Puma Woes

[seanrgb]

Righto get ready for this one ..Sitting comfortably I'll begin

My son has just bought an S reg 1.4 Puma and after advising him he totally ignored me and went ahead and bought this particular car ..Reason I advised him not to buy it was it had no MOT and No Tax ..he went and looked at it in the dark and paid £450 for the pleasure (You know where this is going )
Now he got the car to my house and on first looks not too bad ..Good points engine has only done 77.000 miles and doesn't overheat the Clutch is good as is the gearbox it has brand new shocks on the front ..new drop links and a new wishbone on the drivers side ..the Driveshafts are good also it has a new back box so far so good
Right the bad the headlamp was smashed rectified with £30 got another from ebay front bumper cracked and the drivers wing looks a bit off ..theres rust in the usual places all surface so lots of sanding down required overall condition not bad about average .
Then I lifted up the drivers carpet and found this

After 3 ''Yabba Dabba Do'' as Fred Flintstone would say OK that's bad I don't know if that's where the chassis number was ? (I'm a Cougar owner by the way please feel free to hiss at me )
But having said that around that rusted bit the rest is solid

Now today I have this niggley feeling so I do an HPI Check and it comes back as a CAT B Insurance write off ...So any advice on what to do on this would be greatly appreciated

 

[Danielle an Dave]

is it possible to get back in touch with the seller

 

[crispy1980]

if it was cat b it should never have gone back on the road.cat b should be stripped for parts only. pretty sure its illegal to sell a car like this so get back in touch with the owner

 

[yippeekiay]

Ack!!!. How do you know it was a Cat B??...by the reg plate alone or did you find some vin info on the car itself.

I'd be getting in touch with the previous owner and asking some questions with a not so subtle hint regarding contacting the police - in fact I think I'd ring them anyway to see exactly what you have. It's law iirc that you have to disclose if a car has been subject to an insurance claim i.e. if it's on the VCAR register. Plus as far as I know a Cat B should have been scrapped with only it's parts being able to be sold on if salvageable. Basically meaning it can't be re-registered with the original registration number until a VIC test has been done proving most parts have been used from the original vehicle :?

From first impressions from what I can see this car looks like it has been ringed and the people who ringed it did or didn't realise the original car was a Cat B??? I suspect they did and if that hole is where the vin was that is pretty good evidence for it.

Really hope you get this sorted. Unfortunately I would be pessimistic at this early stage.

 

[seanrgb]

Cheers for all the comments ..I must add though If I was buying this car I would of walked away well actually driven away at high speed in the cougar :grin: ... But my son ignored my advice totally as in going to see the car in the dark as in 9pm a big no no ..Buying the car with no tax or MOT Unless it was for spares but again a big no no ..and after talking to him I now find out that the seller bought the car round to a car park ..he didn't even go to his/her house again a big no no
As for getting the police involved I'll be phoning my mate up today (I work nights) as he is a Traffic Officer at GMP for some advice on this matter
Oh and the picture used for this car ..Well take a look because I'm sure its one of the members here ..so they lifted the picture off this site !! CLICKY CLICKY TO SEE YOUR PICTURE
Having said all this later on today as my son has put it on my main driveway I'm out with the jack to check to see if its a cut and shut hopefully it isn't as my son was told that this car was bought down from Scotland which corresponds with the MOT and Ford service history ..The car doesn't look bent in anyway and as I said the car looks like its been on many a salty clad road because of the rust (Surface) .. I have phoned up the DVLA And Vosa and form filling awaits for the VOSA VIC Check
I'll post some pictures up of the front end and of course the floor once I get the seat out and the carpet up ..Its going to be a long day :lol: :lol: :lol: Wish me luck I'm going in

 

[Ian G]

Looks like the car you have has had its ID removed so it be rung on to the cat B identity.

Cat B can't be returned to the road so you won't be able to tax or MOT it anyway. Not 100% on the law but I think you need to have the appropriate authorisations to trade in them because they're technically hazardous waste and not a car any more. Obviously that relates to the original accident damaged car and not yours. Whether that specific vehicle can be returned to the road will depend whether its original ID can be established.

If he bought it from a car park via a PAYG mobile then you may find it difficult to get back in touch with the seller.

Police will probably take the car off you as that ID-less chassis probably belongs to an insurance company who paid out on it originally.

Tell your son he's been a silly boy :|

 

[seanrgb]

Well just been outside and took lots of pictures and this car is rotten ..I've spoken to my Traffic officer Police mate of mine and he basically has said that my son needs to go to the local nick and report this to see if there is a police marker on this as a stolen car ..The DVLA Have said that its a Cat B insurance write off ..VOSA have said the same .
I just spoke to my son and he doesn't want to go to the Police and wants rid of the car as in can you get a scrapman to take it away ... so I'm at a total loss what to do as he borrowed £250 off me to buy this looks like I'm not going to get this back now well Ill take off the light I bought and sell that :lol: ..He indeed has been a idiot in buying this and realised it now as he thought he knew it all and stuck up his two fingers to all my advice , now he knows that good old Dad does talk sense he has learned the hard way .
But all is not lost from this episode as I now know what to look for when he gets his next Puma and next time I'll be going with him in daylight and will be doing a check before any cash is handed over ..I might go to the police myself as its on my driveway to find out what I can do with this car as there is some good spares on it LOL
I'll shove up some pictures as I have taken lots of them

 

[Ian G]

Where abouts are you?

I'm after the final drive from a 1400 gearbox :lol:

 

[seanrgb]

Essex the Engine and box have only covered 77k and the clutch is good :lol: :lol: :lol:
And got a drivers side headlight if your interested :wink:

 

[fatdonger]

Best option is to strip the car for parts probably get some of the money back ...... but I guess you will need to confirm if this car has been reported as stolen and it's current status first.

 

[seanrgb]

Best option is to strip the car for parts probably get some of the money back ...... but I guess you will need to confirm if this car has been reported as stolen and it's current status first.

Yep I'll pop down the police station before I do anything .. see what happens

 

[yippeekiay]

Shame he's had to learn the hard way like this but we were all the same at that age and thought we knew everything about everything. I keep telling my son I've been there and got a whole wardrobe of t-shirts for numerous things yet he still thinks he knows better.

Thankfully when they're our age they'll realise that good old Dad new exactly what he was talking about - and they will then have the same trouble we had when they try to give their own kids the benefit of their wisdom.

Have to say a little common sense was all that was needed to start the alarm bells ringing for anyone but I'm pretty sure he was probably blinded by the signs as he was buying a car for himself. My son keeps showing me cars he wants to buy and you wouldn't go anywhere near them if you had half a brain!!!

I remember those days well myself as I've bought some complete skips in the past.....lol.

 

[seanrgb]

True next time he wants me to go with him in daylight ..least we know what to look for now
He is going to sell the car as a Cat B write off or we might break it and get the shell crushed shame to take one of these off the road ..but good news for the rest of you one less = better price
But his next car will be another Puma as its a nice looking car the 1.4 is a good raspy sounding engine and as he has only passed his test good to insure

 

[yippeekiay]

Glad he's not put off as it could have been any car and at least the Puma still looks up to date and handles as good as any despite the last ones being made 10 years ago.

 

[seanrgb]

Right then as promised the pictures I have a lot of these to show off on this car

So far so good doesn't look too bad ...but now here it comes

Now the Rust on the back underneath have to say all this was surface rust I did bang all of this with a screwdriver and is solid

 

[seanrgb]

Right heres the front drivers side that gave me that niggley feeling about this car as I first showed there was that hole in the floor well I lifted the door sill Result was this the rust was worse

Underside of the hole on the chassis

Now the Driverside wheel well with some new parts

Last but not least the engine bay

That completes my CAT B Insurance write off pictures if any more are required I'll post them up :grin:

 

[orgone_accumulator]

Glad you are taking this "setback" so well.

Makes my flood problem pale into insignificance...

Cheers

Nick

 

[seanrgb]

Glad you are taking this "setback" so well.

Makes my flood problem pale into insignificance...

Cheers

Nick

Well yes and no as its my son who bought it ..But he borrowed £250 from me to buy it ..But the good news is these pictures can be used by someone who is thinking of buying a puma and have to say looking at the drivers footwell would be a good idea as that hole could happen to anyone of us ..Next time he goes to look at one this will be my first point of call

 

[slayllian]

something really do sent look right about that passenger side rear wing, strip it down and sell the bits off, hopefully you will manage to get quite a bit of the money back

 

[seanrgb]

Well he has shoved it up on Ebay as a CAT B Write off with no V5 .. One guy seems interested .. HERE
By the way your restore led me to joining up here what a grand job you are doing on your car very useful post IMHO :wink: