What is Cat N and what does it mean?
In October 2017, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) introduced new car insurance write-off categories for road vehicles, replacing the previous Cat C and Cat D classifications with Cat S and Cat N respectively. The new categories were endorsed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the Department for Transport (DfT). Both Cat S and Cat N were introduced to better reflect the growing complexities of repairing 21st century vehicles.
When a car insurance claim is made for a vehicle following an accident or damage due to theft, flood or fire, the insurer will review the vehicle’s damage to ascertain whether the cost of repair is worthwhile – aligned to the vehicle’s value.
Since October 2017, accident-damaged vehicles that are deemed a write-off by an insurer but do not have structural or chassis damage have been classified Cat N. That’s because, despite the car’s structural integrity being intact, the repair costs would still be greater than the cost of replacing the vehicle altogether for the claimant.
