Used car - 2 owners in 12,000 miles?

pinkteapot

Would this put you off? It's at a main dealer so not entirely sure I'll get the honest answer on why it's had two owners already.

Keith

Prereged to the dealership, sold to a customer = 2 owners?

blued

What sort of car is it?

pinkteapot

08 plate Vauxhall Astra Breeze Plus (so not a sporty one that someone's been ragging around town, in theory).

Pre-reged makes sense. Would explain why the dealer has one with 1 owner and 10 miles on their used list.

I still wonder about cars with low mileage... I want to upgrade to something nearly-new (brand new is just over-priced). But most that are less than two years old have 10-20k on the clock, sometimes 5-10k. Why do people get rid of cars after such a short time? It makes me nervous!

blued

Yeah I was going to say if it was a sports car a lot of people buy them and then realise what they cost to run and you see this type of car with 10 owners in 10 years!

If it is pre-registered and the dealer was the first owner then no problem. There are lots of reasons why someone might get rid of a car so quickly these days, the most obvious one being financial difficulties. There are plenty used cars around though, keep looking until you see something you are happy with.

vikingaero

Pre-reg can also mean the first owner was a hire car company, manufacturer staff or a driving school.

Kilty_2

Hire cars are usually sold at ~6 months and ~14k miles so I think that can be ruled out. Sounds like it's either been a pre-reg or a courtesy car for 3-6 months and then privately owned to me.

I would recommend looking for an Astra SXI/Design/SRI though - the lower spec models have terrible, terrible seats.

hethmar

A lot of people change cars every year or every two years - not me, but I certainly know a lot of people who do that.

My son bought a 2 year old VW Golf last year, 20k on clock, two owners, he actually met the second owner at the dealership, picking up his new car - he was a policeman who was swapping the Golf plus selling his wife's mini car in for a new Polo so they could save up for a house. The car had been sold first time at the same dealership. So it was all kosher. I think we all tend to be a bit sceptical nowdays but if its a main dealer then you will still have the warranty and they will no doubt offer to extend it for a reasonable fee.

Kilty_2

TBH my 56 plate Astra had 2 owners at 29k miles when I bought it and 3 owners at 33k miles when I sold it 6 months later :rotfl:

Kingsd316

I bought a 06 Ford Focus with 18,000 on the clock last year and im the fifth owner, i forgot to ask when buying the car (stupid i know) anyway ive had no problems with mine what so ever (touch wood that continues)

I think if i had have know it would have put me off slightly but i really wanted the car

ukjoel

Wouldnt worry me.
Probably a pre reg which was put on to make the dealers sales targets for that quarter and then owned by someone for a couple of years. Low milage driver who has traded in for something else maybe needs an auto, maybe something smaller, maybe just an old codger who has given up driving.

Either way its still under warranty and you can always extend that if you want to for a year for proper peace of mind.

The volume dealers are under so much pressure to hit targets they can pre reg loads.

Look at the original date of registration. The key dates that would indicate it being a target led pre reg would be a couple of days before end of year, end of quarter, or month end.