9 Previous owners?

dnme

Just looking at a 98 Corolla on Donedeal. Spoke to the guy, he's a part time dealer etc. Then I ran a motorcheck.ie and it's coming back as having 9 previous owners.

This seems crazy to me. Should I walk or might there be legit reasons for this? I'm just thinking about re-saleability etc. Should I walk?

thenightrider

dnme wrote: »

I'm just thinking about re-saleability etc. Should I walk?

It is over priced as it is if you get it at the right price it will not mather how many owners are on it as it will have droped in price as much as it is going to go.

fricatus

You're thinking about re-saleability on a '98 Corolla? I would have thought an NCT would really have been the alpha and omega on a car like that...

Get a mechanic to look at it, and if it passes muster, off ya go!

dnme

fricatus wrote: »

You're thinking about re-saleability on a '98 Corolla?

Ah ya, cheap motoring, 97-99 Corolla's are the car for me these days. Might keep one for a year and then try an upgrade to lower mileage, better body etc. Buy one, run it for a while and then maybe sell it. They are a very popular buy so yes re-sellability is in the back of my mind always.

Anyway, I am really just browsing. I have declared myself out on this one.

mickdw

Its a 98 corolla. I wouldnt be looking at number of owners.

Condition, condition, condition I say.

peasant

On a car like this, a cheapo A to B with perceived reliability this amount of owners would turn me off.
In my mind it indicates that about 4 to 6 people bought it for cheap transport and sold it on whenever something expensive needed doing on it ...which never got done by the next owner either.
Most likely still on the original plugs, timing belt, break fluid, coolant, etc ... and about 5 oil changes behind schedule.

Probably the only reason why it is still going after this serious neglect is because it was a Toyota in the first place

bazz26

With all due respect OP, your worried about the number of owners and resaleability of a 13 year old car.

I know someone who has a 15 year old Mitsubishi Carisma since new, it's still worth very little now whether it has 1 or 10 owners. Buy the car on current condition, it has already suffered most of the depreciation.

dnme

Yes absolutely I take everyone's points. But lets totally forget about any re-sellability, the fact still remains that 9 previous owners is just a bit much for me. Just posted to see what everyone else thought and I'm grateful for the replies.

bazz26

Didn't some of those history checks show up transfers to dealers when the car was traded in to a garage, as previous owners too?

Voodoomelon

I passed a 00 Corolla for sale outside a dealer in Dundalk today, price was over €2500. Yours isnt a bad price at all, get a mechanic to look at it, knock €150 off and fire away!

dnme

bazz26 wrote: »

Didn't some of those history checks show up transfers to dealers when the car was traded in to a garage, as previous owners too?

This is what motorcheck says
http://www.motorcheck.ie/report/98RN830/XEW9W1

bazz26

dnme wrote: »

This is what motorcheck says
http://www.motorcheck.ie/report/98RN830/XEW9W1

Car ownership changed twice in 2008, once in 2009 and twice again in 2010. It is possible that the 2008 and 2010 were between the trade, it could also however indicate that there is something majorly wrong with the car and it was moved on quickly once discovered?

Hard one to call but I'd have a good mechanic check the car over before agreeing to buy it. At the end of the day if in doubt walk away, there are plenty of Corollas out there for sale.