Do you trust a jag with multiple owners?
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2022
Posts: 19
Likes: 3
From: San Diego CA / Phoenix AZ
Is it really multiple owners? Or could it just be that the "owner" just changed the way title was held multiple times?
It seems Carfax is not smart enough to distinguish between ownership changes and slight name changes. For example, I put my 1999 540i in my Dad's name when I bought it (insurance reasons), then I put it in my name when I got older an insurance went down for me as the primary driver. Then I put it in my LLC name. That's really one family ownership yet Carfax showed 3 transfers.
The same went for my Dad's other car which went from "Wife" to "husband and wife" to "husband" on title. Same family, just title changes that the carfax algorithm was not smart enough to catch.
More recently, I bought an SL55 that 4 dealers had flipped in 2 months! It went from Carfax in Dallas to Carfax in Arizona, to a California dealer, through Manheim Riverside, to another dealer. Each dealer was probably making a few hundred off eachother, but the car had been remarkably taken care of.
I think a 1 or 2 owner car from a wealthy owner who did every little repair is ideal, but a well maintained car (backed up by the carfax report) wouldn't scare me off.
It seems Carfax is not smart enough to distinguish between ownership changes and slight name changes. For example, I put my 1999 540i in my Dad's name when I bought it (insurance reasons), then I put it in my name when I got older an insurance went down for me as the primary driver. Then I put it in my LLC name. That's really one family ownership yet Carfax showed 3 transfers.
The same went for my Dad's other car which went from "Wife" to "husband and wife" to "husband" on title. Same family, just title changes that the carfax algorithm was not smart enough to catch.
More recently, I bought an SL55 that 4 dealers had flipped in 2 months! It went from Carfax in Dallas to Carfax in Arizona, to a California dealer, through Manheim Riverside, to another dealer. Each dealer was probably making a few hundred off eachother, but the car had been remarkably taken care of.
I think a 1 or 2 owner car from a wealthy owner who did every little repair is ideal, but a well maintained car (backed up by the carfax report) wouldn't scare me off.
Veteran Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,865
Likes: 918
From: MI
I may have posted this before but it really depends.
If a car is more expensive, it may be part of a fleet owned by a private owner. It may be owned say 2-4 years and maybe 2-6k miles put on. That said it may have been one of seven cars and the owner liked variety and just changed it up. Look at maintenance, look at condition and buy the car more than the story.
Look also at how the miles were put on. Preferably evenly over time and not mostly at the beginning and sporadic now. If not evenly, preferably mostly done in the last few years on a car like tbergs where you know it was a lot of mileage but the car was well loved and maintained. Garage queens can be needy nightmares once you try to start recommissioning them from a few trips a year life cycle to regular use.
If a car is more expensive, it may be part of a fleet owned by a private owner. It may be owned say 2-4 years and maybe 2-6k miles put on. That said it may have been one of seven cars and the owner liked variety and just changed it up. Look at maintenance, look at condition and buy the car more than the story.
Look also at how the miles were put on. Preferably evenly over time and not mostly at the beginning and sporadic now. If not evenly, preferably mostly done in the last few years on a car like tbergs where you know it was a lot of mileage but the car was well loved and maintained. Garage queens can be needy nightmares once you try to start recommissioning them from a few trips a year life cycle to regular use.
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2022
Posts: 19
Likes: 3
From: San Diego CA / Phoenix AZ
I'm looking at Ferrari 360's and I'd much rather buy a 2002 with 60k miles (3k miles a year) then a 2002 with 15k miles.
Machines need weekly exercise.
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