YouTuber buys written-off horrifically damaged Category S Land Rover and fixes it in 8 hours

This written-off Category S Land Rover Defender might have been severely damaged – but one UK-based YouTuber was determined to fix it.

It had no chassis damage and fully functional air conditioning.

However, with visible damage being mainly a crease on the bonnet – it was ready to be scrapped.

Enter this salvage enthusiast and content creator – and he managed to fix it within eight hours.

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Written-off Category S Land Rover fix

Dean of Saving Salvage sourced original replacement parts from ASM Auto Recycling, avoiding cheaper imitations.

The shop had 300 flood-damaged Land Rovers from the 2023 Derby floods.

While the cost of new Land Rover parts is quoted at £7,000–£8,200 (around $8,700-$10,000), he managed to get his hands on a full front-end replacement in the correct color for just £3,000 (around $3,700).

The repair began by stripping the damaged front end and fitting the new parts, including a new bonnet, crash bar, and headlight brackets, and tweaking any misalignments.

Last but not least, its adaptive cruise control and parking sensors were transferred from the old setup to avoid reprogramming.

After eight hours there were no warning lights on the dashboard and the car was driving fine.

Write-off decisions

With a successful test drive with no mechanical issue in the bag within hours, several questions were raised.

“You’d never know this was a write-off,” he said.

Dean questioned why the Land Rover was categorized as ‘Cat S’, arguing that parts availability shouldn’t determine write-offs.

For the uninitiated, ‘Category S’ describes a car that has structural damage but can be repaired and returned to the road.

The ‘S’ stands for ‘structural’. 

However, he mentioned that AI is now being used in insurance assessments, which could be contributing to questionable decisions on cars that are written off.

“It’s crazy to think this car was written off over a bent bonnet and a bumper. Is it really about safety or just parts prices?” Dean said.

“AI is playing a bigger role in these insurance assessments…but is it making the right calls?”