I've gone from one pole to the other. I hopefully going to look at a car soon which has everything I want. In brief, it's 6 years old, has done 16k miles from new, has a clear history (from what I can see) and has full service history. I've checked it's MOT history and it has never failed one or had any advisories. It looks mint and is well within my budget, to the point that it's priced a good £1500 cheaper than similar examples of the same car. The only reason I can see why it would be so much cheaper is that it has had 4 registered keepers from new. When I go to view it, what sort of thing should I be asking on that front? Should I be concerned by the number of registered keepers in such a short space of time? I've never owned a car with more than 2 previous keepers in the past, so I wondered whether there's anything I need to be wary of. Thanks in advance.
I’d traditionally be skeptical that a car has less than 3k miles per year in its history, especially if it has changed hands that many times. Though the average population is older and people work from home a lot. The current keeper isn’t likely to know much about previous registered keepers so there’s not much you can ask over and above why they’re selling and what they’ve used it for. Used cars are always a bit of a lottery. Sometimes if it looks too good to be true it is though. Make sure it isn’t a cat s or n write off (or if it is then you are happy with it and that it has been properly repaired).
It might be that the car was pre-registered by the garage to hit targets so that would account for one keeper. Ask seller what they know of previous keepers, they could be family members for example? mileage is very low for a 6 year old car. Be good to ask what sort of journeys it’s been on as, in my limited experience, if it’s only been doing local short trips it may not like motorway travel. If the current keeper has not had it for long and they can’t explain previous keepers I’d be tempted to get a full mechanical assessment and maybe get someone to plug into engine management to see what codes have been recorded if any. Hopefully it’s just a bargain
The general consensus is always that its good to get a car with mileage that is lower than average. But I am slightly conscious that there could be such a thing as it being too low. A car is meant to be used, and that car has been averaging less than 3000 miles a year. Or less than 60 miles a week, across multiple owners. That is really low. My mum does more than that driving to Tesco and her twice weekly dance. Less than 2 hours being driven every week and the rest of the time, stood still. There may be nothing in it, but I'd be asking questions about why the mileage is so low. Has it, for example, spent months in the dealers waiting for some major issue to be fixed so couldnt be driven? And does that explain why it keeps getting moved on? As said, hopefully it's just a bargain, but you are right to have your antenna twitching.
Sometimes you can be a bit over suspicious, but honest cars are out there...the only thing I can think that's obvious is that at 16k it should be still on its originally supplied tyres.
As said it could be a family pass along. if doubtful on milage look at any part that is in constant contact with the driver e.g Steering wheel, rubber on pedals, gear knob and drivers seat. If any of these look more worn than what you expect leave it..
Thanks all for the replies. Definitely something to think about. Every car I've bought previously has been between 4 and 6 years old and generally had between 20-30k miles and I've been lucky really, no major issues. I'll definitely approach with caution when I go for a look.
Ask on ownership. Could have been passed on through family. People change cars more often now and work from home ownership wouldnt put me off as long as it wasnt way too many.
There are services like Car Vertical you can pop the reg in and get loads of information on it's history etc. see if it's been in any crashes, mileage tampered with and so on. Think you have to pay to run report, but might be worth it for piece of mind
Does the MOT history match the car details, mileage etc. If it does it’s likely the mileage is innocent. How long has the current owner had it? You can check this online by last logbook change. If they’ve had it less than a month chance is the seller is a from home trader, if he is why is he selling so much cheaper or are you comparing to dealerships? Is the logbook in his name?
