Wife has bought a Cat S car

[CharlieH89]

Where do I begin.
She bought from a so called dealer. Met not at his premises.
Paid via bank transfer. Didn’t get a receipt.
Hasn’t replied to a text asking for the receipt or for the receipt for a clutch that was done 6 months ago.

I had nothing to do with the purchase as I warned her off a Mini.
Alarm bells ring in my head after he doesn’t reply to her texts and calls so I do a HPI check and bingo, category S write off earlier this year.

My head is fked as this is a car that she will be driving the baby around in.

So no reply from this so call dealer, do I first and
Foremost get this car MOTd straight away?

I’m up at 5am. Don’t want to confide in parents/ bro in law/ father in law at this time because it will just keep them up too and nothing can be done at this time of night.

fk!

[CharlieH89]

Car S occurred 22nd February 2019 and theMOT passed with no advisories 14th May.

[CharlieH89]

2010 Mini.
Didn’t pay too far off the price of a similar one.
We don’t know what damage was caused as the Cat S detail wasn’t included in the advert.

[CharlieH89]

Nickp82 said:

Probably worth spending two quid to check it on vcheck.uk as will probably show pics from when it was auctioned of car with damage.

Thanks Nick. I was expecting worse. This was the only damage.
I guess the father in law can have the rear bumper off tomorrow or the day after and inspect it

[CharlieH89]

Thanks all
I’ll ask my father in law to take the bumper off today. I’m in work and it’s my wife’s first day back at work after 12 months maternity.
Probably pay for a new MOT to see if it brings anything up then we will take it from there.
I still haven’t told anyone as my wife is up getting the baby ready before heading to work. I’ll tell her tonight.

Davie said:

Damage looks minimal... Cat S likely as the rear panel may have taken a knock, but again not exactly a huge impact. I'd either sell it and take a hit and learn from it or carry on with it, safe in the knowledge the damage 'appears' pretty minimal and on an older car, it doesn't take much to become an uneconomical repair at insurance prices. That said, a Mini for child duties is a bold choice... they're not exactly vast inside?

She gets the train to work. So it’s basically a means of transport from our house > nursery/ her parents house/ station which are all located within 1.5 miles
The pram fits in the boot which was the main factor.

[CharlieH89]

Jamescrs said:

Looking at the Vicar check there's a better than reasonable chance that the car could be absolutely fine for your wife to drive. If the photo represents the only impact that caused the car S I doubt it would have cost much to put right, or worst case scenario would cost you much to put right with used parts if needed.

It's not ideal I know but from the initial post it sounds like you are urinating in the wind with the dealer and are likely to end up covered in it

I think when I seen the cat S description I was seeing the worst, a mangled heap with the engine on show.
I do know that the residual value of it will be pretty low come resale time but it was a car bought to last us 2-3 years so if it does us that long i'll be happy.

To make sure it is structurally safe is the most important thing now. I was even thinking about taking the car to work myself today and leaving her to take the Fiesta the mile journey to her parents

[CharlieH89]

Sheepshanks said:

There might be more damage than appears but that could have easily been fixed without going through insurance and you’d be none the wiser.


I would make the wider point about what sort of relationship you have where your wife buys her car without knowing what she’s doing and without any reference to you, and then you get all stressed about it?

I told her to avoid buying a Mini after reading too many stories about their unreliability.
She stuck with wanting one because she is a female so I said the purchase is on you. You buy it, you research the car etc
Stupid decision now hey?!

Joe5y said:

CharlieH89 said:

2010 Mini.
Didn’t pay too far off the price of a similar one.
We don’t know what damage was caused as the Cat S detail wasn’t included in the advert.

Wasn't in Abingdon / Kingston Bagpuise was it?

No

Arnold Cunningham said:

Hand in your man card on the way out the door.

CharlieH89 said:

I’ll ask my father in law to take the bumper off today.

He’s retired, has a lot more time on his hands than me
I have to go to a funeral later on too, unfortunately.

[CharlieH89]

swagmeister said:

Tells wife to do what she wants - having nothing to do with it.
Wife agrees to meet in random place, no receipt for car, no invoice, no sales paperwork.
No checks on car.

Now OP is losing his mind.

Next time help the wife, buy the car jointly, do your research.

In this instance you just need to suck it up I reckon.

Yup, I’ve got took ownership of the fk up.

Leylandeye said:

Gad-Westy said:

I don't see what is to be gained by inspecting it etc. If the car is Cat S, it's Cat S and that should have been made clear at point of purchase. You'd therefore pay a lot less for the car. If that stuff didn't happen, then you have recourse with the dealer. But don't text them. Either call or go there to discuss. If they're still an arse about it, take legal action if you wish.

Really good, sensible advice.

This will be what happens if the structural damage is significant.
Thankful for the link given which directed me to the salvage site. It’s helped me massively to see where the issue is which I’ll have investigated.

I’ve took ownership of my action and I’ll not be coming back to the thread now to avoid more people not reading the whole thread and trying to put me down again.
Cheers