I'd be looking at live data before I just accept it as "the cats are bad". Of course, you may find the previous owner did something..................... questionable. Which is what I think you are already implying.
OF course, 250k is a near record, which does make the idea that the cats are crap a bit more believable. Tricia in GA drove her's to either 218,000 or 228,000 and never did cats. The lady who bought it is doing cosmetic stuff to it, not sure what else she has planned. But for $1000, she got a good buy.