Used Cars – Does the number of previous owners put you off?

Hey all,

I am in the market for a hot hatch, my current top choice is the Renaultsport Megane IV. There arent a massive amount of these about, but having test driven one (which turned out to be a bit rough) its the car for me.

For my budget (ideally no more than 20k, can go to 22k if required) there are a few cars with fairly low mileage that tick the boxes. The only thing that puts me off is that some of them have had 4, 5 or 6 previous owners. The cars in budget are between 4 and 6 years old, so i appreciate they have been around a while.

Would a 5 year old car that has had 4 or 5 owners put you off? What immediately springs to my mind is the car has issues or problems and each owner has discovered this and shifted the car on. Yet there is a part of me that thinks its possibly a ‘weekend’ car for some people, so maybe have it for the summer then move it on?

I would of course do all the checks i can on any car i purchase and go over it with a fine tooth comb, but what are your thoughts and feelings on a young-ish car with lots of previous owners? Am i just being paranoid?! Or should i dig deep into the piggy bank and get one a little younger with only 1 or 2 previous owners?

Thanks for any input!

Obvious answer is that it depends, but I think for something more niche that’s probably sporty and less comfortable then it’s not uncommon for cars to change hands more. Lots of people buy these type of cars to scratch an itch, but then don’t use it much so sell it on. We’ve also have some funny market values going on since Covid where prices have sky-rokceted, people’s job situaitons may have changed so again, more reasons for moving a vehicle on.

I think as long as you’re happy with the condition and any checks don’t reveal any issue then all good.

For something more generic it would be more of a concern as I’d imagine it may be being flipped due to a problem with it.

I’m with you with finding a high number of owners disconcerting. But, I’m my more a glass half empty kind of guy!

What immediately springs to my mind is the car has issues or problems and each owner has discovered this and shifted the car on.

That would be my view on a car that age too. The original owner would more than likely have had it on finance and probably kept it 2/3 years (under warranty) which suggests it’s run through the rest of the owners in quick succcession. And they’re really not special enough to be a weekend only car.

I’ve had a few BMW z4s and the original e85 usually have many owners as folk but them and enjoy the car for 6 months and find they are not practical if you have kids or maybe one on it’s way, you bought the small engine on and want the full fat 6cyl 3.0i or si

It wouldn’t put me off the car if the history is there to read and it doesn’t look abused and everything works as it should

20k is a lot to spend so I would delve a lot deeper and get a years warranty

Yes it would put me off.  It just smacks me of no-one actually loving the car.  How many of the owners put off servicing it because they didnt plan to keep it long term or didnt get niggles sorted for the same reason.

Could be completely irrelevant but i would prefer a nice one owner car that has had regular upkeep than one with loads of owners

It does put me off, it would worry me there is an intermittent or expensive to solve issue, and also it just seems statistically more likely to have had an unsympathetic owner at some point.

I quick flick through the documentation/history should tell you whether it’s had issues or not.  If it had extensive paperwork/receipts with it and nothing out of the ordinary in those, then it wouldn’t put me off.

As redmex said with the Z4/E85…some people just get a car to scratch an itch for 6mths.  My bigger concern may be that everyone that bought it thought it didn’t meet expectations and moved it on….do a few more test drives.

It would be a red flag for me anyway, but then it’s also a Renault – so I’d be extra keen to find a “one careful owner” example.

 If it had extensive paperwork/receipts with it and nothing out of the ordinary in those, then it wouldn’t put me off.

Caveat – too many receipts can be negative, if it’s needed fixing a lot.

Would a 5 year old car that has had 4 or 5 owners put you off?

Massively yes, wouldn’t go near it. Obviously riddled with problems or a problem that is either expensive, difficult to diagnose or just plain annoying and irritating.

I agree with the majority here, the car has clearly had a succession of owners who didn’t like it and wanted rid.  How much more info do you need?

seems to me people like the look of them but in use they aren’t great, I’d avoid wasting my money and doing the same thing in 3/6/12 months time

in terms of the aston, it might be worth having some tests done before riding it

Yet there is a part of me that thinks its possibly a ‘weekend’ car for some people, so maybe have it for the summer then move it on?

Maybe, if it was a 15yr old MX5 or Z4 I’d not be too bothered if a few people had had it for a year each. But at 5-6 years old I’d question why it doesn’t even seem to have made it to the end of it’s (probably) initial finance period?

OTOH it might just be small (unofficial) ‘Dealers’, probate, etc. grandparent goes into a home, offspring puts the V5 in their name, sells it to a dealer-y mate down the pub who sells it as a weekend car to someone who does one tour of the Italian Alps, and then drops it into WBAC as COVID made the prices go silly so they’ve made their money back and you’ve got 6 owners potentially in very quick succession.

Yes and no. I’d rather have a nearly new car (delivery mileage but previously owned by garage) to a new one for the cost savings. But I’d not go near a sporty type of car that had many previous owners.

i would get a hpi style report on it. (note most of my cars are 5+ owners)

that way you can see whats happened. Quite often you’ll see a pre registered with a few hundred miles. so you can discount that one. Then there is the true owner. as others have said most likely to be on finance.

It then depends who the next few owners are. Some are passed round as finance effectively and with a lot of desirable cars some will have the car less than a year, realise its not worth the massive running costs / depreciation and chalk it up to experience. If youve got several owners in a few miles then you need to ask questions / look at the servicing. if its all looking ok it wouldn’t put me off however if its been looked after (for example my last 7 owner car was a concourse car run by several enthusiasts)