Hi Liam,

It is OK to buy Cat S vehicles from over the water, but you cannot guarantee the standards of the repair. UK insurance write-off categories used to run A, B, C and then D, and any vehicles classified as the first two simply could not be put back on the road. Meanwhile, C and D vehicles could be repaired and made roadworthy again, but the write-off category stays with the vehicle for life. In 2017, the UK changed these ratings to A, B, S and N, and they’re roughly analogous. So a Category S car has suffered structural, but repairable damage, just at a level that an insurance company deems too expensive to be worth fixing. The problem, though, is that there is no legal requirement for a repaired Category S car to be inspected and deemed safe, so you cannot 100 per cent be sure the repairs were carried out to a suitably high standard – without getting the car thoroughly inspected by a trustworthy garage or mechanic you know well. On balance, we'd advise you step away from this car.