How many owners is too many?! | FerrariChat

How many owners is too many?!

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by five2five, Feb 10, 2018.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. five2five

    five2five Karting

    Dec 17, 2017
    54
    hello all. I’m interested in a 2001 Ferrari 360 spider with manual gated shifter and 15K miles. The car has had nine, yes 9, previous owners! Upon purchasing it, I’d be the tenth owner! I’m worried that would be a negative and problematic for me when I decide to sell it in a few years. Am I wrong? Thank you in advance for your feedback.
     
  2. greyboxer

    greyboxer F1 World Champ

    Dec 8, 2004
    12,282
    South East
    Full Name:
    Jimmie
    Caeruleus11 and five2five like this.
  3. G. Pepper

    G. Pepper Three Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Mar 15, 2012
    33,708
    Texas/Colorado
    Full Name:
    George Pepper
    Are you sure the title transfers were all different owners? Mine had seven title transfers but only four actual owners. The others were between dealers.
     
  4. Jakuzzi

    Jakuzzi Formula 3

    Mar 26, 2005
    2,072
    PR, TX, GV
    Full Name:
    Jaime
    Why buy at all? You ALREADY have stated that you will sell it.
     
  5. 308 milano

    308 milano F1 Veteran

    Jan 15, 2007
    5,257
    Montana
    Full Name:
    Kim
    If we were talking future spouse, there would be some real cause for concern..
    I would say as long as you have most maintenance records and it looks to be in great condition ( PPI ) go for it! (Ferrari not spouse)
     
    syata and five2five like this.
  6. five2five

    five2five Karting

    Dec 17, 2017
    54
    According to carfax it was leased 4 times ranging from 2 months to 2 years and bought as a personal car the other 5 times with the last owner owning it for 2 months!
     
  7. G. Pepper

    G. Pepper Three Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Mar 15, 2012
    33,708
    Texas/Colorado
    Full Name:
    George Pepper
    This would make me guess none of the owners was an enthusiast, so I'd get a detailed PPI. It can be very expensive to sort out a borderline car.
     
    308 milano and five2five like this.
  8. five2five

    five2five Karting

    Dec 17, 2017
    54
    I had no idea I needed to sign some kind of “I’m keeping this car forever” agreement/contract before I purchase a car! I’m going to keep it for as long as I enjoy it. Then I will sell it to finance the next toy! I hope that’s ok with you!
     
  9. F355 Fan 82

    F355 Fan 82 F1 Veteran

    Jul 22, 2006
    9,063
    I never got why owners mattered. I get if it had multiple owners people think its damaged goods and always breaking down so people dumped it, but my 575 is a 2002, its 18 years old and has 20k miles, im the 5th owner, 2 guys owned it for 7 years and 2 guys owned for 2 years, not really a big deal to me. The car drives great. I bought an aventador 2 years ago and sold it in 6 months bc it just wasnt for me, the number of owners is just one of those things thats a dumb metric to measure a car by. Most car guys love to switch cars, I've had probably 7 cars in the last 4 years.
     
    cgt000 likes this.
  10. cgt000

    cgt000 Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    May 2, 2014
    732
    Northeast
    As long as a car passes ppi and has service records, number of owners means nothing.
     
    five2five likes this.
  11. Ferris Bueller

    Ferris Bueller Formula 3

    Mar 23, 2004
    1,850
    New Jersey
    Full Name:
    Dominic
    I would not be too concerned with the car changing ownership early on. Most guys want the newest and greates model or need to buy it to get on the list for something else.
    I would be concerned with the car fax and service records and seeing how long the last owners kept the car for. If the car fax shows a service record and then month later its sold thats a red flag to me
     
    five2five likes this.
  12. cmt6891

    cmt6891 Formula 3

    Feb 25, 2008
    1,334
    Encino, Ca
    Full Name:
    Carl T
    I would not expect any sort of maintenance records to depend on when a car passes through 9 owners/renters . Car fax will only show maintenance if it was performed at an authorized dealer. PPI is a must but count on the fact that it was a daily driver all its life.
     
    five2five likes this.
  13. Cigarzman

    Cigarzman F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Apparently the ninth guy didn’t think it was too many. If it’s well sorted who cares ?
    Best , Kirk.
     
    Caeruleus11, five2five and cgt000 like this.
  14. Rosso328

    Rosso328 F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 11, 2006
    6,795
    Central FL
    Full Name:
    Paul
    Nice reply. And good attitude going in. Enjoy it, and when you’re done pass it on. But the very fact that you asked the question indicates that you, and potential buyers down the road are in fact concerned with number of owners.

    The remedy to that is condition, condition and records. A thorough PPI to confirm condition before you buy it, and detailed record to document the condition under your ownership should (should) make that question go away.
     
    RonH and five2five like this.
  15. azlin75

    azlin75 Formula Junior

    Jul 16, 2017
    785
    Kansas
    Full Name:
    Shawn Hicks
    I was once told that the number of owners has a small impact especially if the car has good records and passes a PPI. I guess these cars can change hands quite a bit when new.
     
    five2five likes this.
  16. obbob

    obbob Formula Junior

    Aug 14, 2017
    774
    Very relevant video:


    To summarize, condition is what matters. A 1 owner car can be in terrible condition. Also, CarFax can be quite inaccurate. Say a guy leased his Ferrari through his business, then had his business buy it, then transferred it to his personal estate, and then moved to another state of residence. CarFax could very likely report this car as having 4 owners, even though it's actually been one guy.

    Extreme example of course, but don't treat CarFax as gospel. Even the CarFax on my Speciale has a typo in it. An odometer reading which should be 3260 was recorded as 3620!
     
    RonH and five2five like this.
  17. Island Time

    Island Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 18, 2004
    10,770
    E. TN
    Full Name:
    David
    Everyone loves "One owner since new" ads. They look and sound good. but...the market is big enough for multiple owner cars. Most wouldn't pass on a good car because of the number of owners.

    (especially one that's 17 years old)
     
  18. RonH

    RonH Formula 3

    May 29, 2016
    1,061
    Newport Coast, California
    Full Name:
    Ron H
    Here’s a contrarian hypothesis for you: multiple owners is a good thing.

    One owner over a long period of time either tends to leave the car in the garage and lets it rot or drives it a lot and is comfortable with the condition and doesn’t fix every little thing.

    A new owner is proud of his new shiny toy and wants to make it perfect. I know I did. I paid $1800 to fix the outside mirror adjuster knob. I didn’t need to because the mirrors were in the right place for me and would never need to be adjusted as long as I owned the car. But I didn’t want to have ANYTHING wrong with my toy.

    Also with every new owner there is a PPI and presumably a lot of things that would otherwise go unnoticed are found and remedied.
     
    Island Time and five2five like this.
  19. azlin75

    azlin75 Formula Junior

    Jul 16, 2017
    785
    Kansas
    Full Name:
    Shawn Hicks
    Well its assumed there is a PPI done, but there are several exotics that are purchased without a PPI.
     
  20. Lotaz

    Lotaz Formula 3

    Nov 18, 2016
    1,537
    Las Vegas
    Full Name:
    Scott
    I just want to make sure people understand that I bought a brand new car, yes I was the first owner (bought it off the show room floor with ~ 3 miles on it) and it already showed 3 owners on carfax. I became the "4th" owner even though I was actually the very first owner.
     
  21. LorenzoOO

    LorenzoOO Formula Junior

    Sep 21, 2017
    783
    Italia, US NE
    Full Name:
    Lorenzo LaMattina
    CarFax shows every transaction. So it exaggerates “owners” because every buyer/broker/auction/trade is counted as an owner.
     
  22. flat_plane_eddie

    flat_plane_eddie F1 Rookie
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Mar 30, 2013
    3,142
    NE FL
    Full Name:
    Eddie
    I would say under 5, preferably under 4. Most important is that the car was well maintained but every time I see a car with 10 owners I do think a bit why so many, was some maintenance skipped, etc.?
     
    five2five likes this.

Share This Page