HELP HELP HELP!!!!!!!!!

Hi ALL - Before I start, for the record now ive seen the group & all the advise available to prospective buyers I feel even more stupid than I did before in relation to my purchase!!!!

HERE GOES!!!
I bought my mk1 golf gti tin top 3 door in November in every wrong way you can, totally naivety. Ran a basic online check 'no colour change, no stolen record, not scrapped' so I Bought it. It broke down after minutes, the lads wouldn't take back, total nightmare, didn't do enough research was lewered in by clean lines no rust & a nice sounding fella, anyway got over that, got to my local garage vw specialist, got all sorted mechanically, declared sorn while off road for the repair, but it did come with tax & mot plus part of the v5 document which i sent off & was then issued a new one as registered keeper. Finally fixed & up n running £489 quid later, oil pump, battery allsorts i began to dream, sorted a garage, i extended tax by 6 months & got it insured. Or so I thought, ten days later the insurer sent me a letter saying they want to see v5 & mot as suspect could 'possibly' have been a cat A or B write off so i sent off a copy of the v5 logbook (which makes no mention of a write off & was issued to me with no problems), the new tax disk & the current mot certificate it had ?! Am I just panicking for nowt & expecting more bad luck or do you think once they see a copy of v5, tax disk & mot cert that will be it ?! no chance im that lucky i suspect.
Since receiving the letter I have since done the online test I should have done before buying it, stupidity i know !!! HPI says was a cat B write off in 1998?! Am I now going to have to sell for scrap after all the work & money?! The car now looks mint & runs but i wanted a legitimate good runner, my mechanic says he suspects it has been reshelled ?!well granted but reshelled all the same. if thats the case why would they keep the id of a cat B write off & not take the shell ID ? stolen shell?
still waiting to here back from the first insurer after posting details but have since contacted adrian flux who have found an insurer that will cover me but must have a vosa inspection (vic i assume) will it fail if reshelled? probably knowing my luck so far?! Hello are you still with me ?! :((((((
Basically my question is - having made this car look good & run through a vw specialist will i ever get to drive it legitimatly. If i cant insure it what are my options, sell a nice car that runs, honestly as a cat B to someone with a straight shell & let them switch the engine interior etc over or buy a legit shell myself & pay someone to do that for me, though ive pretty much put all my money into it already to do the latter ?! HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

PS - I KNOW IVE BEEN A NAIVE TOOL BUT ANY ADVISE HELP SUPPORT WOULD BE GREETED WELL.
Depressed Dan - Yorkshire

Well I feel for you Dan, I really do!

Now I'm not the expert on this but we do have a number of great members who are and I'm sure over the next few hours and days they will be able to give you the answers to all your questions!  

Even if you don't want to here them.  

But I wish you the best of luck and I will follow this post with interest!  

Oh nightmare mate, not good.

As far as I know, Cat A and B can never be put back on the road again. You'd have legal recourse with the seller of the car to you - although that would not necessarily be cheap or easy. Pending what paperwork they had they may never have known?

I hope it works out cleanly for you

thanks chaps yeah cat B says for spares or repairs but I just cant work out how a 1998 write off is still on the road / having log books issued, been regularly mot'd from 2006 according to online logs?!! Anyway chaps thanks for the replies & sympathy though i feel so stupid about the whole thing im expecting as much abuse but im prepared to take if someone gives me a nugget of advise or help.

Hey look it's easily done. Plenty of times I've not done an HPI or similar because I've trusted a seller, it sounds like you went about it the right way with some checks in the first place, so don't be too hard on yourself.

It does seem odd that if it is a Cat B it's survived and been MOT'd etc

Blimey that looks really tidy!!    

Hope that can stay on the road for sure  

if i get insurance id then have a v5, mot, tax & be insured. would that then be legit or would they just worm out of it if i had a bump or theft ??!!!
its a lovely looking thing hopefully folk can see why i bought it & forked out to get engine tip top.
The stress of it all has aged me !!! im open to offers if anyone wants a top quality donor car or even swop it for a cabby or tin top thats not as clean but is straight cos im a good old boy ???

the last pic is of it at the vw specialist that restored the engine

dreamtonightmare said

if i get insurance id then have a v5, mot, tax & be insured. would that then be legit or would they just worm out of it if i had a bump or theft ??!!!
its a lovely looking thing hopefully folk can see why i bought it & forked out to get engine tip top.
The stress of it all has aged me !!! im open to offers if anyone wants a top quality donor car or even swop it for a cabby or tin top thats not as clean but is straight cos im a good old boy ???

Sounds to me as if your giving up the fight even before the first bell has rung!

I'd say (no expert) but you must have some legal redress with the seller.
For starters, "It's not fit for purpose"!
What does the invoice say?
Does it say it was, "Sold as a collection of parts"?

Short story for you as an example, by the way I'm ex Trade.
We bought a nice clean 1.6 Cavalier once and sold it within days to a really nice couple.
18 months later they (the Guy) somehow discovered that the car had the 1.3 engine in it!
Log book showed 1.6 but if you checked the engine number with Vauxhall it was indeed a 1.3. it even drove like a 1.6.
Now our paperwork from our source said 1.6.
But we had to take the car back, full refund including the interest payments on the HP and pay compensation!  

I think you need to talk to a Lawyer about this!  

your right of course & yeah i could employ a solicitor to chase up these rogues but it was a private sale way back in november. i just accepted a very poor receipt on reflection with a barely legable signature on it. ive kind of accepted that ive been had and dont want to drag my brain through the stress of that anymore or spend more money trying to recoup it as i actually tried to take the car back immediatly when i thought it was just engine troubles i had. I either want to get the car on the road legit or recoup As much cash as i can back & accept a severe lesson learned. I know the bastards need to be stopped or punished in some way but for now i just want to resolve it on my own terms . I hope that makes some sense ?!! though from the outside id be saying the same as you

I am really gutted for you mate!
The car looks really nice, if that were me i'd be doing my nut in I can tell you!    

its really exhausted me, i got the engine work sorted. even bought valve caps for the wheels, dash vents the gti mats for the foot wells, got installed a vw heritage fuse box to get electrics all sorted. weekend comes to drive & i find out this. If i do sell for a donor someone wants to try by there own means to get on the road i hope folk will help spread the word so i can recoup as much back as possible

Can I ask where you bought it?

inboxed you mate