Sold a misdescribed used car by a franchised dealer

Car_54

sheramber said:

A one owner car could have been driven by a whole family plus anybody else who was allowed to drive the car.

Indeed. Or the one owner might have been Hertz or Avis, etc.

Herzlos

sheramber said:

A one owner car could have been driven by a whole family plus anybody else who was allowed to drive the car.

Sure, a 1 owner car doesn't mean it's been looked after by a single careful driver, but a 4 owner car is less likely to have been looked after. A young, 4 owner car indicates that the first 4 owners got rid of it pretty quickly, though the 1st owner could have been the dealership in order to pre-register it.

In the OP's case, the error was shown to the dealer who issued a partial refund on the car, so I'm not sure what else they'd want.

facade

Herzlos said:

sheramber said:

A one owner car could have been driven by a whole family plus anybody else who was allowed to drive the car.

Sure, a 1 owner car doesn't mean it's been looked after by a single careful driver, but a 4 owner car is less likely to have been looked after. A young, 4 owner car indicates that the first 4 owners got rid of it pretty quickly, though the 1st owner could have been the dealership in order to pre-register it.

In the OP's case, the error was shown to the dealer who issued a partial refund on the car, so I'm not sure what else they'd want.

A 1 owner car could just as well have been driven into the ground on minimal servicing and "got rid of" when they knew a major bill was imminent as meticulously polished every Sunday, never driven in the wet or Winter and fully serviced.

But a lot of owners in a short time usually means the car is a lemon, and none of them could fix the (usually intermittent) problem.

The question really is did the dealer charge the price of a "one owner" car, or the three owner car it actually is, so their clerical error hasn't disadvantaged, or "cheated" the OP, and the £200 sweetener is acceptable.

If a "one owner" car is priced £2000 higher than a 3 owner one, then it isn't.

Bigwheels1111

My car was a pre reg with 5 miles on the clock.
Driven in factory to car park.
Driven onto transporter and off onto the dock.
Into ship.
Off ship.
Transporter and off again at dealer.
Moved around dealer ship a few times.
Thats 6 to 10 people driving my new car.

But above is fraud as far as I’m concerned, misrepresentation at best.

[Deleted User]

Keep_pedalling said:

What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car.

If it's had several owners in a short space of time, like each one had it for a year or less, I'd strongly suspect that there was something wrong with it.

To the questioner, Trading Standards might be able to help if two of you have had the same experience.

Marvel1

Keep_pedalling said:

What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car.

Depending on age of car, too many owners in short space makes me think what is wrong with it.

Bradden

Marvel1 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car.

Depending on age of car, too many owners in short space makes me think what is wrong with it.

Surely that's what a test drive is for though? From my experience it's the only real way to assess a car.. mileage, number of owners, service history etc are all factors to take into account but nothing beats a physical check.

prowla

Are the previous owners customers or dealers?

Car_54

prowla said:

Are the previous owners customers or dealers?

There is no way of telling.
The V5C shows only 'number of previous keepers' (NB not owners). They no longer give names, for data protection.

facade

Bradden said:

Marvel1 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

What difference does it matter if it was owned 1 previous owner or 3? It won’t effect the value of the car.

Depending on age of car, too many owners in short space makes me think what is wrong with it.

Surely that's what a test drive is for though? From my experience it's the only real way to assess a car.. mileage, number of owners, service history etc are all factors to take into account but nothing beats a physical check.

Several owners each keeping it a short time usually indicates an intermittent fault that no-one can fix. Often it doesn't start to show up until the car has been driven for some days or weeks, far more than a simple test drive,

There have been cases on here in the past where the owner has been advised by some to "clear the codes and trade it in".

Even if the car has been legitimately rejected as faulty, do you expect the dealer to then scrap it as unfixable, or simply "clear the codes and punt it though auction"?