Need some help buying a car (UK)

[Bigbazz]

Previously I've always bought cars from friends or family members on the cheap, so I've never had to deal with purchasing a used car from a private seller or garage. I'm looking to buy a 2006/2007 Ford Focus ST3 and have just done a HPI check on one that I'm interested in. Now I know that the car is a CAT D, I'm also aware from the pictures that it does not have original wheels (It has RS wheels, instead of ST). The car is also pretty competitively priced (probably due to CAT D).

I need some advice about the HPI results and what they mean though. These are the CAT D details

Condition alert

1. • Recorded against VRM
   • Description FORD FOCUS ST3
   • Date 30/Nov/2010
   • Category D - Vehicle damaged but repairable - the insurer decided not to repair

And this also showed up.

Plate Transfer

• The current plate was transferred to this vehicle on 03/09/2013
  
  
• L******* was applied to this vehicle on 05/09/2011
  • This VRM has been recorded as having an outstanding finance agreement
  • An outstanding finance agreement was recorded on 10/09/2013 against a A4 SAL 20TDI 177 QTR BLK
• O****** (original and current plate) was applied to this vehicle on 07/12/2006

And then for the overview it sais

Vehicle Ownership
There are many circumstances where the 'owner' of a vehicle is not the 'keeper' as recorded on the DVLA V5C document. These circumstances are described in more detail in the notes accompanying each alert register.

• Police stolen : VRM not currently recorded by the police as stolen
• Insurance theft : VRM not currently recorded by insurers as a theft
• Outstanding finance : VRM not currently recorded as having outstanding finance
• Security watch : VRM not currently recorded as at risk on the security register
• Plate transfer : Interest registered against a previous plate

Vehicle Condition

• Condition alert VRM recorded by insurers as a 'total loss'
• Condition inspected VRM not recorded as a repaired insurance 'total loss'

I have to drive up to go see it, I've been looking around a lot for Focus ST2/ST3's with decent mileage in good condition and this one stood out for me, unfortunately I'm not experienced in the ways of the world when it comes to buying used cars and most the above is quite confusing to me.

 

[Clark]

CAT D, just steer well clear of it.

 

[Moglet]

I'm not sure if this breaks any site rules but a friend of mine is selling his 2006 ST-2 for £6,300 and he's always looked after it.

 

[Bigbazz]

I'm not sure if this breaks any site rules but a friend of mine is selling his 2006 ST-2 for £6,300 and he's always looked after it.

That's a bit out of my price range to be honest, I'm looking to spend around £5000 max. I had a Focus ST170 before this, bottom end on the engine went (150k miles).. Wasn't worth repairing so it's being sold for scrap. I've still not bought a car and I've been weighing up my options.

Looking at

Audi A3 Quattro (2004-2005 ish)
Focus ST170 (2003-2004)
Focus ST-2/ST-3 (2006-2007)
Honda Civic Type R "GT" (2007-2008)
Subaru Impreza WRX Estate (2007 ish)

It's not that I want a hot hatch either, but with my budget beggars can't be choosers, I've not really been able to find many cars that I like. I loved my ST170 before it gave up on life which is why I've been so interested in the ST2/ST3 models. . In any case I've been able to find fairly decent versions of the above in the price range.

It has really been driving me nuts, If I had a few notes to throw around I could get a pretty nice Audi, maybe even an RS6. Seen a few of them about.. But to be honest some part of me is saying just give up with the fast cars and get a diesel that will do 50mpg

 

[Famine]

unfortunately I'm not experienced in the ways of the world when it comes to buying used cars and most the above is quite confusing to me.

It has had three plates in its life.

From new (December 7th 2006) to September 5th 2011 it wore its original age-related plate of O?56???.
From September 5th 2011 to September 3rd 2013 it wore a personalised plate of L?????
From September 3rd 2013 to present it wore the current, unstated plate.

Shortly after the second plate was transferred to another vehicle, the new vehicle to wear it - an Audi A4 - picked up an outstanding finance agreement marker; whomever owned the A4 (and presumably plate) failed to honour a finance agreement for it. This does not affect the Focus.

On 30th November 2010, the Focus was involved in an incident where it received damage appropriate to a Category D insurance write-off. Category D is the least severe of these categories - only Cat C and Cat D cars can be returned to the road - and will have involved significant cosmetic damage that rendered the car uneconomical to repair. This means that the cost of replacing damaged components and returning to original condition exceeded 75% of the value of the car at that time. For a four year old Focus ST, this would be about £6,000 - which is a lot of damage, but not structural or the car would be Cat C or Cat B. It will probably have been stolen (security system replacement is pricey; also glass) and put through a hedge (a few bent panels needing replacement, plus paint; also glass) - they were stolen a lot. The insurance company will have deemed it beyond economical to repair, the owner will have bought the car off the insurers, repaired it and returned it to the road.

Aside from the fact you know the repairs were done cheaper than insurance rates (which isn't necessarily a bad/cheap job), category D cars are more expensive to insure.

 

[Bigbazz]

It has had three plates in its life.

From new (December 7th 2006) to September 5th 2011 it wore its original age-related plate of O?56???.
From September 5th 2011 to September 3rd 2013 it wore a personalised plate of L?????
From September 3rd 2013 to present it wore the current, unstated plate.

Shortly after the second plate was transferred to another vehicle, the new vehicle to wear it - an Audi A4 - picked up an outstanding finance agreement marker; whomever owned the A4 (and presumably plate) failed to honour a finance agreement for it. This does not affect the Focus.

On 30th November 2010, the Focus was involved in an incident where it received damage appropriate to a Category D insurance write-off. Category D is the least severe of these categories - only Cat C and Cat D cars can be returned to the road - and will have involved significant cosmetic damage that rendered the car uneconomical to repair. This means that the cost of replacing damaged components and returning to original condition exceeded 75% of the value of the car at that time. For a four year old Focus ST, this would be about £6,000 - which is a lot of damage, but not structural or the car would be Cat C or Cat B. It will probably have been stolen (security system replacement is pricey; also glass) and put through a hedge (a few bent panels needing replacement, plus paint; also glass) - they were stolen a lot. The insurance company will have deemed it beyond economical to repair, the owner will have bought the car off the insurers, repaired it and returned it to the road.

Aside from the fact you know the repairs were done cheaper than insurance rates (which isn't necessarily a bad/cheap job), category D cars are more expensive to insure.

Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for. That's about the best explanation I've managed to find. This car in question is still one of the ones I'm interested in, I suppose I will need to phone the insurance company to ask them before I decide to go visit it. The insurance on my ST170 should jump straight over if there is no issue with it being a CAT D, since an ST2/ST3 is cheaper for me to insure than an ST170 (by about £20).

Might be better for me to just avoid the CAT D altogether though, plenty of fish in the sea and that. Thanks!

 

[Bigbazz]

A little bit of an update, I decided to go with an Audi A4 Quattro (2.0T FSI S Line). Haven't had much of a chance to drive it yet other than the trip home, will try to get some pictures of it tomorrow! Have to say that I bought it on the "hope" that I would grow to like it as I'm so used to driving that old Focus ST170 that everything feels horrible to me. I'm also not sure if it's just because it's a bigger car but it also feels slower than the ST170 was (and it should be roughly the same, if not a little quicker).

Still, time will tell if I like it.. If not I could just get something else.