how many previous owners are 'too' many

If they all were meticulous about service and records no number is too big IMO.

 

High numbers of owners isn't unusual as there often bought by someone who's always wanted one, once they've ticked the box they sell it on.
As Keven said, as long as they've maintained it correctly.

 

I don't think the amounts of owners matter as much as the mileage. But if the mileage is low and there is disproportionately a lot of owners compared to the mileage. Example 5k miles and 10 owners to me it sets off a red flag. But for example if there is 5k miles and 3 owners or even 5 it is common.

 

The condition of the car and its maintenance history are what's important. If the car has documentation to prove that it was well-maintained, then the number of owners should not be too much of a concern. If the car had lots of owners over a short period of time, that might be an indication that there is something wrong with the car.

 

Yup. Primary is condition - condition - condition.

All the rest is secondary.

 

I bought a '5' owner 2003 car with 3500 miles on it. Two of the owners had it as a lease for their company (a tax thing), then converted to private ownership. Thus '5' went to '3'. I agree with the previous posts...if the car's had 10 in a short period..red flag. But for a 10 year old exotic car 3-4-5 no big deal. Get a PPI done and if it's OK, they've all looked after it. After all, you're buying the car in its 'present' condition. There are many valid reasons why an exotic can change hands quickly..can't afford the insurance, took too big a loan out...none of which are associated with mechanics.

 

I've been noticing the amount of owners as well in my search too. I found a nice f430 with all the boxes checked that I would have from the factory. It had 7 owners and most were less than a year so I kept looking. My worst thought was that it was bought and the owner couldn't afford it so no maintenance was done or it was abused and sold quickly before anything broke. All that said I prefer higher miles because I believe a car that has been driven is better than one sitting. Really though looking at the maintenance schedules there isn't much to be done to a 430 but fluids compared to the older cars.

Actual owners correct me where I’m off base as I haven’t had coffee this morning yet.

 

Same for me. I'm the fourth owner of my scud. I was concerned about this too until I learned that it is pretty common.

 

Even 10 owners on a low mile car is really not a red flag IMO. Yes, car was bought n sold but several "owners" could be dealerships. 10 seems high but what really could have gone wrong or been done or not done on a low mileage car? Its designed to be driven hard anyway so "Ferrari miles" are normal anyway right? Good buying point for negociation but also will affect selling it...I would worry most about selling to guys who just couldn't get a grip on the high numbers of owners. The car is just spreading out its love!

 

Buy the car based on the car, not the previous owners.

Reason #1: Carfax is a computer system evaluating information provided to them by the DMV, which is not always correct. I've seen documented one-owner cars that showed three owners on Carfax, and documented multiple-owner cars that showed 1-owner on Carfax.

Reason #2: Many, many people buy and sell cars every few months, and they take impeccable care of them, they just have car ADD. I have multiple clients who are in and out of a car every year, and the car always comes back BETTER than it left, because they are also OCD.

Reason #3: I've seen just as many one-owner cars that were absolutely trashed, as I have 5+ owner cars that were maintained to a T.

All told, number of owners and overall mileage does not matter the way people think it does. It almost doesn't matter at all. Evaluate each car on its own merit. Inspect, review service records, drive, and buy!

 

I saw many cars with discrepancies in the ownership history when I was looking. For example Carfax said 4 and Autocheck said 5. Seems some of the 'ownership' was actually a dealer who then sold to another dealer then to a customer. I assume they passed the car along when they could not sell it. Seems like this kind of thing should not count as ownership.

Agree with comment about condition. My car had 5 owners which maybe really 3, but was the best condition car that I saw including compared to 1 owner cars.

 

Sounds like your concern was the lack of documented maintenance history not the number of owners...

Also, what does "abused" mean?

Driven too hard for some?

Not cleaned?

Not maintained?

All of that can be learned to a degree by reading the SD reports (looking for revs), tire condition, lower rocker panels and front end for rocks chips, paint swirls, etc. All part if a good PPI...

Fwiw, All this says to me is "condition" is what matters. And condition can and should be assessed factually rather than thru inference.

(Avoid Inferring, for example that fewer owners are better to a car than many owners or that one abusive owner wasn't the sole or one of two owners rather than one of 7)

 

+1 Well said Doug.

 

I am the 10th owner of my 99 360, in the last 18 months prior to me purchasing the car it went through 5 owners, the longest anyone owned the car was 4 months and the person I bought it from had it 2 months.

Being the 10th owner is irrelevant but that last 18 months of history should have been a red flag. But I am glad I bought it, the issue was easy to fix and cheap to fix, just took some patience figuring out the butcher job on the wiring from the after market stereo installation and now the car is perfect.

So as it has been said already, take care of the 3 C's, condition, condition, condition, although I think it should be 6 C's, current condition, current condition, current condition and all will be fine with the car.

 

How many previous boyfriends are too many ??? If you love her, you love her.

 

I saw this with my 360 as well.

If I remember correctly, AutoCheck showed three owners while CarFax showed six, but only two of them owned the car for any substantial amount of time or put any real miles on the odometer. As best as I could tell from comparing the two and talking to the dealership at the time of purchase, it looked like it went from a lease (1) to a buy-out (2), then traded in (3), sold to another dealer (4), to another owner (5), who traded it in at the dealer from whom I purchased it (6).

At this point, who knows; all I care about now is that it's well sorted and not changing hands anytime soon.

 

LOL...interesting comparison

 

Sounds nice to say, but if the ball joints have play in then...

 

Your drive gear is probably loose before you notice her ball joints having play.

 

4 MAX

 

I'm afraid that is no the case. Ferrari is the only manufacturer that I know of that does not maintain a service history database -- only campaign history. Other manufactures do not even give you a service book with places for the dealer to stamp the intervals anymore. You would have to know which dealer did the servicing to get that information.
Alan