Am I being Unreasonable?

maddie67

My Mother passed away last year, leaving my brother and myself as Executors.  Its was a simple estate so we have only used solicitors for the house sale, and I have done everthing else myself, with my brother taking a backseat.

My Mum had a car that was hardly used, its about 8 years old with low mileage.  I asked if I could buy the car so I could keep it in the family and my brother agreed.  My Mum had only bought the car about 2 months before she became ill, she had driven less than 1k miles in it, I paid my brother the market value, which was the same as what my Mum had paid the garage for the car.

I had problems from the start, as the car had been standing for some time, whilst we were sorting out my Mums estate, I needed to buy a new battery, and had all kinds of problems getting it to start.  About 2 weeks later, after I had driven it a couple of times and driving around 150 miles, I discovered an oil leak.  A mechanic has advised it is a serious leak, his advice was 'get rid of it' as its going to cost a fortune to repair.  I feel absolutely devastated, I am currently paying tax and insurance on a car I cannot use.

My question is, would I be unreasonable to ask for some kind of contribution to the cost of getting this repair done, from the estate?  

Tigsteroonie

Sorry but I think YABU. You bought the car from the estate, it's now yours. If you didn't carry out appropriate checks before buying the car, as you might have done if buying from a third party, that's your lookout.

As for dealing with all the other aspects of the estate yourself with your brother doing 'absolutely nothing', again, you could have challenged this at the time but chose to accept the situation. How long would you hold that as a 'debt' against your brother to be claimed, a few months, a few years? 

maddie67

Tigsteroonie said:

Sorry but I think YABU. You bought the car from the estate, it's now yours. If you didn't carry out appropriate checks before buying the car, as you might have done if buying from a third party, that's your lookout.

As for dealing with all the other aspects of the estate yourself with your brother doing 'absolutely nothing', again, you could have challenged this at the time but chose to accept the situation. How long would you hold that as a 'debt' against your brother to be claimed, a few months, a few years? 

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, I should have done the appropriate checks, but my Mum had only bought the car from a reputable garage 3 months before she became ill, too late for me to go back to the seller unfortunately.  I did have the MOT done on the car and it was all good, but this is a fault that could not have been picked up.  Although my Mum passed away last year, all of this is very recent, the car developed this problem a couple of weeks after I paid for it and has stood on my driveway ever since whilst I work out what I can do with it.  I told my brother as soon as it happened but he wasnt interested.  I would not have paid so much for a car from a private seller, I would have gone to a garage to spend that sort of money, and I would have had a guarantee, I foolishly thought as the car was relatively 'new' and my Mother would have had the appropriate checks done, it would have been fine.

lincroft1710

Sorry, but don't think this is a reasonable request. If you had jointly inherited a house and decided to buy out your co-beneficiary, and after becoming the sole owner discovered the it needed a rewire, new roof and CH boiler would you then expect them to contribute towards these?

Robin9

I agree with Tigster - you bought the car as seen - didn't get an independent survey - low usage cars can be more of a problem that the high mileage ones.

Stubod

..sorry for your loss, but in answer to your thread title then yes, IMHO you are being unreasonable....

maddie67

lincroft1710 said:

Sorry, but don't think this is a reasonable request. If you had jointly inherited a house and decided to buy out your co-beneficiary, and after becoming the sole owner discovered the it needed a rewire, new roof and CH boiler would you then expect them to contribute towards these?

Thanks for your reply - no I wouldnt expect them to pay towards the house, but the valuation of the house would reflect any work needed.  My Mum had only bought the car about 2 months before she became ill, she had driven less than 1k miles in it, I paid my brother the market value, which was the same as what my Mum had paid the garage for the car.

Thrugelmir

maddie67 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Sorry, but don't think this is a reasonable request. If you had jointly inherited a house and decided to buy out your co-beneficiary, and after becoming the sole owner discovered the it needed a rewire, new roof and CH boiler would you then expect them to contribute towards these?

but the valuation of the house would reflect any work needed.  

Somewhat unlikely. Houses like cars require constant maintenance. A valuation isn't going to detail and cost every small issue that exists and make allowance for future repairs. Sometimes life deals you a bum hand. You just need to learn to take it on the chin. 

sevenhills

maddie67 said:

 I paid my brother the market value, which was the same as what my Mum had paid the garage for the car.

It sounds like you paid too much for the car. A car from a private seller is worth less than one from a garage.

But a deal is a deal. If there is other monies involved, does this really matter?

An oil leak and a new battery don't sound serious.

Carrot007

maddie67 said:

I paid my brother the market value, which was the same as what my Mum had paid the garage for the car.

Unfortunatly the garage price (and for such an aged car) is never realistic. Unless it is the brand gharage and warrented as good.

You also fell foul of the countrys obsession that low milage is a good rather than very bad thing. Under 6K a year and "barge pole" is how to think. (unless there is proof of servicing twice a year due to the extra stress or proof of only a few long trips to make the milage).

However as said before yes you are being unrealistic. You though it was good also. You now know better. No one elses mistake.

Grumpy_chap

Apologies for your loss.

You've not said what type of car it is but, assuming it is not an exceptionally exotic car, a new gear box shouldn't be that large a bill in the context of then having an 8 yo car with low mileage.  What quote were you given?

I assume the mechanic confirmed the oil leak is gear box oil, not engine oil.  Or is that engine oil leak in addition to the gear box?

Have you obtained a second quote for the repair?

Ultimately, you have purchased a car in a private sale and have no come back on the seller, so I don't see that you can pursue the Estate.

maddie67 said:

My Mother passed away last year, leaving my brother and myself as Executors.  Its was a simple estate so we have only used solicitors for the house sale, and I have done everthing else myself, with my brother taking a backseat.

My Mum had a car that was hardly used, its about 8 years old with low mileage.  I asked if I could buy the car so I could keep it in the family and my brother agreed.  My Mum had only bought the car about 2 months before she became ill, she had driven less than 1k miles in it, I paid my brother the market value, which was the same as what my Mum had paid the garage for the car.

I had problems from the start, as the car had been standing for some time, whilst we were sorting out my Mums estate, I needed to buy a new battery, and had all kinds of problems getting it to start.  About 2 weeks later, after I had driven it a couple of times and driving around 150 miles, I discovered an oil leak.  A mechanic has advised it is a serious leak, his advice was 'get rid of it' as its going to cost a fortune to repair.  I feel absolutely devastated, I am currently paying tax and insurance on a car I cannot use.

My question is, would I be unreasonable to ask for some kind of contribution to the cost of getting this repair done, from the estate?