Does the number of prior owners matter?

[dienstuhr]

Just polling opinions here.

When you review a Carfax report, you can tell how many previous owners a car has had.

My questions for you are, does the number of prior owners matter to you when considering a purchase? Is there a magic number of former keepers that would disqualify a car from purchase?

I know we all would prefer to buy cars from the original owners who kept them wrapped in bubblewrap and cotton fluff, but provided that the PPI checked out and the car was otherwise satisfactory, would the number of prior owners affect your perception of value?

Thanks,

d.

[Sunroof]

No, I have bought cars with multiple owners, but following the paper trail and the results of the PPI are critical. The older the car does not always equate to more owners. Whatever your researching now, make sure you get as much as you can on records/receipts. The PPI will tell the tale. Good luck.

Bob
73.5T

[techweenie]

There is a pattern with sports cars where the price drops to the point where people who cannot afford the cars obtain them. What often follows is deferred maintenance.

This is less of an issue with 911s, a bit moreso, it seems, with 912s.

However, deferred maintenance rarely affects the chassis or accident status, and those aspects are the most important when buying an older 911.

So, no, I don't much care. I just bought my 31st 911 last week, and it appears to have been meticulously kept by one owner. That's nice, but the car presented as one with no prior drama or trauma and that's what closed the deal.

I've noticed that CarFax reports leased cars as some 'other usage' category, which isn't always helpful. You should never assume a CarFax is 100% complete anyway. Look at the car. That's what you're buying.

[PropellerHead]

The way I figure it, long-term ownership is a good indication but nothing significant by itself. only when it is followed by good care/feeding. Usually implies that someone had long-term vision when maintaining the car. Therefore more detailed in maintenance. But the number of owners (however small) doesn't imply anything by itself.

The car should stand by itself. Service records and PPI results are more important than any other 'statistics' like mileage and # of owners.

I'm the 3rd owner of my 911, does that make the car any better than if the same car had 4 or 5 owners? I think not. Did I 'de-value' the car by adding a tick mark to the # of owners? Actually I think I've added to the value of the car because I've fixed/restored things the previous owner let lapse over his 35 years of ownership.

[dienstuhr]

Thanks guys!

I agree with all of the above. When I bought my 911 I wasn't even certain of the number of POs. Just wanted to canvass Pelican opinion.

Cheers

d.

[berettafan]

i would expect less from a multi-owner car vs. a very few owner car.

good stuff tends to get held on to.

[JJ 911SC]

I'm the 6th (and last) owner.

The car was 26 Year old when I got it so the average was just about 5 years per owner which still give you a good feeling.

One of them did spend a lot of money to take it from stock 83 SC Cab to a Slant Nose Turbo Look conversion with a 3.2 upgrade.

While it's a Canadian car, there is now sign that the car was ever driven in the snow.

Maybe, I was very lucky...

[spooldup]

I don't say much as you can see by my post count after many years but this one caught my attention so... I feel multiple owners is a plus as a new owner of the car will tend to care for it. An example of this is when I buy a used truck (daily driver) I treat it like one of my P cars until the novelty wears off. I bought an 08 Ford F150 2 weeks ago and have conditioned the leather twice, clay bar & waxed it and won't let my 8 year old ride his skateboard near it (yet) and am thinking about a beater car so I don't have to drive it in the snow/salt. Pretty good chance it will see winters and skateboard dents from his tricks & kick flips in the next year or so.