What a write-off is
When a damaged car is written off, the insurer pays the owner the car's current value instead of the cost of repairing it. The insurance company decides whether a car is written off, and which category it goes in. (GOV.UK)
The four categories
GOV.UK's table of the categories in use today:
| Category | Repairing the vehicle | Using the vehicle |
|---|---|---|
| A | Cannot be repaired | Entire vehicle has to be crushed |
| B | Cannot be repaired | Body shell has to be crushed, but you can salvage other parts from it |
| N | Can be repaired following non-structural damage | You can use the vehicle again if it's repaired to a roadworthy condition |
| S | Can be repaired following structural damage | You can use the vehicle again if it's repaired to a roadworthy condition |
Source: GOV.UK, Insurance write-offs
More on the two categories that come back on the road: What is a Cat S car? and What is a Cat N car?
Cat S and Cat N side by side
| Cat S | Cat N | |
|---|---|---|
| Damage | Structural | Not structural |
| Can it be repaired? | Yes | Yes |
| Back on the road | If repaired to a roadworthy condition | If repaired to a roadworthy condition |
| Log book when the owner keeps it | Complete log book sent to the insurer; free duplicate applied for on form V62; DVLA records the category in the log book | The owner can keep the log book |
Source: GOV.UK, Insurance write-offs
What the owner does when a car is written off
GOV.UK lists these steps. The insurance company usually arranges scrapping.
- Apply to take the registration number off the vehicle, to keep the number.
- Send the log book (V5C) to the insurance company, keeping the yellow ‘sell, transfer or part-exchange your vehicle to the motor trade’ section.
- Tell DVLA the vehicle has been written off. GOV.UK: “You can be fined £1,000 if you do not tell DVLA.”
To keep a Cat S or Cat N car, the insurer pays out and sells the car back to the owner. For Cat S there are extra log book steps (above). (GOV.UK)
The old categories: Cat C and Cat D
Before 1 October 2017 the categories were A, B, C and D. The Association of British Insurers' salvage code changed them to A, B, S and N from that date, with “a greater focus on the condition of the vehicle rather than repair costs”. (Bodyshop magazine, 14 June 2017)
| Old category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| C | Repairable but repair costs exceed pre-accident value |
| D | Repairable but repair costs don't exceed pre-accident value |
Source: The AA, Insurance write-offs
So Cat C and Cat D were decided by the cost of repair against the car's value; Cat S and Cat N are decided by the kind of damage. An old Cat C isn't the same thing as a Cat S, and an old Cat D isn't the same as a Cat N. Cars written off before October 2017 were given the old categories, so they still appear on older cars.
Where a write-off shows up
- The log book — for a Cat S car kept by its owner, DVLA records the category in the log book. (GOV.UK)
- The insurers' register — the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR), run by the Motor Insurers' Bureau. (MIB annual report 2023)
- Vehicle history checks — sold by check companies, and shown on some adverts by the site itself (Gumtree's vehicle check, for example, includes the write-off register).
- The advert — some sellers state the category in their own words.
Buying or selling a written-off car
From trading standards' official guidance for businesses:
- A trader not telling a consumer that a car “has previously been an insurance write-off” is listed as a misleading omission (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024).
- Any seller, trader or not, has to describe the car correctly — make, model, engine size and other details.
- Selling, offering for sale or supplying an unroadworthy vehicle is illegal under the Road Traffic Act 1988 — for private sellers as well as traders.
Source: Business Companion, Selling used vehicles (England, Scotland and Wales)
Write-offs on Motorwatchr
Motorwatchr shows a car's write-off category when the advert, the seller or the site's own vehicle check states it — with the seller's words quoted and the link to the advert. We never guess a category nobody has stated. Written-off cars are left out of the similar adverts used to work out a car's value rating.