Category N vehicles written off too quickly
New analysis has revealed that smart repairs could have prevented more than a third of Category N vehicles from being scrapped.
Category N vehicles are those that the insurer has deemed too expensive to repair after sustaining non-structural damage in an accident.
A Freedom of Information request to the DVLA by Revive! Auto Innovations found that 262,339 cars that were Category N were written off in 2025. But it estimates that 91,556 of this number could have been returned to the road economically using modern smart repair methods.
The analysis found that many insurance assessors overestimate the cost of repair, with many vehicles written off with just minor scrapes and dents.
Explore all options
Mark Llewellyn, managing director of Revive!, said: “It’s surprising to see the sheer number of vehicles sent to salvage auctions that Revive! could have repaired, saving both the insurer and the owner a significant amount of financial and mental distress.
“It is strangely counter-intuitive for car insurance providers to not explore all the options for repairing a damaged vehicle.
“Paying out on policies and categorising the vehicle for the most minor damage costs vastly more than a Revive! repair would cost the insurance company, especially when a Revive! repair can be carried out on the customer’s driveway in just a few hours, negating the requirement of a courtesy car while the repair takes place.”
