multiple owners
 

Looking on Cargurus I notice that some of the low mileage corvettes have as many as 5 and 6 owners, my guess is, is to stay away from these as there has to be a reason for this. what are your thoughts about multiple owners?
Thanks Jack

I would be more concerned about condition and maintenance.

i would say it would be hard to put your finger on the reason why these cars had so many owners. Some people lose interest i guess if they are not real enthusiasts. The cars are old enough for multiple owners. Who knows for sure why.

It depends entirely on the condition of the car. I'm technically the 4th owner of my car. The first owner kept it in a garage for 5-6 years and only built up 8k miles. Usually stereotype, older fellow who wanted a garage queen. The second owner was similar to the first, but drove the car about 34k miles. The third owner, who I bought the car from, got it up to 104k miles as a daily for his commute over highway 17.

All three owners were gentle to a point of absurdity, but I'm not complaining! I got my car in pretty much perfect condition, with the amusing exception that for example the car still had its original factory brake pads and rotors. The previous owner sheepishly explained he mostly drove on the highway and used his transmission to control his speed primarily.

I don't think any of the previous owners drove the car over 100mph a single time, they babied it, waxed it, did regular maintenance and drove it gently, but consistently, after the first owner. So my engine and drivetrain are extremely well maintained, as is the car's exterior. The previous owners did zero mods and followed maintenance guidelines, which I have paperwork to verify.

This was the perfect car for me, because while it's in gorgeous shape, it's over 100k miles and there's no point not modding and driving it. It depends what you're after. I wanted a platform to make into a track/street crossover, and I'm extremely happy with the car. It's also worth noting that if you buy a car which has been sitting for a long time, you're going to have some engine issues to resolve in all likelihood, so very low mileage can be a double edged sword.

If you take care of it, a C5 will go north of 250-300k miles and sometimes much more before the engine dies. Only go for a low mileage car if you're actually going to try to flip it over the next couple years. Otherwise, find a vette in good shape, run it through all of the regular "buying a car" paces and if everything is up to snuff, the number of owners/mileage isn't actually that big of a concern (up to a point of course). :flag:

Condition is more important. Check Carfax and service records. You can figure out who put all the miles on and who kept it off the road. A lot of people don't hang on to cars very long. Doesn't mean they neglected or beat on it. Mine had 4 owners. The first one put the most miles on it. The rest seem to just use it on weekends and drove it very little. Also it had a service contract on it for it's whole life, so all scheduled mantainance and repairs were done by the dealership.

My car has had 7 previous owners. It was well maintained by all and has been perfect for me. Mike

It's a Corvette, not a woman!:willy:

Having several previous owners may not be the fault of the car - if it is, then you can take comfort in the fact that 5 or 6 others were duped in a similar fashion and you are not the only idiot suckered by a pretty face.:rock:

I'll agree with the others - the condition and how well the car has been maintained is, at least to me, more important than how many owners the car has had. While it is a point of interest why there were so many owners, it is probably something you will have a hard time finding out why.

I bought my car at 16k miles with 4 previous owners. Doesn't bother me one bit. You may miss some really nice cars with that type of thinking.

My 2000 had 4 or 5 previous owners, IIRC. Not unusual with a Corvette. The first owner had it for 7-8 years and the other owners 2-3 years each. Bought it from the most recent owner...a retired cop in his 60's. The owner before him was cop's best friend (another guy in his 60's who sold it to buy a Corvette convertible).

I figured they each sold it to upgrade to a newer or different Corvette. With a "run of the mill" car like a Accord, Camry, Malibu, etc, I would be concerned with 4-5 owners. With a Corvette, not so much. Corvette owners tend to be amongst the best owners out there, generally speaking. Typically very concerned with proper maintenance and keeping the car running well. That's why you see so many "Corvette Shops" out there and you'll never see a "Accord Shop" or "Malibu Shop" etc.

Have it inspected by a mechanic familiar with Corvettes. As long as they say it's ok, you're good to go regardless of number of previous owners. I'd change the fluids if you can't verify history, but other than that...you shouldn't have problems. I had 3 mechanics check mine (I'm pretty anal about used cars) and all of them said its running perfectly. So it's a moot point. :cool:

Some of the previous owners may be dealers. That was the case with my '03. Two of the four previous owners were dealers and very few miles were put on it during the time it was in their possession.

In January of 2007 I purchased my '97 (#502). I was the fourth owner. The car had 40K on it. After looking closely at the condition of the car, the number of previous owners wasn't a concern to me.

I've only put another 20K miles on the car in its second 10 years. No major problems to speak of.

Strangely, people still say "Gee, it must be nice!", or "Did you win the lottery?", or "Did you start dealing drugs?" All that fuss over a $10K car.

Both of my 03's had 4-5 previous owners.
Both were exceptionally well taken care of.
Car guys with the manta "so many beautiful cars, too little time." :yesnod: :cool::cool:

I agree with others that it's about condition...but also note that carfax can double-count owners.

In my case, carfax said it had 7 owners. That seemed excessive and when I mentioned it to the seller, he said he's the 3rd and he had old registrations going back to when the car was with its first owner.

Looking closely at the carfax, here's what happened:

Owner 1: First owner lease vehicle
Owner 2: First owner buys lease with loan
Owner 3: First owner pays off loan
Owner 4: First sells to Second with loan
Owner 5: Second owner pays off loan
Owner 6: Second sells to third with loan
Owner 7: Third pays off loan

I was able to trace this because carfax reports the city it was registered. The city didn't change for each time "a new title was issued" aka loan paid off.

TBH, the only value of a carfax is to check for crashes/title history. And even then, it's not perfect. Your eyes and intuition are worth more than the Carfax, IMO. If a car looks clean, drives well, and has maintenance history, it's probably a solid buy.

I'm the third owner, I've had it since 2011. Car had 4k mi. now has 7k.


http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k4...5/P7020033.jpg

Owner #4 here. 18k miles when I bought a 10-year old '04; 48k miles now. No problems at all.

Owner #4 here as well.

Bought the car with 8,140 miles.

Owner #1 - 1 year - 3,000 miles
Owner #2 - 3 years - 2,000 miles
Owner #3 - 7 years - 3,000 miles

I appreciate the meticulous nature of the previous owners. If I ever sell it, the 5th owner will be just as lucky.

[QUOTE=Choreo;1594334480]It's a Corvette, not a woman!:willy:

That's funny and true.:D:flag:

Looking at these mileage numbers, a lot of the forum cars are garage queens.

This was discussed in a really good article back in 2005 where a major Corvette re-seller answered a good ownership FAQ.

Corvettes often go through many owners when they are new. You have to understand the situational aspect of the car. It's often a "second" or "third" car, at a higher price point than what most can afford, and rather limited in usage. What often happens is say people buy them new, then find they can't afford the payments, need more than two seats, upgrade to the newest model (happens especially with Corvettes, as they gradually upgrade within generations), etc, etc. So they get traded in. The cycle often repeats, sometimes with one or two owners but sometimes even further.

Knowing this situational aspect, my biggest thing would be service. If the service is up to date and documented then multiple ownership would not turn me away from a car.

Exactly, I just bought a C6Z that Carfax identified as having 6 previous owners and only 15K on the clock. After doing some digging I believe 3 of those were dealers buying the car at auctions and basically I a the 3rd actual owner/driver.

Mine is definitely a garage queen, but she gets driven. I have put like 2500 miles in one year of ownership. She does sit from December through March though.

I was just going to post this same explanation...:thumbs:

I bought my car with 10k on the odometer. It had 4 previous owners. The guy I purchased it from, bought the car just so he had a car for the "Corvettes for Cancer" event in Charlotte. After the event, he sold the car to me. He owned it less than a month! Basically, you can't judge a car by how many owners it's had. It's much more important as to how the car has been cared for and maintained by all previous owners. Some guys buy a Corvette and then realize it's not as comfortable as their last BMW,Jaguar or Mercedes and they sell it after driving it a few hundred or thousand miles. Then there's that "one owner" car that's been modded to extremes, run down the track, beat on endlessly and put back to stock for resale purposes. The guy then advertises it as "one owner/all original". Condition is everything and if you look closely at things, before your purchase, you will find that "perfect" car for you.

I'm the 6th owner on my Z, but it has been a great Corvette nonetheless. I bought mine as a 4th vehicle so needless to say it doesn't get driven much. I've averaged roughly 4-5k miles a year. Multiple owners shouldn't necessarily scare you off.

7 POs on my 01. Keep in mind these cars came about about the time of the big economic collapse. I think there may be a lot of repos on cars in this era too.

Rick

I had the rear shock welds issue and it involved a small batch of vin #s !!!! Wayne

These are toys for most owners. Pretty common for cars like this to change hands a lot. Should not factor into buying it or not.

Different experience here. Bought my '98 new in '97 as a daily driver to replace a breathed on Mustang. My commuter car for 4 years or so, then got offered a too good to pass up early out package, since when it's been very much the secondary vehicle. About 75k on it now. As many have said, condition is the important factor, not number of owners.

Plus IMO, don't be put off by lack of records. I do all my own routine maintenance and have never bothered to record everything I have done. GM's records would show everything they did (while under warranty), but apart from a couple of later dealer visits. the more recent history would be a blank page.

Another great point.

My neighbor has had more wives than that. What could go wrong?

I totally agree. Rather than "owners," just think of it "drivers" that sat in the seat.

Get it checked and ENJOY

An everyday use vehicle would seem sketchy with a lot of owners. Corvettes not so much as they are usually not primary transportation and as such, not something that every owner will keep over time. Also, people usually buy Corvettes with an intentionality that may improve likelihood of good care. Understanding what a Corvette is in the car world really helped to direct me to the details others have addressed when I bought mine.

I am the third owner, my '02 had ~10K miles when I purchased it in Dec '05, now has 26K, just about 1K a year. It is my daily driver from May to November but I drive 4 miles each way to work = ~1k miles / year. We rarely do long drives preferring to fly, then there's my wife's Tahoe, my Norton, the motor home, boat and ATV that also get drive time. When all miles are added up its still only about 10K/year.

I was the 4th owner when I bought my 02Z even though it only had 8.8k miles. Some people buy Vettes as investments and don't drive them which is great for people like me looking for clean almost new 17 year old car. Keep in mind dealers also become "owners" while they sell the car, so a car that's only had 2 true owners may 4 on the Carfax because of the dealers.

Steve

It'a very common for sports collector cars like to have a high number of owners. Watch this video:

The number of owners has no effect on the quality of the car, if anything I would want a higher number of owners as with each new owner the car has items taken care of, rather than a long time potentially complacent owner. Reasons people sell sports cars: often these types of cars are bought with loans and people quickly realize that's not the smartest decision, also many sports car owners like to "change it up" every couple years and get a different sports car.

Also the Carfax or Autocheck would show any reported history such as title or salvage issues along with detailed inspection of the car.

I am the 8th owner of my C5Z with 58,000 miles, and I looked at countless C5Z's over the course of a year, many with a low # of owners but not as clean/well maintained. Car has been excellent the past 2 years I've owned it. So go with the best car; the # of owners means nothing.