SacTownGuy

In my opinion there are way too many P-cars out there to be impatient. I know with my last used car search I was extremely patient and found an incredible car that was 3 years old with 12,000 miles on it, exact colors I wanted, in perfect condition, and I paid less than comparable cars with 3 times the mileage. BE PATIENT! When you find the car you will know and it will be easy to pull the trigger!

nittanyguy1

I agree with the comment that one owner may be showing up as multiple owners. Had a car I bought new in PA from a dealer friend of mine while I lived in Ohio. Registered in Ohio. Later moved back to PA, re-registered in PA. So, my carfax on my one owner car turned up 2 owners PA (dealership, than me), another owner when I registered it in Ohio, and another when I registered it again when I moved back to PA. 4 Owners in one year.

Someone just glancing at this would think the car was a lemon just being passed from owner to owner. Thankfully, I traded it in on another car, so no worries about questions from an off the street buyer.
Ethan

TamiyaGuy

I think a detailed look at the Carfax for ownership and timelines is needed. I know some people have pointed out the title changes when a leased car is purchased at the end of the lease. However, the other contributing factor are curbers. People who buy cars at auction or otherwise and flip them for profit. If you see ownerships for less than 4 or 5 months that could be a flipper and not really a true owner.

Having said that, it's not actually a good thing. These guys typically put no money into the car and drive it around knowing it'll be gone in a few months. It also means that they probably got it at a steep enough discount to flip for a profit.

Now that could be just an owner in financial distress, or it could be something wrong with the vehicle.

And yes, CarFax is useless for accident identification. If it SHOWS an accident, then it's useful information. If it does NOT show an accident, that does not mean it's accident free.

Let me tell you my story with Carfax:

I had an older 2006 BMW a couple of years back. I got hit by a guy who ran the light. About $10K in damage to the rear driver side area. By the way, it sounds like a lot but if you looked at it, you'd barely see the damage. I guess it's the cost of BMW parts.

Regardless, after it got fixed, the car never did drive the same at speed so I traded it in. By this time, the CarFax already showed the police report filing online (I checked before I traded it in). Looked at a few cars from Lexus, Audi and BMW dealerships. They saw the incident on my CarFax as well.

Now, here's where it gets interesting:

I finally pick a car and trade in the old BMW. I recall when they evaluated my trade, they took a lot of photos of the side which was hit. I thought it was odd at the time but just assumed they wanted to farm out the trade to "Uncle Al's Used Cars" or something and was emailing the photos.

Two days after, I see the car advertised on their own website. The Carfax is clean. No entry for the Police Report at all. I couldn't believe it. I guess I know where the photos were sent now.

Chaos

I'll bet she's had more than eight owners and still worth alot !

relinuca

Would you marry someone who had had eight previous spouses?
Nuf said.

relinuca

shannah1806

You can't go by the owner count alone. Look at the Carfax and see what it tells you. The bottom line is to review the maintenance records and get a good PPI. You can have a very well maintained and solid 8 owner car and you can have a real lemon with just a couple previous owners. My 99 C2 had 8 previous owners. It is solid and tight. The engine was replaced in 2006 (IMS) at a dealer, all paperwork available when I bought it. The previous owner was a fanatic and really took care of things. That is probably the most important thing to look for. Buy it from someone who had it for a while and took care of it. I had a thorough PPI and the tech couldn't believe how great the car was. I love it, its really a fantastic car and I still can't believe what I paid for it.

As with any used car purchase, make sure you have enough left in your piggy bank to do the repairs that it will require. Doesn't matter how many people owned it, you will be dealing with repairs.

If its solid and strong then buy it.

Charlie C

How do you know, are you the one who did the PPI?

Chaos

Maybe...

Philip P

my carfax on a recent car I owned said it had 3 owners when I purchased it myself and was the sole owner. It was exactly as stated, when I moved to another state it counted as a different owner.

cdaniels

NO...1 or 2 owners but 8 owners means it changed hands about every 14 months.....I would not buy it.........