About Us

Who are we?

 

Bramling Autos was established in 1985 by Peter Hayes a former Maths Teacher and student of Christchurch College Canterbury who has had a life long passion and interest in all things connected to motor cars. It is a small family business run by Peter and his partner Samantha that primarily deals in small, low mileage used cars priced between £1000 to £3000. The heart of our business is the sourcing of  very low mileage small economical cars in exceptional condition between 8 to 15 years old. We are totally honest and upfront and make no secret or apology that most of the cars we sell are Insurance Category N & S.

 

Insurance Category N & S. So what does this mean?

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A Category N is defined by the Code of Practice as "a repairable vehicle which has not sustained damage to the structural frame or chassis and the insurer/self-insured owner has decided not to repair". This is cosmetic damage that has had no structural impact on the vehicle. This could include simple chips, scratches, scrapes and dents in panels such as door, wings, bonnets, bumpers, boots etc. A Cat N vehicle will have been inspected by an appropriately qualified person, who has declared the vehicle has not sustained damage to the structural frame or chassis and is suitable for repair. 

 

A Category S is defined by the Code of Practice as "a repairable vehicle which has sustained damage to any part of the structural frame or chassis, and the insurer/self-insured owner has decided not to repair the vehicle".

This effectively means damage to the body shell of the car which can be as minor as a scrape on a sill or wheel arch. We have found that the lines between Categories S & N are often blurred and we have adopted the policy of not buying anything that is heavily damaged, why would we? 

 

Why do we sell these sort of vehicles?

 

We have been involved  in bodywork repairs, paintwork and restoration for 35 years and have a wealth of expertise and experience. We have an added bonus that the largest Salvage auction site in the UK is less than 5 miles away at Sandwich. They have over one thousand cars being auctioned weekly. With the large volume of cars we are able to "cherry pick" the best cars available based on 35 years experience and having bought literally thousands of cars over the years. In short we are able to buy those little gems that never normally come onto the open market, the ultra low mileage 'Grandparents' cars that normally pass onto family members. We buy these type of vehicles that have been very lightly damaged, we do not buy vehicles with heavy or structural damage. The cars that we sell are quite simply the best that we can obtain, they are far superior to those found in standard auctions or those that are part exchanged at dealers, this is simply because their owners had no intention of selling them, but circumstances of a light accident have dictated otherwise. If you think about it, most people decide to get rid of their cars because they have become or are likely to become troublesome, or because the mileage is getting too high.

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Why it is economic for us to repair Category N & S cars

 

We repair all our cars from our workshops at home, the whole process from buying, sourcing repair panels, panel beating, repairing, spraying, valeting, advertising and selling is all done in house by Sam and I. We use top quality second hand panels where necessary to replace existing damaged ones or new panels if second hand is unavailable. We do not have the overheads that large commercial Insurance repair body shops have. 

 

Why we are the Eco-Friendly option to buy cars from

 

In today's throw away society we are repairing damaged cars using second-hand parts to return them to the road.

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Why buy a car from us?

 

We have 35 years experience of buying and selling cars from our home in Bramling, we have an excellent reputation and we like to maintain it. We buy the best cars available, with the lowest mileages in the best condition. We stick to selling the most reliable small cars based on our considerable experience, hence why you will find many Nissan Micra's, Ford Fiesta's, Citroen C3's and C1's, Peugeot 107's, Honda Jazz's and Toyota Aygo's. These quite simply are our 'bread and butter' cars that we have learnt over the years provide good, economical and reliable transport.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope it helps you understand the ethos of our business. If you would like more information please email or phone.

 

Pete & Sam Hayes