Questions about Racing Live

Hi gamers.
I started playing Racing Live just a few weeks before I upgraded my iPhone to an iPhone 6, using IOS8. Sadly, despite having backed up everything on iCloud, I was forced to start over with several of my games, including this one. I couldn't find a way to get back into my old character
First question: Does anyone know how to get an old character back if it gets lost in an upgrade or some other disaster?
I did restart over again, and I can race, do street jobs and all that, but I am having trouble buying things, trouble which I did not have before. In the cars tab, for instance, I don't see a "buy" link next to any of the cars. I know I have the money in my hand, the car I want is not locked because I'm too low in level, and I have double-tapped on the car title, the image next to the title, the dollar amount, and the number I own, namely 0. However, it seldom seems to work. Every now and then, I get lucky and manage to buy something, but I have more frustration than I do success. The same thing has happened every so often with real estate. Can someone please help me to know where I need to tap or what I might be doing wrong?
Third question: How does one go about making friends and joining crews or finding others to join your crew? I'm at level 10 now, but how long will there be people with only one crew member that I can race? Forgive me if I'm shamelessly begging, but if anyone could use an extra crew member or feels like being a crew member with me, my crew code is MHTPE4. My character's name is Elphaba.
Final question, I promise. Are any other games by this developer accessible, such as Castle Story or Bakery Story?
Thanks much for reading this.