[yesterjay]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 07 November 2023 at 13:13

[Mr Tidy]

I had to vote for 7, because the BMW Z4M Coupe I bought almost 3 years ago had 7 previous keepers and some modifications I liked as well as others I have removed!

7 seemed OK for a car like that on the basis that it isn't too practical as a daily, and may have been an itch that needed to be scratched so 7 in 13 years didn't seem excessive.

But it's a keeper for me.

[QJumper]

For me it's less about the number of owners and more about how long they owned the car. Eg if a 12 year old car had only 3 owners, but the last two had it for 1 year or less each, then I'd suspect it was a dud they were passing on. The flip side is a one owner car, where after 10 years the owner might be getting bored of it and less likely to be spending money on proper maintenance.

In the end it's about condition and whether it's been maintained properly. Whether it's been serviced to schedule (at least regular oil changes), has matching, decent tyres, stuff fixed at MOT instead of repeated advisories, all give an indication of how well looked after it's been.

So who knows? The number of owners is just something to be taken in context with all the other information.

[bearman68]

I run a business leasing used cars. Some change hands every 4 or 5 months. Hence some of my cars have 15 or more owners. But they all run, and are well maintained.
So how does that fit in?

(I know, it's a bit of a niche argument, but still......)

[brillomaster]

What do these options even mean? You might as well said. 'How many owners is too many?' A. None. B. One. C. Twelve. D. A giraffe. E. None of the above. F. Monument valley.

If its a boring economy car, maybe a new owner every 5 years. If its a sports car, new owner every 2-3 years.

My boxster was 21 years old when i bought it. No idea how many owners it had, bought it on condition.

[Pistom]

I really don't see number of owners being part of the buying criteria.

One owner who has abused the car or a new owner every 6 months as the car didnt suit them, got job promotion, lost their job, illness.

[MikeM6]

I think the number of owners does have an impact, as for some cars they are bought to experience but at there flogged quickly when buyers remorse really kicks in. How much maintenance is skipped between sales? Traders who stamp the book with an oil change, but just chuck anything in there that nearly matches? How many sins are hidden for the sale?

I would expect a sports or supercar to have more owners that a normal car, but even then it's good to form a chronology of its lifetime.

[minky monkey]

brillomaster said:

What do these options even mean? You might as well said. 'How many owners is too many?' A. None. B. One. C. Twelve. D. A giraffe. E. None of the above. F. Monument valley.

If its a boring economy car, maybe a new owner every 5 years. If its a sports car, new owner every 2-3 years.

My boxster was 21 years old when i bought it. No idea how many owners it had, bought it on condition.

I'd probably pass if it was previously owned by a giraffe.

[Gad-Westy]

bearman68 said:

I run a business leasing used cars. Some change hands every 4 or 5 months. Hence some of my cars have 15 or more owners. But they all run, and are well maintained.
So how does that fit in?

(I know, it's a bit of a niche argument, but still......)

Does the registered owner not stay as the lease company normally or is it different with used cars?

[vikingaero]

Mrs V.'s 660cc Mitsubishi i-car had 5 owners when we bought it at 3 years old. I think people went for it because of its cutesy looks not realising the limitation of it as an everyday car - for instance you can't do motorways in it when it's windy.

[Dannbodge]

Pretty sure my E36 328i was on about 12 when I got hold of it. I know it's changed hands at least once more since I sold it.

Was a really well looked after example so it didn't bother me.

[Tyre Smoke]

minky monkey said:

I'd probably pass if it was previously owned by a giraffe.

Only if there was no opening sunroof though.

[Pistonheader101]

sports cars - something with one a year

[Ice_blue_tvr]

I've owned cars with 8-12 previous owners.

The only downside I really found was that it increases the chances of the car having been owned by a smoker at some point.

The worst cars we've had in our family are "one lady owner from new". Probably the worst maintained cars by far.

[bearman68]

Gad-Westy said:

Does the registered owner not stay as the lease company normally or is it different with used cars?

It's not the way we do it, since we tend to lease to (I'm trying to think of the right word here), to people who would not normally be able to afford a car. We do the maintenance, and the customer drives it. Usually in congestion zones, outside the posted speed limit, in bus lanes, and then park it in non parking spots. I don't want to deal with the ensuing complexity, so make the customer the registered keeper.

[Krikkit]

Needs another option for "Don't care" - once it's out of warranty I couldn't care how many owners it has, spec and condition is everything.

[ARHarh]

Won't make any difference. Could be one owner who never did anything to it, or 10 owners who all spent £1000's fixing every little issue. As said buy on condition, or if you are fussy have a look at the probably dodgy service history. Oil change when needed no other work apart from getting it an MOT, or if dealer MOT getting the guy to not put any advisories on the MOT.

[MissChief]

Krikkit said:

Needs another option for "Don't care" - once it's out of warranty I couldn't care how many owners it has, spec and condition is everything.

+Service history but yes, those three are what I look for.

[66HFM]

I think it also depends on the age and value of the car, if its under £2k I'm not that worried around the number of owners and also if 15 years old its less of an issue.

I did once have a brand new MGF which due to a break-up with my live in girlfriend I had to sell after 6 months... it was on order for longer than I kept it (when they had just come out)... so get there may be fully justifiable reasons why the number of owners may be high... BTW I got my money back when I sold it due to lead times...

It does make you think in your head if there is a reason why a 5 year old car has had 5 owners....

[Chamon_Lee]

yesterjay said:

To add to the intrigue, looking at a five owner 12 year old FSH.

I was going to post a reply to see its more about how many its had over a time period but also how long each person might have had it too.

You can sometimes gauge that from talking to the seller and they disclose the last person had it for this long and the person before that had it for X amount of time.