How many previous owners before concern?

[Atomic12C]

Aimed at the supercar / performance car market.... if you were looking to buy any particular car, how many previous owners would make you think twice?

For example I notice an Audi R8 V10 released in 2009 which has 7 previous owners.
If one were to take a condition that each owner had the car for an equal amount of time - then each owner wanted to get rid of it within a 1.4 year time period.
Factor in to that time frame the length of time it would have been up for sale on each occasion......meaning the owner decided to get rid well within the 1.4 year ownership period.

Length of ownership says a lot about a particular car. It shouts reliability, value for money and enjoyment of ownership. If it seems that there are a string of owners who don't keep the car for anything more than 3 years then it shouts the opposite.

Its generally accepted that the first owner is the finance company and then once the car reaches 3 years old it moves on to its 2nd owner.
So when a car reaches the age of 5 years old I would expect to see no more than 2 previous owners.
When the car reaches 10 years old I would expect to see no more than 4 previous owners. And so on.

Its a rule I've gone along with all my car purchases and its landed me with very good solid examples of which proved to be good value for money.
It also keeps me away from giving money to flippers who do little to aid the 2nd hand market.

What say you PH?

[Trev450]

It's not uncommon for these types of cars to have had multiple owners due to the 'experience' factor. Some buyers will only own the car for six months and then move on to the next must have. My 2010 R8 has had six previous keepers, but four of them had the car for less than a year. Now while I will accept that this could be cause for concern, so long as you have a thorough PPI and do all the background checks, it doesn't have to be.

[PompeyReece]

Trev450 said:

It's not uncommon for these types of cars to have had multiple owners due to the 'experience' factor. Some buyers will only own the car for six months and then move on to the next must have. My 2010 R8 has had six previous keepers, but four of them had the car for less than a year. Now while I will accept that this could be cause for concern, so long as you have a thorough PPI and do all the background checks, it doesn't have to be.

^ Agree with Trev and my R8 is in a similar situation.

Condition and servicing/maintenance much more important than age/owners etc.

[Atomic12C]

Trev450 said:

....Some buyers will only own the car for six months and then move on to the next must have. ....

Its these buyers that I have concerns about. (Well not the buyers per say, its the possible affect it has on the car)
If someone buys a car knowing that they will only have it for 6 months, then is there any incentive at all for them to give it any mechanical sympathy, take care of the interior or exterior, change oil, fluids etc. ?

I know its all each to their own, and each individual should be happy with their own pre-purchase scrutiny and checks etc. but for me I always lose interest if the number of owners doesn't follow my 'time-scale ownership rule' so to speak.
I guess I could be missing out on a lot of choice but so far it seems to have worked well.

[Trev450]

Atomic12C said:

If someone buys a car knowing that they will only have it for 6 months, then is there any incentive at all for them to give it any mechanical sympathy, take care of the interior or exterior, change oil, fluids etc. ?

I think that is down to the individual and not the time scale. Some people will neglect cars irrespective of the time they intend to keep them, while others (myself included) will look after them because its not in their nature to do otherwise. Servicing, interior and exterior condition are all visual aspects which can be easily examined.

[m4tti]

Atomic12C said:

Its these buyers that I have concerns about. (Well not the buyers per say, its the possible affect it has on the car)
If someone buys a car knowing that they will only have it for 6 months, then is there any incentive at all for them to give it any mechanical sympathy, take care of the interior or exterior, change oil, fluids etc. ?

I know its all each to their own, and each individual should be happy with their own pre-purchase scrutiny and checks etc. but for me I always lose interest if the number of owners doesn't follow my 'time-scale ownership rule' so to speak.
I guess I could be missing out on a lot of choice but so far it seems to have worked well.

If this is your mindset then why are you asking us. You’ve described what your brain thinks is the optimum decision tree, best go use it.

[Teddy Lop]

Atomic12C said:

Its these buyers that I have concerns about. (Well not the buyers per say, its the possible affect it has on the car)
If someone buys a car knowing that they will only have it for 6 months, then is there any incentive at all for them to give it any mechanical sympathy, take care of the interior or exterior, change oil, fluids etc. ?

I know its all each to their own, and each individual should be happy with their own pre-purchase scrutiny and checks etc. but for me I always lose interest if the number of owners doesn't follow my 'time-scale ownership rule' so to speak.
I guess I could be missing out on a lot of choice but so far it seems to have worked well.

I suppose its the same thought process people have when thinking of buying an ex rental. And that's a discussion that will never be concluded.

[Atomic12C]

m4tti said:

If this is your mindset then why are you asking us. You’ve described what your brain thinks is the optimum decision tree, best go use it.

Was more for a topic of simple discussion rather than anything soon impending on my future to be honest.

I'm currently taking a break from supercar ownership and every now and then just casually browse the 2nd hand market - noticing more cars now seem to have a lot of previous owners than what would traditionally be the case say 10 or more years ago.
The current issue rather than number of previous owners for my next purchase will be how brexit affects prices.