The car I bought second hand nine months ago has died - have I any recourse?

Even if you did enjoy some measure of legal recourse, what do you expect nine months after-the-fact?

You cite the brake drums are "worn close to the maximum diameter". That's certainly not beyond the realm of reason for a used vehicle, nor is it unfair or deceptive unless the sales contract established a certain amount of drum depth remained. As for the other items, they can and do begin to leak at any point of their ownership; and the fact is that not all items have frequent service intervals. On the other hand, certain other items, like oil changes, should be frequent; and nine months is an excessively long time between oil changes regardless of how little you may have driven the vehicle in-between.

There's absolutely no reason to expect that the previous owner should be responsible for these items, that they had previous knowledge, or deliberately failed to disclose them. And unless the seller explicitly agreed to provide a warranty (something not very common with a £990 vehicle) or deliberately represented some material aspect of the vehicle (a fraud), just how much responsibility, legal or otherwise, do you believe the previous owner should assume for what is, at the end of the day, either a very used, very old, or very worn vehicle.

Automobiles are complex machines with thousands of moving parts that are subject to tremendous temperatures, pressures, energy, and stress. Even the best-made, best-maintained vehicles have both consumable and integral components that are going to require repair or replacement or just wear-out; and the costs associated with these facts are simply part of owning an automobile that, if you're not prepared or in a position to accept and assume, are probably best avoided altogether.

It also lends great credence to the adage, "Penny wise, pound foolish."

Best of luck. I hope this helps.

If you live in the uk try the consumer direct website they're a branch of trading standards and have a phone number on there so you can call and get advice. I know when a vehicle gets serviced the mechanic should the mechanic is supposed to tell you what needs doing or what might need doing, but most of them just change the spark plugs, the oil, the oil filter and air filter and call it a service.

You probably have an oil leak from a gasket on your engine, I know people who have sold cars on because they have an oil leak on the engine, they put in a fluid called stop oil, which thickens the oil and stops it leaking for a few hundred miles, by that time you have had the car for a couple of months and put it down to your own misfortune and wear and tear of a second hand car.

I just found something for you on the consumer direct website :

Your rights when buying from a dealer

When buying from a dealer, the law says a car must be:

''Of satisfactory quality. It must meet the standard a reasonable person would regard as acceptable, bearing in mind the way it was described, how much it cost, the age and the mileage on the vehicle. Amongst other things, this covers the appearance and finish of the car, its safety and its durability. The car must be free from defects, except when they were pointed out to you by the seller.

As described. If the advert states “air conditioning and CD player” then the car should come with these features and they should be working.

Reasonably fit for any normal purpose. It should get you from A to B.

Reasonably fit for any other purpose you specify to the seller. For example, towing a caravan.

These rights are not affected by any mechanical breakdown insurance (which is often sold by dealers if the manufacturer's warranty has run out), guarantee or warranty giving additional protection. Once a trader gives a warranty it becomes an agreement on its own, but it is not your legal right to demand a warranty from the trader.

If you inspect the car, or someone does so for you, the dealer may not be liable for any faults which should have been uncovered by the inspection. It's a good idea to get a description of the vehicle's condition from the dealer: ask whether there is a pre-sale inspection checklist.''

So in your opinion, oil leaks cannot possibly start within NINE MONTHS of the time you bought it? its been 3/4 of a year since you bought the car. The oil leaks could have very easily have started in that period of time.

Brake drums wear. That is what they are designed to do. It is perfectly reassonable to assume that the brake drums were within legal tolerances at the time you bought the car. Now, after nearly a year's driving they have worn to the point of needing replacement.

There is no way to prove the condition of the car nearly a year ago. How do you propose to prove that oil leaks existed nine months ago? How do you go about proving the condition of brake drums - a wear and tear part - back in Feb? You can't. Whether they were present at the time is irrelevant since you have no way to prove this.

Fix the car or don't - thats your recourse.

It's an old car that you bought second hand and that was nine months ago. If the dealer gave you any sort of warranty that hasn't expired yet then you could take it back to them - this is very unlikely, nobody in their right mind would give a warranty this long for such an old car. Unfortunately, the repair costs are almost certainly your own problem, not theirs.

I assume you are saying this is the dealers fault, because all of those problems existed at the time he sold you the car? If that is true, you may have action to take against your own mechanic, who inspected the vehicle before you bought it, and missed all those problems. Of course if you didn't have an independent inspection, then chances are you bought it as is, lacking any written warranty.

If those problems were not present on purchase, then they happened on your shift, and they are yours to fix.

So, recourse, probably not.

Still if you have a written contract and you are just waiting on the title I wouldn't pay him anything and let him your talking to a lawyer

Unfortunately unless you bought a warranty from the dealer you only have 90 days of recourse.

The price of the car is irrelevant (sp), it maybe worth taking it back to the original selling dealer to see if he would get the repair done at trade price for you as goodwill.

Well you are better off selling it for the few pennies you can get and stay away from Renault's, they are amoung the most unreliable car manufactures about.

If you can prove in a court of law that the problems existed 9 months ago and you have not caused them yourself since you purchased the car, you MAY have a case.

If you can't prove it, you don't have a case. Trading Standards can't help you.

Good luck...

unless they had in writing the car was inspected with no problems you are out of luck. Next time have someone who knows cars go with you. I know what to look for when buying a car.