Used car & BVRLA mileage data

alstemp

Hi there

I have just run a vehicle check via Auto Trader on a used car I am interested in buying.

As part of the results regarding mileage, data has been provided as below:

Source Date Mileage BVRLA 26/07/2013 70,500 RMI MIL'GE 26/07/2013 70,500 BVRLA 24/07/2013 70,500 BVRLA 04/06/2013 66,790 RMI MIL'GE 01/06/2013 66,790 BVRLA 30/05/2013 65,700 BVRLA 29/01/2013 58,459 BVRLA 24/10/2012 52,505 BVRLA 22/08/2012 49,179 BVRLA 16/08/2012 49,098

The BVRLA is the vehicle rental & leasing body which would mean that this car is likely a rental or fleet car.

So - I have 2 questions:
1. The car has 73,000 miles on a 2009 plate. The dealer selling it says the car only has had one owner. would that mean that the "one owner" is the leasing company?

2. and there are several mileage entries from the BVRLA -does that mean that each different entry is each time it had a different driver? so in fact, even though the ad states it only has had one owner, it could in fact have had 8 different drivers or lease holders within that time?

What are views on ex rental/lease cars? Avoid or consider?

in all other aspects, the car fits the bill - good price, good spec etc.

thanks for your feedback!

egyptiancotton

The owner would be the leasing company. Therefore it could have several drivers during its time.

alstemp

Thanks for quick reply - on feedback on pros & cons of buying a car with this sort of history? is it worth considering or best just to avoid . . . ?

forgotmyname

There used to be a joke on that.. One Owner ( HERTZ ).

It may have had a lot of drivers. Fastest car in the world is a hire car. I over revved one once when i forgot to change gear. My car at the time was an auto it got to 70mph in 2nd gear and died. oops. Made a funny sort of buzzing sound.

Check the service history and accident damage.

egyptiancotton

alstemp wrote: »

Thanks for quick reply - on feedback on pros & cons of buying a car with this sort of history? is it worth considering or best just to avoid . . . ?

It's a sad fact that a lot of people don't look after hire cars when hired out.

Check the service history and signs of accident damage. Give the car a thorough test drive and check. If there are no warning signs and the price is right, it may be worth considering.

Edit: I don't suppose the dealer is Cornerpark Garages?

alstemp

Thanks for the feedback. Hmmm does not sound too promising. I'm in London and the dealer is in Doncaster so big distance to go if anything goes wrong as well. I may "park" this one (excuse the pun!) for now and keep looking then . . .

egyptiancotton

alstemp wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. Hmmm does not sound too promising. I'm in London and the dealer is in Doncaster so big distance to go if anything goes wrong as well. I may "park" this one (excuse the pun!) for now and keep looking then . . .

Good luck with the search

My current car's first owner was Ford Business Partner. Its second owner was a private owner. I purchased my car from Nathaniel Cars in Bridgend. It has never let me down and runs like a dream. In fact, I purchased two Fiestas from the Day's Trade Centre in Cardiff a few years ago - both well maintained and ran beautifully. No problems with either.

smssms

Luck is as bigger fact in car buying as just about everything else; some cars just work and some are lemons regardless of age/heritage/owners...

My way around it is to only buy cars I can afford to scrap if they become too much of a liability.

londonTiger

if the car is common, just find another equivalent which was driven by owners. The only time when I would consider taking a car with dodgy past is if it was extremely rare and I really wanted it.

Hire cars are for taking the gas peddle to the floor. I drive zipcars the only time I press the gas peddle is when I squeeze it all the way down.

WellKnownSid

It's a reasonable mileage / age so may not be daily rental. Many daily rentals are sold off before they get too old because they can sell them on for more or less what they paid for them new.

londonTiger wrote: »

if the car is common, just find another equivalent which was driven by owners.

Given that over 50% of vehicle sales in the UK are to the fleet market rather than to 'owners', that means over 50% of the second hand cars on the market are, by definition, ex-fleet...

londonTiger

WellKnownSid wrote: »

Given that over 50% of vehicle sales in the UK are to the fleet market rather than to 'owners', that means over 50% of the second hand cars on the market are, by definition, ex-fleet...

50% is really high. I'm going to assume that is correct and only so because it includes hire purchase & company cars. Does it include cars bought on finance but never fully paid off and thus "belongs" to the finance company's "fleet"??

These are quite different from a straight up rental car. The above the drivers will have some pride of ownership and treat it as their own. Rental cars are pretty much abused.