Keeper Discrepancy Help

[ashleyman]

Just wanting some advice / general thoughts on how people would feel & react to current events.

Bought a car - 2018 Audi RS3 - was looking for a car with very specific options and history with a reasonable owner count. Owner count was a big factor in my decision making as I didn't want a vehicle that had been owned by many, maintained by none. Eventually after about 4 months of searching came across a car that ticked all my boxes, had the options I wanted and seemed to be well looked after. Went to view the vehicle and test drive and then came away to think about it as it was well above my budget. I did a lot of research, a lot of due diligence and eventually managed to negotiate the car for what I felt was a good price.

Asked the seller (a dealer) about owner count at the beginning of my enquiry who confirmed : "The car comes with 1 former keeper", I also subsequently asked again via WhatsApp and said: "And just to triple check I would be second owner/keeper?" and the answer from the dealer was "You would be the 2nd keeper"

Long story short, bought the car. V5 has come through and says No of previous keepers: 2. So I am clearly not the second keeper, I am now the third.

Owner count was one of the biggest reasons I bought this car - alongside spec. I even bought this car knowing I would have spend a bit of money to make it perfect as it had a small dent and one of the wheels needed a refurb. But considering the price I paid I was happy to cover those small defects.

Obviously we can't change the amount of keepers on the car but I feel like I have been mis-sold. I don't really want to reject the car and hand it back but I also don't want to be taken for a mug having been lied too.

Obviously not looking for compensayshion for the sake of it but as owner count was such an important deciding factor for me, is there anything I can do?

It also doesn't help that the car pretty much died on me last night and is now in with Audi for diagnostics. Even in this mad world of current used car values do st dealers exist.

[Crusoe]

Quite easy for one previous keeper to be two entries in the log book e.g. buy on a company car lease and then make the final payment to buy at the end, same driver but two registered keepers. Same for preregistration at thr dealer, moving from different private plates can add an entry too etc. Two keepers v one isn't a huge difference.

[MattyD803]

I'd say not to worry too much. You could always contact the supplying dealer to see if they recognise the vehicle as being pre-registered or indeed even a demo car? (The latter I wouldn't be overly happy with personally). Have you googled the reg plate to see if it pulls up any previous sales pics? I think there used to be a website which searched for this for you?

Nonetheless, the seller absolutely lied to your face, as he would have seen the log book which told him 1 previous keeper to the then current owner - but hey, car sales people....not exactly unusual if it secured him a sale.

[ashleyman]

So I believe it was:

Sold by Audi to owner 1, who sold it to a third party dealer. (Keeper 1)
Third party dealer sold it to person X who happened to also own a car dealership (Keeper 2)
Person X sold it through his dealership to me when I bought it. (Keeper 3)

I was led to believe it was bought for stock by Person X and not used as a personal car which also seems like it was an outright lie also. Love it.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I think if I was expecting one previous & it was 16 I'd be miffed. As said, one can become two quite easily.

('er indoors bought her company car...V5 shows 2 keepers, but effictively it's only one really)

[Browter]

Is there really any difference between a car having 1 or 2 previous owners? Surely service history is a far more important factor

[mcflurry]

Before you bought the car the logbook would show only 1 previous owner..

[ashleyman]

Browter said:

Is there really any difference between a car having 1 or 2 previous owners? Surely service history is a far more important factor

You're right service history is important. So is maintenance. I was specifically trying to avoid a car that had had a new keeper every year who binned it off before the bills got big and they couldn't afford it. I thought by going with a very low owner count I would get a car that had been well looked after rather than a tick box for someone else's bucket list.

As for any difference. I don't think so but either way I've been lied too.

[GranpaB]

Surely if it had one former keeper (bought new), he sold it and the current owner is/was the second? Therefore it has had one former keeper ( the buyer from new)?