Motoring Discussion > What difference does the number of owners ....	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Hard Cheese	Replies: 35

New Tue 26 Apr 11 10:37   What difference does the number of owners .... - Hard Cheese

... make to the value of a car? I am looking at a Sep '08 BMW 1 Series at a BMW dealer, mint, low mileage, full history, three owners: Owner 1/ BMW - demonstrator Owner 2/ Jan '09 to Feb '11 Owner 3/ Feb '11 to Apr '11 - apparently his circumstances chganged and he needed a larger car. How much less is this worth compared to a one owner car everything else being equal? Thanks. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 10:39   What difference does the number of owners .... - Zero

>> Owner 3/ Feb '11 to Apr '11 - apparently his circumstances chganged and he needed >> a larger car. Yeah, circumstances don't change that quickly, make sure you have a cast iron warranty. Last edited by: Zero on Tue 26 Apr 11 at 10:40 Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 10:44   What difference does the number of owners .... - oilburner

I used to think that the number of previous owners mattered little, until I recently bought an Avensis with 4 previous "caring" owners in as many years... The last owner only had the car a month or so... And yes, it did have several annoying faults that were impossible to pin down, and even the Toyota approved warranty wasn't much use if the dealer cannot find the source of a problem... It now sits awaiting another buyer on the same Toyota forecourt that I bought it from, only now it has 5 previous owners... Incredibly, the dealer is advertising it at nearly £1k *more* than it was priced at when I bought it from them last year! Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 10:53   What difference does the number of owners .... - bathtub tom

Have you heard this yourself from owner number 3, or is it what the salesman told you? Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:28   What difference does the number of owners .... - rtj70

Do you want an ex-demo car - could have been trashed at times. And I'd be dubious about the reason for the car going back by the third owner. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:32   What difference does the number of owners .... - Runfer D'Hills

You've probably thought this through but I'd be wary of running two small cars when you have a young family. I know you like the 1 series you already have but I'd be looking to source a larger more practical car too. I'd suspect the "circumstances" which changed for the previous owner of being as simple as discovering it was too small. I miss the practicality of my Mondeo estate at some point most weeks and the Qashqai isn't bad at swallowing people and kit. I'm sure I'd get very frustrated by anything smaller. If you're fancying a BMW have you looked at 3 series tourings? They seem to be available at most price / spec ranges. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:59   What difference does the number of owners .... - Hard Cheese

>> You've probably thought this through but I'd be wary of running two small cars when >> you have a young family.>> The oldest two aren't often with us these days though five of us went away in the 120i for Easter with no probs. In fact the rear legroom is not bad for a small car, it is the transmission tunnel that is the main issue. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:57   What difference does the number of owners .... - Hard Cheese

>> Have you heard this yourself from owner number 3, or is it what the salesman >> told you? >> The salesman, sounds very genuine, they sold it, the guys job changed meaning that he needed more space and traded it for a 3 Series Touring. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 12:08   What difference does the number of owners .... - Runfer D'Hills

>> he needed more space and traded it for a 3 Series Touring. Oh, I see... :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 12:14   What difference does the number of owners .... - Zero

>> The salesman, sounds very genuine, Yes they do. Its part of the job. In answer to your original question 1/ You have two guys on here who dont trust it. Thats enough fopr us to walk away, so surely it effects the desireability. 2/ You have your doubts too, or you wouldnt ask. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 16:07   What difference does the number of owners .... - Boxsterboy

>> 1/ You have two guys on here who dont trust it. >> Make that 3. Only an idiot would buy a car of that value and sell after 1-2 months, when they realised it wasn't big enough. Oh, hang on, it's a BMW buyer we're talking about ... I reckon it's a lemon. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:31   What difference does the number of owners .... - Londoner

>> Incredibly, the dealer is advertising it at >> nearly £1k *more* than it was priced at when I bought it from them last >> year! >> Sales ploy - That is just so that they can offer the next buyer a *Great* discount. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 11:35   What difference does the number of owners .... - Bellboy

im not sure how many owners because the paperwork hasnt arrived yet but im sure it wont be a problem now how about a test drive? Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 12:49   What difference does the number of owners .... - Hard Cheese

I think I have ruled this one out. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 12:54   What difference does the number of owners .... - Dulwich Estate

Would you marry her if she'd had 3 previous husbands ? Last edited by: Dulwich Estate on Tue 26 Apr 11 at 12:54 Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 13:01   What difference does the number of owners .... - smokie

Not without a rebore first :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 13:20   What difference does the number of owners .... - henry k

>> Not without a rebore first :-) >> ...now there is an expression that seems to be almost lost in history . Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 14:20   What difference does the number of owners .... - Roger.

>> Not without a rebore first :-) >> A re-sleeve more likely! Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 14:34   What difference does the number of owners .... - Focusless

>> Would you marry her if she'd had 3 previous husbands ? I did :) (15 years and counting BTW...) Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Tue 26 Apr 11 14:49   What difference does the number of owners .... - Zero

Its ok as long as the previous ones did not die in mysterious circumstances. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 13:36   What difference does the number of owners .... - L'escargot

>> Incredibly, the dealer is advertising it at >> nearly £1k *more* than it was priced at when I bought it from them last >> year! >> When you have inflation (which we have) , the price of used/secondhand goods may well go up. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 13:51   What difference does the number of owners .... - Stuu

The number of owners as such doesnt matter so much as how many per year its had. I once had a Hyundai Sonata that had a new owner every year since new ( 7 years old when I bought it ) and it was spot on, drove like a dream ( as dream like as a Sonata gets anyhow ). Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 19:15   What difference does the number of owners .... - Bellboy

dreams normalyy turn into nightmares and looking at the front end of a sonato could give you them maybe all previous 7 owners had every component changed prior to your purchase?> i had a very near miss with an i10 today stupid old man swapped lanes as he put his indicator on,i dont know how i failed to ram him to be honest,proper ex lada owners these new i10 owners Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 19:42   What difference does the number of owners .... - Stuu

My Sonata was a '98 one 2.0 auto, they were quite bland unlike the bug-eyed one that followed, solid big cars and very good value, 15k of hassle-free ownership in the days when petrol was somewhere around reasonable... Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 20:51   What difference does the number of owners .... - sooty123

My car is 8 years old and I'm the sixth owner and it's been reliable just service items and a bit of niff naff items. Can you use it as leverage to get some cash off? Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 20:52   What difference does the number of owners .... - Londoner

>> .....15k of hassle-free ownership in >> the days when petrol was somewhere around reasonable... >> I didn't realise that the Sonata had been around that long! Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 20:58   What difference does the number of owners .... - Zero

reasonable wasnt that long ago. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 21:18   What difference does the number of owners .... - Londoner

I don't think that they have been reasonable ever since Ken Clarke was Chancellor (if not further back). Just out of interest, when do you think that fuel prices were "reasonable" then? And what would a reasonable price for a litre of petrol be right now, in your opinion? (Genuine question - not trying to be funny - I'd like your opinion) Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 21:22   What difference does the number of owners .... - Zero

Reasonable is about the 98p litre mark That wasnt that long ago. That was the cost in Gibraltar last month. Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 21:28   What difference does the number of owners .... - Runfer D'Hills

This is quite an eye-opener... www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 26 Apr 11 21:34   What difference does the number of owners .... - Londoner

Fair shout - it's all opinion after all. There isn't a scientific formula for this. My finger-in-the-air guess for reasonable petrol prices would be whatever they were in 1993. This was before the Fuel Price Escalator was introduced to persistently raise fuel duty ahead of inflation every year. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 27 Apr 11 13:58   What difference does the number of owners .... - Alanovich

>> Reasonable is about the 98p litre mark If petrol were 98p per litre today, there would be screams of protest that we're nearing the £1 a litre mark. Something must be done, RIP OFF BRITAIN they would scream from the front pages. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 27 Apr 11 00:38   What difference does the number of owners .... - Stuu

>>I didn't realise that the Sonata had been around that long!<< First ones came out around '89-'90 after the Stellar was discontinued. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 27 Apr 11 11:21   What difference does the number of owners .... - movilogo

Usually people think too many owners = problematic car So, it may reduce the resale value quite a bit. Reply to this message | Report message

New Wed 27 Apr 11 11:57   What difference does the number of owners .... - Bellboy

many owners= peoples opinion that its been clocked unfortunately usually the opposite is true Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 28 Apr 11 12:34   What difference does the number of owners .... - Snakey

I've changed cars in a short space of time previously. Once was a Focus that I sold due to the fact it gave me backache. Nothing wrong with the car at all - I just couldn't adopt to Focus seats. Another was getting rid of a Jag X Type to get an estate - yes, change of job meant a saloon was no use at all! So it could be a genuine story I suppose. Reply to this message | Report message