A category D loss in the UK is what is called repairable salvage. The vehicle is damaged to the extent that the retail cost of the repair does not exceed the retail pre-accident value (PAV). The insurance company has decided that though the car is repairable, it is not economical to do so due to their policies or guidelines.

A Category D vehicle can be bought at auction and repaired by those that are able. This is due to the fact that the automobile's damage was determined to be non-structural. Many times the car was written off by the insurance company due to it being stolen and recovered after the claim had been paid to the owner/policyholder.

A vehicle that is under the Category D loss does not need a VIC inspection to return to the roadway but a notification regarding the vehicle's status will remain on the its vehicle history check.

The extent to which to having a the car classified as a Category D will affect the value depends mainly on the type of damage that occurred to the car, the age of the vehicle and the quality of work done to the vehicle to make it roadworthy once again.

From the information we could find, a rough estimate is that a Category D vehicle can loss 25 to 30 percent of its value due to the classification. The loss classification will also be listed on a vehicle check that you or anyone else does on the vehicle through HPI Limited, Auto Trader Vehicle Check or any of the other companies that offer vehicle history checks.

It does not appear that the loss classification can be taken off the vehicle, but you want to double check this information with DirectGov. This site was produced by the Central Office of Information and provides information from across UK Government departments to help the needs of citizens across the United Kingdom.