Looking to get a cheapo (£1kish) runabout, and there seem to be a glut of cat c, and better, d cars about.
Now, if the car was written off, even as a catd, when newish, there will have been substantial damage (they won't write a £10k car off for a couple of scuffs, I am guessing 50% of the value?) but if a 10year old car has a bump it will get written off.

So, is there any way of dating when the write-off date was?

Ta
Clive

A full hpi report or similar will reveal the date it was recorded.

You've hit the nail on the head. A lot of people think the distinction between cat c/d is severity of damage, but really it's a function of damage/value. A broken electric wing mirror and a wing/door scrape could write off a z3 nowadays.

The £2.99 hpi reports you can get give you the dates. The one I find interesting is where the buyer has, technically, truthfully said 'cat d' and then you find there were three separate events!

Lovely, that is helpful knowing I can find out.

Yep, went to see a (too) cheap car a couple of years ago, "private" seller etc.
He admitted it was a cat c car, apparently it had been "vandalised" with some broken windows and scratches. On a £10k car if at correct price? I suspect not, let alone it being cat c which is more severe damage. Besides, I have little faith in the categories, when I rolled my spitfire the assessor changed it from a b to a c as I was buying it back.