#5 - The “Too Many Owner” Paradox

We as humans are a fairly impressive bunch. Over generations we have built the pyramids, sent people into space, made huge leaps forward in technology and science, made Donald Trump leader of the free world……oh wait. The point we are trying to make is, humans (in general) tend to be a relatively rationale and learned breed of mammal. So why is it that when we try and buy a car, that all gets thrown down the proverbial toilet.

Now when you pick a car, be it new or used, we completely agree that you should try and tick the maximum amount of boxes in terms of spec, colour, age and mileage that your budget will allow. There is however one tick box which we struggle to rationalise when having conversations with prospective buyers….. “How many owners has the car had?” Allow us to explain why.

The myth behind how many owners a car has had, simply put, is based on the logic that multiple owners implies a car has not been looked after as well over the years. Why have previous owners sold it? Is there something wrong with it? What am I missing? It is a question and logic that our forefathers have injected into our psyche for decades. The problem is… it’s completely irrational. Over the years we have seen 1 owner cars that we wouldn’t touch with a barge pole and 10 owner cars that are ready for a concourse event. The reality is a 1 owner car could have spent its days being hooned around race tracks, a rental car that hundreds of people have driven or run/serviced on a tight budget for its entire life. Of course, that possibility is also there for a 10 owner car as well. Conversely, both a 1 owner and 10 owner car could have equally spent their days being driven as a weekend toy, garaged, cleaned and just generally looked after impeccably by their owners. Our point is, number of owners equates to the grand total of nothing and goes no way to really informing you about the past life and history of a car.

Furthermore, there are certain cars that are more predisposed to having multiple owners. These typically tend to be sports and supercars. The rationale for this is that given the nature and practicality of these cars, they are typically the second or third car in a garage and only put into action when the weather is good or the owner has proper time to use them….not sitting in traffic on the way to work or doing the school run. What’s more, it’s likely that 2 years down the line, the owner fancies something different and with only possibly a couple thousand miles of usage, it changes hands to its new owner.

So what is a better validation point for analysing the history of a car and how it has been treated? Objectively, it is the service history. This is the most accurate way of checking whether a car has been pampered over the years. Typically, an owner who invests in keeping a car mechanically sound is likely to have looked after it. So check the number of service stamps in a log book. Obviously main dealer service history is nice but specialist dealers often actually know more about specific cars and you can get a better standard of maintenance without paying the egregious labour rates associated with main dealers. What’s more, in most modern cars (less than 5 years old) the service history is logged online so no more need to worry about lost log books etc. Any paper work associated with the service stamps is an added bonus…be it service invoices or vehicle health check reports done on the car at the time. It all helps to paint a tapestry of the cars history.

Subjectively, we always find a detailed appraisal of the interior of a car is a good way to ascertain how it has been treated. The best tail-tail sign we use is to look at wear on the driver side seat. Typically, the driver side seat lumber support on the outer/door side is the most abused part of a car interior. That is because it is frequently rubbed against when getting in and out of the car. A more worn lumber support suggests either many people getting in and out of the car to drive it or owners doing so in a rush/carelessly. We reiterate, service history is more useful but the lumber check is a handy additional tool.  

So to conclude, don’t get too hung up on how many owners a car has had. It does little to tell you about the true story and history of a car.

Happy Motoring,

 CC’s Investment Team