4 changes in owner in 7 months
Discussion
Red flag?
Looking at a 9 year old diesel high miler (122k). Priced around 3k, its a very high spec crossover that will be used probably once a week as a runaround (less than 2k miles annually). I'd naturally prefer a petrol but this is priced at trade-in value and ticks a lot of boxes. It's also low insurance and zero tax.
Car looks to be in great cosmetic condition, inside and out, diamond cut alloys look almost unmarked. Body panels appear straight and true but only going by pics. For what it's worth it is completely HPI clear too. Also conscious that cars can now be categorised U and X meaning damaged/repair history can go unrecorded on HPI register and possibly means cars change hands/ownership between salvage conpanies, repairers and possibly private resellers.
However, it had two owners for the first 8 years of It's life and then suddenly 4 owners in the last 7 months. This feels like a red flag but I have also seen cars where a husband transfers the ownership to the wife and then back again (although not as quickly as this one indicates). Also judging by the mileage register, 2nd owner lmay have used it as a private hire vehicle (possibly). No MOT recorded by them either in 2022 and mileage also jumps from 75k to 118k in 2 day
although I suspect this is a data logging error of sorts.
The other red flag appears to be the seller - English not his first language (not a flag in itself) but when I called him didn't give much info on the car - just told me to come view it. Also he has a couple of cars for sale on Facebook classifieds, so possibly an unregistered private trader. Car is also currently not insured on MID.
I'm naturally very wary of the car but also want to give it a chance. Car is located an hour away (so reasonable to go and view). Seller says he has the V5, so will check that thoroughly for ownership change details and matching his licence etc.
Ownership history:
Mileage history:
Looking at a 9 year old diesel high miler (122k). Priced around 3k, its a very high spec crossover that will be used probably once a week as a runaround (less than 2k miles annually). I'd naturally prefer a petrol but this is priced at trade-in value and ticks a lot of boxes. It's also low insurance and zero tax.
Car looks to be in great cosmetic condition, inside and out, diamond cut alloys look almost unmarked. Body panels appear straight and true but only going by pics. For what it's worth it is completely HPI clear too. Also conscious that cars can now be categorised U and X meaning damaged/repair history can go unrecorded on HPI register and possibly means cars change hands/ownership between salvage conpanies, repairers and possibly private resellers.
However, it had two owners for the first 8 years of It's life and then suddenly 4 owners in the last 7 months. This feels like a red flag but I have also seen cars where a husband transfers the ownership to the wife and then back again (although not as quickly as this one indicates). Also judging by the mileage register, 2nd owner lmay have used it as a private hire vehicle (possibly). No MOT recorded by them either in 2022 and mileage also jumps from 75k to 118k in 2 day
although I suspect this is a data logging error of sorts. The other red flag appears to be the seller - English not his first language (not a flag in itself) but when I called him didn't give much info on the car - just told me to come view it. Also he has a couple of cars for sale on Facebook classifieds, so possibly an unregistered private trader. Car is also currently not insured on MID.
I'm naturally very wary of the car but also want to give it a chance. Car is located an hour away (so reasonable to go and view). Seller says he has the V5, so will check that thoroughly for ownership change details and matching his licence etc.
Ownership history:
Mileage history:
Edited by type-r on Sunday 14th April 07:10
trickywoo said:
The owner changes are just the fly on top of the turd.
Mentally I wrote it off a while ago but part of me is curous to find out more info around this and if there is a legitimate(!!) reason for this.Price, spec and condition (based on pics) is what is feeding my curiosity.
Yeah I've factored that into account... same car is probably worth 4.5k (yes, another red flag). So would have 1.5k leeway should anything go wrong and probably not much depreciation afterwards. Could consider taking a warranty if reasonably priced and available.
The other reason it looks attractive on paper, is that it has a full sevice history up until 118k (or just after the 2nd seller flogged it last Sept). According to the seller it has 10/10 service history (whatever that means). If it's got reasonable tyres, brakes, newish exhaust, timing chain and/or clutch... might be worth a calculated punt if car drives true with no strange sounds/smells and electrics / AC function as they should?
The other reason it looks attractive on paper, is that it has a full sevice history up until 118k (or just after the 2nd seller flogged it last Sept). According to the seller it has 10/10 service history (whatever that means). If it's got reasonable tyres, brakes, newish exhaust, timing chain and/or clutch... might be worth a calculated punt if car drives true with no strange sounds/smells and electrics / AC function as they should?
Thanks for the feedback chaps. PH still does devil's advocate very well and I wanted and needed to hear 
It may sound like shiny car syndrome but I have owned enough cars in my time to have learnt to never let my heart rule my head. Yes there are a lot of red flags with this car concerning mileage, missing MOT, changes in very recent ownership etc but I'm also not trying to judge the car without seeing it. The seller is probably the most concerning but again don't want to judge before meeting them and seeing the car.
If the car is still available early part of next week, I'll probably still go to see it just satisfy my curiosity but approach it with a significantly long bargepole.
It may sound like shiny car syndrome but I have owned enough cars in my time to have learnt to never let my heart rule my head. Yes there are a lot of red flags with this car concerning mileage, missing MOT, changes in very recent ownership etc but I'm also not trying to judge the car without seeing it. The seller is probably the most concerning but again don't want to judge before meeting them and seeing the car.
If the car is still available early part of next week, I'll probably still go to see it just satisfy my curiosity but approach it with a significantly long bargepole.
Robertb said:
Looks like some kind of scam or fraud to me, possibly money laundering.
One quick ownership change would be reasonable, that many clustered together looks suspect. Layering funds.
Would be interesting to see if the other cars the fella is selling are also subject to multiple ownership changes.
That's a great call re: money laundering. Be interesting to see who the owners were, in particular the type of names. One quick ownership change would be reasonable, that many clustered together looks suspect. Layering funds.
Would be interesting to see if the other cars the fella is selling are also subject to multiple ownership changes.
I wasn't going to mention this but its more relevant now - the seller is Albanian, young, early 20's. I know many will see thay as a HUGE red flag but again while I'm conscious of Facebook classified being a rife with fake ads with, salvaged vehicles being repaired and flipped, private traders and with loads of Eastern Europeans active etc I always like to give people the benefot of doubt.
Checked the other car he has for sale by running it through the Autotrader new sale engine and it came back as 2 owners and HPI clear. So no apparent pattern perhaps.
Well the good news is, I've found a much better the car - petrol and only 39k for only £1700 more - which is even more of a bargain(!!) And hopefully less long term concerns about mafia after me or the car breaking down (well less risk hopefully). Guy is legit (spoke to him on the phone, selling on behalf of his daughter who is a teacher), car looks to be in similar excellent condition (from pics) than the one I was looking at, SAME high spec too!
To give an idea, I've been looking at this particular model for 2 months but with no luck. Very few on the market - Auto boxes are like hen's teeth and this particular year (2016) had a improved auto gearbox. My search was even more so when limited to the top line model - which included half leather seats, pan roof and sat nav. This model looked much better IMO than the facelift 6 months later, which added plastic trim around the wheelarches!?
Will reveal the car if I buy it tonight.
To give an idea, I've been looking at this particular model for 2 months but with no luck. Very few on the market - Auto boxes are like hen's teeth and this particular year (2016) had a improved auto gearbox. My search was even more so when limited to the top line model - which included half leather seats, pan roof and sat nav. This model looked much better IMO than the facelift 6 months later, which added plastic trim around the wheelarches!?
Will reveal the car if I buy it tonight.
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