Number of Owners

[Guvernator]

I've been browsing for a while now for "something for the weekend" and went to have a look at an car this weekend. The car looked pretty decent but when I looked at the logbook, alarm bells started ringing. The car is an 07 plate with only 27000 miles on the clock which is probably below average but it has already had 3 previous owners. If I bought the car I would be number 4.

Is there any reason why this maybe the case? I know some people don't hold onto cars for long but an average of one new owner a year seems a bit much. Would this put you off? I'm just worried that people moving the car on quickly might be hiding some sort of horror story. What's the PH consensus on number of owners in general? Am I right to be paranoid?

[Efbe]

french car?

[Guvernator]

Nope German, BMW 335i

[slomax]

if the garage put it as a pre-registered new car then thats one previous owner while in fact still being new as the garage owns the car. If it goes back to a garage/dealer at any point thats another owner. It could have only been owned by one or two people, but transfered from dealer to dealer and racked up many "owners"

[Kiltox]

I'm owner number 3 of my 07 23k mile Laguna and it's going in P/X on Wednesday.

It was pre-registered though, so that adds an owner.

Being a large petrol (albeit German) it's possible someone got rid of it for the same reason I'm getting rid of mine - fed up being bent over for fuel!

[fido]

I asked a similar question yesterday, so the 'fuel' reason seems a sensible one.

[4mo]

My passat (2.8) had 2 previous owners first had it for 5 years, the second owner only a matter of months. They had part chopped it back in at the same dealers they had purchased it from. They just weren't prepared for the fuel bill.

[Efbe]

speaking fo which, you are ready for the fuel bills of this bimmer?

[kentmotorcompany]

Judge the car on its overall merits. Yes the number of owners is a factor, but on its own its not a reason to reject an otherwise good car.


Lots of quite desirable sports cars and the like rack up a lot of owners because people aspire to own one, but once they have scratched that particular itch they move on to something else, or go back to something more practical/cheap to run.

Lots of cars are demos/pre registered when new, so they are two owners as soon the first private person buys it.

[Greenwich Ross]

Unless they're bought as an investment, a lot of sportier cars have a fair few owners because the sort of people who buy them like to try new things all the time. I've owned a Boxster S for just over a year but i'll probably chop that in for something else towards the end of the summer. Nothing wrong with the car, just fancy trying something else whilst we're still allowed to drive thirsty petrol cars!

[Greenwich Ross]

kentmotorcompany said:

Judge the car on its overall merits. Yes the number of owners is a factor, but on its own its not a reason to reject an otherwise good car.


Lots of quite desirable sports cars and the like rack up a lot of owners because people aspire to own one, but once they have scratched that particular itch they move on to something else, or go back to something more practical/cheap to run.

Lots of cars are demos/pre registered when new, so they are two owners as soon the first private person buys it.

Beat me to it!

[paoloh]

4 years old.

Pre reg plus 2 owners maybe.

A lot of sporty stuff changes hands regularly.

Not an issue IMO

[TheMoron]

slomax said:

if the garage put it as a pre-registered new car then thats one previous owner while in fact still being new as the garage owns the car. If it goes back to a garage/dealer at any point thats another owner. It could have only been owned by one or two people, but transfered from dealer to dealer and racked up many "owners"

I didn't think that dealers were listed as owners unless they actually used the car. That could just be a misconception of mine though.

TM

[Kiltox]

TheMoron said:

I didn't think that dealers were listed as owners unless they actually used the car. That could just be a misconception of mine though.

TM

This is true - a pre-reg car will have the dealer as an owner but when you part ex a car it becomes "in the trade" which is not recorded as an owner.

[DannyVTS]

Kiltox said:

I'm owner number 3 of my 07 23k mile Laguna and it's going in P/X on Wednesday.

It was pre-registered though, so that adds an owner.

Being a large petrol (albeit German) it's possible someone got rid of it for the same reason I'm getting rid of mine - fed up being bent over for fuel!

Laguna?
German?

[TheMoron]

Kiltox said:

TheMoron said:

I didn't think that dealers were listed as owners unless they actually used the car. That could just be a misconception of mine though.

TM

This is true - a pre-reg car will have the dealer as an owner but when you part ex a car it becomes "in the trade" which is not recorded as an owner.

Thought as much

TM

[Kiltox]

DannyVTS said:

Laguna?
German?

Read the post properly or f*ck off.

MY car drinks fuel, HIS car will drink fuel but is German so more people would put up with it (costs more to buy so you'd need to be sure you want it, etc etc)

[DannyVTS]

Kiltox said:

DannyVTS said:

Laguna?
German?

Read the post properly or f*ck off.

MY car drinks fuel, HIS car will drink fuel but is German so more people would put up with it (costs more to buy so you'd need to be sure you want it, etc etc)

[LC23]

DannyVTS said:

Laguna?
German?

I think he was on about the OPs car, which is a 335i.

[Kiltox]

LC23 said:

I think he was on about the OPs car, which is a 335i.