‘Check out your cats for dogs!’
If you’re in the market for buying a project bike or a fixer-upper, chances are you’ll come across adverts for insurance write-offs. Traditionally you would’ve seen bikes listed as being Cat C or D meaning that an insurer had deemed them uneconomical to fix and paid out the former owner an agreed value. These bikes could then be sold off by the insurance company under Cat C or D, repaired by a new owner and legally put back on the road. In October 2017 the C and D classifications were replaced by S and N. These new prefixes stand for S: ‘Structurally damaged but repairable’. This is for a bike that has received significant damage to its frame or chassis parts that makes it no longer economically viable to repair by the insurer’s own repairer.
N stands for: ‘Not structurally damaged but repairable’ .
This applies to lighter damage to cosmetics, body panels, steering locks or brake discs. Both categories are fine to go back on the road as long as the repairs have been carried out competently. However, you may find it more difficult to reinsure a former insurance write-off and may have to pay a higher premium.