Number of owners

ZOLTAN28

Hi

Just checking a 2nd hand car online and the only dodgy thing is the number of owners which is listed as 4.

Now when you check the dates that the ownership changed on two occasions it changed within a couple of weeks:

24/06/2009
03/06/2009
18/09/2007
06/09/2007
01/12/2005

Are these quick changeovers simply becasue the car wastraded in to a delaer or is there a more sinister reason?

Thanks

Anan1

I take it it's an Irish car? There's no way to tell really, but dealers won't show up as owners in their own right.

ZOLTAN28

Yes its 100% Irish.

If it's not delaers then it seems a bit dodgy to me.

Anan1

Do you have a link to the ad?

ZOLTAN28

http://www.billgriffinmotors.ie/viewanad.php?ad_id=402279

OldmanMondeo

If in doubt walk away. Also Almera's are 10 a penny now a days, there are 116 2003 almera's on carzone from €3k to €7k.

Anan1

I'd be inclined to agree, neither the condition nor the presentation impresses me in any case.

ZOLTAN28

It has just passed an NCT - there are similar models available but these guys were giving me best price on my current car.

The short amount of time between the two changes of ownership is the only thing that really bothers me - would anyone know why this is?

Anan1

ZOLTAN28 wrote: »

It has just passed an NCT - there are similar models available but these guys were giving me best price on my current car.

The short amount of time between the two changes of ownership is the only thing that really bothers me - would anyone know why this is?

TBH it could be anything from the quite innocent to the car having been returned to the seller by two different buyers. Quite apart from this issue, though, it doesn't look like a well-minded car to me. It also seems to be at least €1000 over-priced even for a good one (which it isn't, IMO). One piece of advice I would give you is to forget trade-in values and concentrate on the cost to change. It's the only figure that matters.

Owen

A car I recently bought has had 4 owners in 7 years. The number of owners never bother me - I've said it before here, you could have 4 careful owners, or 1 who drove it like he stole it and never maintained it.

I'd be more interested in the condition of the vehicle, mechanically and visually.

BillyGoatGruff

Quite possible that it was bought from a trader without a garage number and traded back into the same guy. He would have possibly taken it out of previous owner name both times. No harm in asking.

ZOLTAN28

Cheers for the advice - I will be asking andalso having someone look it over for me.

Regarding the price shown in the advert - I am getting it for less than that if I go for it - I wouldn't pay 6500 for it.

mickdw

For some reason, Cartell & others do show garage traders as owners but these never obviously show up on the reg cert.
I came across the same thing when checking a car my sister was buying. It showed a few quick ownership changes. A quick call to shannon i think it was, they confirmed that there is a register of the movement of stock around the dealers (I guess for tax & VAT purposes). Anyway, car was bought and log book came back with just the one previous owner as expected so it very possible that this is 100% ok

unkel

Are you getting a good warranty with it, OP?

These cars are known to need new timing chains at low mileages (normally these should last the lifetime of the car) and that would not give you much change from a grand!

bazz26

ZOLTAN28 wrote: »

Cheers for the advice - I will be asking andalso having someone look it over for me.

Regarding the price shown in the advert - I am getting it for less than that if I go for it - I wouldn't pay 6500 for it.

The sticker price on the windscreen has very little relevance when you have a trade-in. The only way to know if you are getting a good deal is by comparing the cost to change price against a similar car from another garage.