6 previous owners - is it worth it?

2 Doors, Automatic, Convertible, Petrol, 83,000 miles, Metallic Ocean Well this car drives well, good breaks, mostly seems fine.. the seller would agree £14500. Major Service Due in november... But has had 6 previous owners thats making me hesitate... Should i or shouldnt I.. I guess If I do buy it will need to spend a further £1000 on a major service and parts. totalling £15.5K is it Worth it??? It wont be good when I am trying to sell it with 7 previous owners.... I am only planning to keep it for 1 year....(till the baby seats are required) SPECS Blue. Air Bags, Power Steering, Electric Windows, Electric Mirrors, Remote Central Locking, Dual Zone Digital Climate Control, Air Condition, CD Player, Traction Control, Full Leather Interior, Electric Seats, Heated Seats, Memory Seats, Electric Roof, Colour Coded Hard Top, Trip Computer, Sports Automatic Tiptronic Gearbox With F1 Style Paddle Shift On Steering, 18" GT3 Alloy Wheels, 2001 Spec Clear Lights, Electric Boot Spoiler, Parking Sensors [/img]http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgser-uk/servlet/media?id=984539726

Number of owners is not important, condition and provenance is key.

I wouldn't worry about the number of owners. You'll find that with these kinds of cars it not unusual for them to have many owners. As you say you are looking to keep the car for a year or so, which is the same attitude the 6 previous owners probably had before you, doesn't necessarily mean its a problematic car! More often than not It seems that it's a case of going into an entry level car then finding after a year that you want to take the next step, i.e. people venturing into 911 ownership with a C2 then finding after a year that they want to move up to a turbo. My old man had a five year old Fezza 360 which had 7 owners before him and the car was as good as any. Although less owners may be attractive on paper, I would look more at the condition, servicing and type of use. If it has been sat in a garage somewhere doing nothing for ages, like an ad I saw on PH for a 996 C2 for 27k which had only done 150 miles in the past 5 years or something like that, would instantly make me start thinking about RMS issues, brakes etc. Number of owners in my eyes is definitely not a deal-breaker.

Sid, you say you are only planning on keeping it a year and that is probably what some of the previous owners have also done. BUT bear in mind that the 96K service is a big one [due in about a years time if you drive the car] So there may be extra costs you don't need if your about to sell it again. TB

When you come to sell the number of owners will have some effect if its high. My last car had 8 previous owners and some people would not even look at it when I told them.

This is spot on. With cars, there's always been a stigma with the amount of previous keepers it has had. How do we deal with the one previous keeper who couldn't give a damn about the car - thrashed from cold, run low on oil, interior looks like its been through a hedge backwards...? A friend of mine bought a one-owner land rover and was very excited that he'd found a one owner 110 pick-up. Months down the line it was wearing out tyres unevenly which was diagnosed as a distorted chassis. The land rover was indeed one previous keeper (a water board vehicle) and, as such, I wonder how many different drivers it had endured....? 911's do sometimes seem to clock up many previous owners, whether it's because they're an aspirational car and folk sometimes only keep them a short period I don't know. As brendan996 mentions, it will put buyers off straight away - I can only see that they're turning down good cars... It will always be a bargaining tool for the buyer but why would it make the car bad?? :dont know:

Number of registered keepers doesnt necessarily equal number of owners. I recently did a V888 check on mine and found that the first keeper had it registered for one day (speculative purchase) and a husband and wife had registered it in both their names to do a cherished plate transfer. Best fiver I have ever spent.

As Richard said, you need to become the registered keeper to transfer a p.plate & a p.plate is very commonly affixed to this type of car. So... it may have had only 3 owners and several reg changes. I have the facility in the office to view all this history from the current reg if you need it. Another way to look at it... A car with 7 owners or a car with 1 owner that has had several drivers? The point is, as said it is all about the overall condition and history (damage + service) more so than the owners. Amount of previous owers being low is a bonus but not a deciding factor IMO Anyway, I shall stop babbling on.

While I totally agree it's condition not number of owners, accept the fact if you buy a car with a high number of owners and come to sell it you will either answer the phone a lot and have people hang up when they hear, or put it in the advert and not get many calls. I am going through it now and it does put people off, whether it should or not. You may also need to factor it into the price paid unfortunately.

Reg Number The reg number is K77CCH - really appreciate the effort..

Yup .. again its not the number of owners its all down tomhistory and servicing and work carried out. If it hasn't had new rads, discs, and so on and so forth then you might be looking at spending £4000 just to get it "right" In a years time the next owner would be very happy with a 7 owner car that has had all the work done to bring it up to a nice tidy car! There are so many 996's out there it just takes careful sifting to find the right one at £15 - £19K that has been looked after properly and you can enjoy then sell on.

i see the same place is also selling an m3 convertible, less money, 4 years younger, 4 seats..... try that as well, see which one you prefer. I'm not a m3 man myself, but as proposition it makes a lot of sense. oh and if you like the porsche, just get it, prepare to lose a few K's if you sell it after a year, at least you have lived the dream.