No of Owners and Plates

[spy]

Dear All,

I am looking to buy a 996 and came across one car that has 4 owners. Apparently, 3 of the owners are attributable to a person that changed the number plates twice.

This sounds a little strange as I would have thought that you would put your private plate on and leave it at that until you sold it.

Are there any shady reasons why people would change the plates on their car more than once e.g. in relation to accidents ?

Any expertise appreciated.

Edited by spyros on Thursday 8th February 21:07

[turbo-ww]

Not sure that's quite right and you may need to ask some more questions.

I bought my 993tt last May. It came with the previous owners PP on, which was then transferred to an 'N' plate - For 2 weeks - before being transferred to my PP.

There was only one increase in owner.

I'm also sure that someone is more knowledgeable than me.....

[Fidgits]

Erm, there was a certain date before which a plate change consituted a new owner (something like 2000) but since then it doesnt.

I cannot honestly tell you the exact date, but im sure someone can!

[Henry-F]

Fidgits said:

Erm, there was a certain date before which a plate change consituted a new owner (something like 2000) but since then it doesnt.

I cannot honestly tell you the exact date, but im sure someone can!

That isn`t the case, number plate transfers have never automatically added an owner. It depends how the transfer was done that can add owners.

Of more concern is the fact that the car is on VCAR, vehicle condition alert register. It`s been a write off.

Henry

[spy]

OK Thanks.

I guess the HPI check would show up any accidents or write offs.

Would it also provide more detail of the number plate changes i.e. state the number plate numbers in order to piece together if it appears like legitimate changes ?

[thegoose]

spy said:

OK Thanks.

I guess the HPI check would show up any accidents or write offs.

Would it also provide more detail of the number plate changes i.e. state the number plate numbers in order to piece together if it appears like legitimate changes ?

The data check (HPi, Experian etc.) will show all keeper change dates and which plates were on and when they were changed. You can also write to the DVLA with a fiver for complete details (names & addresses) of all registered keepers. "Not a lot of people know this" can be done, so it could be that extra owners were added in order to shunt the current and previous keeper off the V5 (logbook) at some point, the intention being that they couldn't be contacted to find out more about their ownership of it.

As Henry says, the most important thing is that it's on the VCAR, in which case find out all you can about what happened, what the repairs were and so on. Get it inspected to see what it's condition is like now.

[freedman]

Is it just me or is the vcar reference a red herring?

From the way its written it looks like a typo

[Henry-F]

Who knows.

HPI doesn`t tell you all the keeper change dates. It merely tells you number plate transfer history and the date of the last keeper change.

Henry

[spyros]

Oops !

Just realised where the vcar piece came up !

Good spot, yes it is a type, it should read car.

I have just edited it - doh !

[thegoose]

Henry-F said:

Who knows.

HPI doesn`t tell you all the keeper change dates. It merely tells you number plate transfer history and the date of the last keeper change.

Henry

Sorry, I use Experian and TDS and they often (but not always) show previous keeper change dates.