Finding out number of previous owners without having to pay?
Discussion
Is there a way to find out how many owners a car has had without having to pay? I'm looking for a BMW - preferably an approved used one - and the BMW approved used search used to let you filter by number of owners, but this feature appears to have been removed from the search function. I don't have an issue with a 4-5 year old car having 2-3 owners, it's when one has very low mileage and loads of owners that you wonder if it's spent most of its life in bits with a perpetually unresolvable issue, being rejected by one unlucky punter after another.
I suspect you need to ask the dealer to check each one so maybe find a dealer you trust and then work with them to locate the car.
Technically, if it is approved used then they should look after you in making sure the car is good before you get it and also if anything does go wrong….the perpetually rejected car should be a pretty rare thing.
Technically, if it is approved used then they should look after you in making sure the car is good before you get it and also if anything does go wrong….the perpetually rejected car should be a pretty rare thing.
I was hoping there's just be a quick way to do it online rather than having to speak to someone every time I want to know so I can filter out dodgy looking cars at the early stages of the browsing process. While I would prefer an approved used BMW it doesn't follow that I won't buy one from an independent dealer, or even privately.
MitchT said:
I was hoping there's just be a quick way to do it online rather than having to speak to someone every time I want to know so I can filter out dodgy looking cars at the early stages of the browsing process. While I would prefer an approved used BMW it doesn't follow that I won't buy one from an independent dealer, or even privately.
https://www.webuyanycar.com/guides/selling-and-buying-cars/cars-previous-owners/bobsavage789 said:
At the risk of this thread veering off-topic: why not? Does the app display the wrong number of previous owners? Genuine question…
Oddly, the app does not show you the number of owners. But the web version does. The app is very basic, and quite often seems to crash or does not like uploading photos for adverts too.ads_4116 said:
bobsavage789 said:
At the risk of this thread veering off-topic: why not? Does the app display the wrong number of previous owners? Genuine question…
Oddly, the app does not show you the number of owners. But the web version does. The app is very basic, and quite often seems to crash or does not like uploading photos for adverts too.Example given:
ETA: Apologies: just realised you’re probably talking about listing a car for sale, rather than buying one…
Ah, just seen your edit. Yep, to view adverts already advertised, most will show the number of owners on the app.
But as per the OP's request, he is trying to find out number of owners on a car as he can't see it anywhere else (and there's no point paying for it if you can get it for free, haha!). Hence why if you ever need to find out number of owners from a reg of any car, simply use the web version of autotrader to imitate selling that car.
Also, this method will also tell you if the car is CAT A/B/C/D/S/N too!! Another free way of a HPI check, BUT it will not show whether there is any finance outstanding.
But as per the OP's request, he is trying to find out number of owners on a car as he can't see it anywhere else (and there's no point paying for it if you can get it for free, haha!). Hence why if you ever need to find out number of owners from a reg of any car, simply use the web version of autotrader to imitate selling that car.
Also, this method will also tell you if the car is CAT A/B/C/D/S/N too!! Another free way of a HPI check, BUT it will not show whether there is any finance outstanding.
Easiest way I have found is when you do a WBAC valuation on the website from a computer (not using the mobile site as far as I'm aware) it will tell you how many previous owners the car has under the assumptions.
I assume they are plugged into the latest DVLA data so unless there has been a keeper change that isn't updated on the DVLA system yet I assume their numbers are correct.
So in my case below there are 3 owners, me plus the 2 previous.
I assume they are plugged into the latest DVLA data so unless there has been a keeper change that isn't updated on the DVLA system yet I assume their numbers are correct.
So in my case below there are 3 owners, me plus the 2 previous.
Edited by Al U on Monday 10th April 01:49
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