Cat Ds can be good buys, especially older ones
Category D - Repairable salvage. Minimal damage, probably not structural, but insurer does not want to repair, even though it might be economic to do so. Often stolen and recovered after claim has been paid. Or for unusual models or grey imports where the difficulty of obtaining new parts hinders a quick repair. Does not need VIC inspection to return to road.
Cat C is repairable but needs a VIC inspection, ( csots about £40 to establish that the vehicle is what it claims to be ( Not a ringer)
Cat B and A are not repairable and must be crushed .
There is a huge amount of nonsense spouted about write offs, a one year old car costing £ 10 000 new in a serious crash needing £2500 to repair would be repaired by the insurance, a 3 year old with the same damage would probably be cat C, so why is it unsafe to drive a cat C write off?.
Cat D is easily repairable, possibly not needing repair if you can live with dents and scratches such as if it had been stolen and recovered.
The ones to watch out for have been damaged when nearly new,
the paint will fade, panel fit can be dodgy, tyre wear, pulling to one side, electric faults from wrongly positioned wiring, all sorts of potential problems lurk, avoid like plague because folk still want top price.
Again getting a bad press are two halves welded together, "Cut and Shut" if done well no one will know, the trick is to use two halves the same colour or else there will be evidence of the old colour on one half no matter how thorough the re spray. welds where welds should not be and respraying inside the car are give aways. Many Minicabs are cut and shuts.
Some people take a contribution towards the cost of repairs from the insurance company, rather than let the car be written off, I got £ 1800 for damage to my car which suffered dashboard and seat damage when stolen, my wife stitched the seat, I fitted second hand door and steering locks which I rebuilt to take the original single key, Secondhand dip switch, and second hand dash, cost about £200 plus my time, 6 hours perhaps,
Hope this helps
i found it on the web