| Author | Message | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Advanced Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 3428 Registered: 2-2001 |
Ross, I don't know of anything that is definitive about it, unless you know the car the guy and the service it had from new. So you collect as much info. as possible and then make a decision. | ||
| ross koller (Ross)
Member Username: Ross Post Number: 508 Registered: 3-2002 |
i found in my searches that most of the cars were multiple owner examples, but had low mileage. maybe its just the nature of this market for those cars, where people tend to buy the dream, then it sits around collecting dust until they decide to sell and the whole thing repeats itself.... i don't think you can decide anything based on only this piece of info. yes it adds to the whole picture, but by itself it isn't definitve one way or the other. | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Advanced Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 3421 Registered: 2-2001 |
Martin, You hit on a great point there. The person who is looking for a Ferrari is going to be more concerned about those things then your average car buyer. That is what I was wondering, how many people do ask. Thanks for your input. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Advanced Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 3118 Registered: 5-2001 |
Magoo, I understood your questioning totally. I think it is a great topic to discuss. Will probably make topic of the month. As of my own experiecne. I do tell people if they ask. Never have told anybody if they did not. But! All of the people that come and look at the car or get serious over the phone do ask. I have yet to find a customer that did not pop the questions of: - how many owners? - was the car ever in an accident - was the car ever repainted If you look for these cars you have some basic knowledge what you are looking for and what to ask. This from experience dealing with buyers! | ||
| Dave Penhale (Dapper)
Member Username: Dapper Post Number: 342 Registered: 4-2002 |
I would pay less for significantly more owners(ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL) i.e. 1, 2, 3 no sweat, 5, 6 ,7, 8 now way I'd pay the same as the 1 or 2 (I actually probably wouldn't buy, I'm too fussy on condition and sorry those who dont think it matters but my extensive experience of checking out previously owned cars has shown ME that the two factors are often directly proportional). | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Advanced Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 3410 Registered: 2-2001 |
Martin my question, post, is no more than to get a good cross section on the subject. I am not drawing a hard line here one way or the other. I saw where you feel the car should be discounted somewhat. Being a honest person I am sure thats the way you do it. But how many dealers will do a carfax and tell a person when they are going to buy a car that it had say 4 or 5 owners in the past 6 yrs. This may be a deterent to the buyer and it is never mentioned. I also wonder how many people ask for this info. when buying? | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Advanced Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 3109 Registered: 5-2001 |
Magoo, of course you discount it somewhat. As my wife has tought me though, the overall condition and appearance of a car is what matters and where you can see if somebody cared about it or not. Two examples: 1. 348TS one owner car since new. Was a driver. The car was in bad condition when we got it. Had to do the over due 30K, had to do some other things. Overall the car was used and abused. Took a lot of $$$ to get it decent so I can offer it to my customer at a discounted price. Here is a perfect one owner car 12 years old! 2. the Spider, 1994, 5 title changes, which does not represent 5 owners, but when you pull the famous carfax this is what you will see. The car is super clean and cared for. You could see it when we picked up the car, it showed less wear than a car with 15K Miles less! Carfax states: "Title issued". In fact I had two titles applied for today. On the Challenge car because we messed up with filling out the damn title and on the 208GT4, where it really does not matter. When you pull the carfax on the challenge you will not see new title issued 11/5/02, but in fact this title will go to CA, never be truely titled and there a new title will be issued. If you then pull a carfax it will show as a 4 owner car, which is truely a 3 owner car. In my case the owner will get the necessary paperwork that will prove that. If he loses that though the next guy will not know why there were 4 titles issued. Hope you get my point. There is more than just how many owners are logged into carfax. | ||
| Bruno (Originalsinner)
Member Username: Originalsinner Post Number: 689 Registered: 5-2002 |
On a newer car yes. on a 20 year old or older car no. And on a newer car not so much a Ferrari as a run of the mill daily driver (chevy,ford etc.) or even a vette. As I know alot of people get an fcar for the sake of saying they own one and when it wares off in 3-6 months they want out.$$$ | ||
| Horsefly (Arlie)
Member Username: Arlie Post Number: 368 Registered: 5-2002 |
I once drove 250 miles to look at a Corvette that, over the phone, sounded like a cream puff. Original owner was a state police trooper and the current owner was a mortician at a funeral home! I drove to see it the next day with down payment money in hand. What I found was a ragged out, high mileage, hack job. Original stereo had been replaced with Wal-Mart special, smog equipment had been removed and the hoses literally chopped off and plugged up. Of course, the entire car had been repainted in the original black paint but nobody had bothered to repair the numerous paint chips and dings before the repaint. It took me about 5 minutes to evaluate this trash pile and get in my car for the boring 125 mile ride back home. Pedigree doesn't always mean anything; seeing is believing. | ||
| BretM (Bretm)
Advanced Member Username: Bretm Post Number: 2854 Registered: 2-2001 |
I think less owners is much better too. When I got the 308 it had like 4 owners I think, not bad for a 15 year old car (when I got it) but I could never really wind it up, etc and be suprememly confident in it. Now that I pulled it all apart and saw it was in good shape I had nothing to worry about, but still. Had it had one owner who knew the car inside and out since he bought it new then I would have been more confident. | ||
| Francisco J. Quinones (Frankie)
Junior Member Username: Frankie Post Number: 59 Registered: 8-2002 |
also,could it mean that the cars were bought as status symbols and then the owner realized that it wasn't for them?or as "investments"?either way cars like those i would guess that each successive owner beats the living crap outta them for a little while then passes it on to the next buyer.i would prefer a higher mileage car with the same owner if well taken care of instead of a year old car with 5 owners.just my $3.55  | ||
| martin J weiner,M.D. (Mw360)
Member Username: Mw360 Post Number: 647 Registered: 5-2001 |
If a prospective employee has had say 6 jobs in the space of a couple of years I would be very wary.Same applies to buying a car with multiple owners. | ||
| Matt Lemus (Mlemus)
Member Username: Mlemus Post Number: 359 Registered: 8-2002 |
Magoo, I think cars are like employeers. Poor management like poor maintenance is usually the cause for disgruntaled employee's or car owners. This leads to the "Rental car" mentallity. Why should I care about and service my car if I am only going to have it a short while. I think Multipule owners are worse then high milage cars. As long as they are documented. It could also show that the someone could afford the car but not the service which is a whole other topic. M | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Advanced Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 3409 Registered: 2-2001 |
Should a Ferrari dealer or whoever is selling the car expect to get less money for it if the car has had a lot of different owners. Should the buyer feel that he should pay less for the car? Everyone expects to pay less if the car has high mileage. Why did the car have so many owners is the question???? What do you think? Car was a lemon????? |