
| B | Break for parts. The body shell must be crushed, but parts may be reused. | Never as a vehicle. Parts only. |
| S (was Cat C) | Structural damage that was repairable. Chassis, crumple zones, suspension mounts. | Yes, once repaired. |
| N (was Cat D) | Non-structural damage. Cosmetics, electrics, trim, water damage, sometimes theft recovery. | Yes, once repaired. |
The S and N categories replaced C and D in October 2017. Older records may still show C and D, which map roughly to S and N respectively.
If a car is advertised as Category A or B and is being driven, something is seriously wrong. Either the seller is lying about the category or the vehicle should not exist. There is no legitimate version of that transaction.
These are the two you will actually encounter, and they are not equivalent.
Category N is often minor. A stolen and recovered car with a smashed window and a ripped-out ignition can be Cat N. So can a car with flood damage to the interior, which is a very different proposition. The category alone does not distinguish between them, which is exactly why you need to ask what the damage was.
Category S means the structure was damaged. Done properly, on a jig, by a competent body shop, a Cat S repair can be sound. Done badly, the car will never track straight, will eat tyres, and will not protect you properly in another impact. You cannot tell which you are looking at from photographs.
What to ask for, in writing:
A seller who has genuinely had a proper repair done keeps the paperwork, because it is the only thing that protects the value. A seller with no paperwork is asking you to take the risk they were not willing to document.
None of that makes it a bad buy. A properly repaired Cat N car at 30% off, bought to keep for years, can be excellent value. It is a bad buy if you paid a clean-history price, or if you need to sell it in eighteen months.
This is where we have to be straight with you about the limits of a free check.
An MOT history will not tell you a vehicle was written off. Our checker is free and it shows every test, mileage reading and advisory since 2005, which is genuinely useful and catches a lot. But write-off records come from the insurance industry register, finance records come from lenders, and stolen markers come from the police. None of that is public data and no free service has it.
What the MOT history can do is give you a reason to look harder:
Start with the free MOT history check and read the clocking guide while you are there, because the same trail answers both questions. If the car is expensive, or the history has a gap you do not like, pay for a full vehicle history check before you hand over money. On a £8,000 car it is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
Category A and B are not road vehicles and never will be. Category S and N are legitimate buys at the right price with the right paperwork, and expensive mistakes without it. Ask what the damage was, ask who repaired it, get an insurance quote before you commit, and never pay clean-history money for a recorded write-off.
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MOT Check UK is a trading name of Jagat IT UK Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17474995. Registered office: 164 High Street, London Colney, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL2 1QF.