Would multiple previous owners affect your opinion of a car?

I know this is a general question, but is this an issue for anyone? For me, I'd prefer a single or double owner car with service documentation, but I'm somewhat hesitant to look at a 4 owner 2003 car. To make it worse, the local dealer said it was a 2 owner car, but the Carfax showed at least 4. At the very least, I'd think it'd be a negotiation tool to lower the price.

Sometimes CarFax shows changes in ownership when cars go to auction, so some of the owners may have only actually owned the car during the auction process. Like you, I prefer fewer owners, but if a car has a properly documented service history and it has a good PPI, then I wouldn't worry about it.

I don't mind as long as they're all Rennlist owners!

I looked at and drove a very nice 996 Turbo that I was considering purchasing. It was sold 7 different times and titled 6 of those. The last sale as shown on the carfax was less than 2 weeks before I looked at the car. It had been in the dealers posession for nearly 60 days, so a sale was reported but apparently it was still for sale. Anyway, the first owner had the car for a month, the second owner for two weeks, the third owner for two days. Each of these owners had titled the vehicle in the same state and a unique title issued. So in less than 7 weeks, this car had three different owners. This certainly does not make one real comfortable about purchasing a car with this kind of history. I have also seen a 996 Turbo with 11 different owners and one with 9. Can't help to wonder if all of these owners were true enthusiasts that only hand washed their cars and never drove them in the rain. Then you hear the dealer claim, "gentle miles" and "never smoked in".

Not really. My 04 C4S had had a few in it's 33K miles. But I had a great PPI from the local Posche dealer which pointed out a few mechanical issues--which the PO fixed before my purchase was finalized. I refreshed a few things on the interior to make it feel more like mine. Since then I've had a blast driving it these last 12 months and 14K miles with no problems at all. Knock on wood...

Totally - I looked at a 2005 Turbo last year that had changed hands every year since it was new. That's just too often in my book, must have been some weird problem with the car.

Car fax isnt worth the effort it would take to give it a virus. My Escape.. I was in an accident.. Ins claimed. 7000$ in damage.. frame bent and had to be pulled..and it never showed up on car fax, thank god. Yes It woudl effect how much I would pay for a car.. case in point Jake Rabys 996 not to long ago... I would have paid top $$ for that car even though the miles were a little high. Why? becuase I know if it was ever fixed.. it was done right and if there was anything wrong with it he'da known it and he'da disclosed it. So my vote it YES

My 2003 had 4 owners when I bought it with 30K miles. One when the 1st owner's company bought it, 2nd when he put it under his own name. 3rd when he traded it in. 4th when it was sold to person I bought it from. 5th me, how many owners is that? I would go by the condition of the car.

as you can see... YOU might not have an issue with a "many owner car" but some people do. Think about the day you want to sell it. it WILL make it a tad tougher to sell..... there is no guarentee a one owner car is any better taken care of then a 5 owner car though. as for the dealer, yea... they LIE - thats what they do. Find a private party (some of those lie too)

So you are saying 2 owners in 7 yrs is many?

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May have had something wrong with the car. That's a possibility. But often times what happens is someone buys a very high end car drives it a year or so, then sells it. It is a game of musical chairs with every owner hoping to *not* be the owner that owns the car when the big depreciation hits or something big goes wrong out of warranty. Sincerely, Macster.

But if this hypothetical 7 year old car had had 5 or 6 owners (almost one owner per year), but the last owner had owned it for (say) 3 years, could that affect your purchase....?

I think I would be more concerned if it were the other way around. One for 3 yrs and then one every year.

I just bought a 2003 C4 cab last month (my fisrt pcar) and was slightly dissappointed that I would be the 4th owner. But like some comments above, the last owner had it for almost 5 years, had great docs on everything, and put 24,000 of the 35,000 miles on it. PPI was flawless and the car nearly so. So, at $29,500 I pulled the trigger. I can tell you that whoever gets the car after me as the 5th owner (if I sell) will get an even cleaner, better maintained car and should be happy to buy it. For me, buying a 996 wasnt about getting the best resale car, but I think the informed buyer can get a tremendous value in situations like this and with the 996 in general.

The more 'must-haves' you add to your search criteria, the more you limit the number of potential cars you would buy. With reduced supply, inevitably you would end up paying more for a car that isn't necessarily a bad car (unless the vendor doesn't know what he's sitting on - you hear tales of these little old ladies on the internet, but finding one yourself can be daunting). Consider this too; at this point a one-owner car is really hard to find. How many guys had $100k to drop on a car 6-12 years ago but isn't the type of guy to upgrade to the latest greatest every few years? Not many, I believe.