How many owners is too many owners?

[efato]

Hi guys - thanks for the forum, have been reading quite a bit in the last couple of days as I'm considering the purchase of a used Arnage Green Label in the next weeks.

My question is - how many owners would you consider too many for a 15 year old Bentley? Ownership changes obviously vary by marque, though I've heard an average figure of 1 owner per 2 years bandied about elsewhere; how do you think this should apply to an Arnage or Turbo R, for example?

Thanks in advance!

[bergxu]

I'd be more concerned if there were a long list of private owners rather than dealers, all things considered. Dealers are in the business to make money and not get attached to cars, so they'll flip them quickly if it means a tidy profit whereas private owners might discover the car has bad karma or has had bodges in the past. Private owners, generally speaking, are more in it for the enthusiast factor than to make money, hence my reckoning. For something as old as a Turbo R, I wouldn't be surprised to see 6-7 owners at least, but also keep in mind, those cars will pass through club members' hands too, so they'll likely have been well cared for. Arnage Green Labels probably less-so, those are still secondhand car dealers' cars.

P.S. Definitely go for a Turbo R. You won't look back.

[Banner]

bergxu said:

I'd be more concerned if there were a long list of private owners rather than dealers,

Other than from new as a demonstrator or to hit sales targets for new registrations, dealers don't register cars in their name, so they will not appear on the V5 as an owner.

[buyer&seller]

I sold new Bentley's during this era and the amount of new cars that we spoofed as demos to earn extra bonus was quite a high number, usually with the knowledge of the factory to make themselves look better too. The first owner, obviously being wealthy, would probably keep the car for between 12 and 24 months and you could expect the next owner to keep it a similar time, so it is usual for a three year old car to have possibly had 3 owners/keepers. It is fair to say an owner every two years seems reasonable but if I were you I would concentrate more on the service history and condition of the car rather than getting hung up about how many owners are in the log book. And don't fall for the buit that the reason the car you're looking at has had so many owners is due to cherished number transfers, as it rarely if ever is.

[Bluebottle911]

Don't worry about the number of owners in its early life, when people who buy expensive cars often change them regularly, but look for a car kept for several years by the last owner or two - that suggests that it has been cherished during the part of its life when cars often suffer from neglect.

[keith9849]

The difficulty is that DVLA do not freely release information on former owners, so with incomplete paperwork it will be nigh on impossible to find out who has owned and for how long. If you are not (yet) the owner it will be impossible, full stop.

Before buying a turbo r I assumed that many owners could mean each owner spending a respectable amount of money out of natural enthusiasm for "the new acquisition", but sadly I was mistaken.

You have probably read this advice before, but PLEASE have an rr/b specialist look at the car before you buy. Sadly, stamps in the service book can be entirely misleading and/or worthless. You may hope that your car has had a series of committed enthusiastic owners before you, but it is equally (if not more) likely that a series of skinflints have passed the vehicle on from one to the next, in which case expect big trouble!

These cars have their own peculiar problems, so your friendly mechanic may not be equipped to forewarn you of trouble to come. If you don't want to make a very big mistake, then you must pay proper money for an experienced rr/b mechanic to inspect the car, which he will not be able to do off of a trolley-jack on the drive.