Hi,
I recently (2 weeks ago) collected a car I bought from a main dealer the advert stated 1 owner (I still have a copy) and once I had done the deal I checked some details from the advert with the sales guy, one of which was the amount of owners, his reply was ?yes one previous owner?.
Yesterday I got the V5 through the post and it shows 2 owners plus me.
The car is only 20 months old and I did get a good deal but feel that the dealer misled me.
Will the fact that the car has had an extra owner reduce its value?
What options do I have with regards to the dealer?
Many thanks in advance for your advice.
{Subject header amended so that it's less vague - DD}
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?yes one previous owner? plus the current owner plus yourself.
its a little trick of words that the dealers like to use..
does it say on paper one owner or one previos owner
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Hi,
It said in the advert 1 family owner.
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Although it might be annoying that this has happened you have to think about what, if any, impact an extra owner will have. If you intend to keep the car for a few years it will have no effect. However if you intend to sell in a few months, it might. Also is it two real owners or was it pre-reg (owner one on the V5) then sold to the first user. In that case its effectively only a one owner car - although I agree it should have been more clearly described in the ad.
You don't say whether you've gone back to the dealer yet, I assume not? I suggest the first step is to go back and explain the discrepancy and see what their reaction is. It may well be a genuine mistake and they will be only too pleased to put it right. Personally I'd then probably be happy with a free service or something. However it really depends on the wider picture and what, if any loss you really feel you have incurred. I hope you get a satisfactory resolution and you can get on with enjoying the new car without a lengthy dispute.
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you often get a car that is garage registered and one real keeper, i would advertise this as one owner but show the customer at point of sale that it was first registered to a dealer,maybe this was the case?
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you often get a car that is garage registered and one real keeper, i would advertise this as one owner but show the customer at point of sale that it was first registered to a dealer,maybe this was the case?
I don't really approve of that sort of thing. Number of owners should be quoted as stated on the V5 - doesn't matter if first owner was a garage (demo car, salesman's hack?) or Prince Philip - still an owner. I always quote as shown on V5. If its my personal car (reg. to me) than I would quote number of previous owners - i.e. "two previous owners" = 2+me, i.e. three in total.
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The 2 previous owners are both private owners, I do intend to keep the car for 18 months and I haven't approached the dealer yet.
My main question is will the extra owner lower the future value of the car and if so by how much?
and
If the future value of the car is lowered what is the best way to approach the dealer?
Many thanks for your contributions so far.
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It is a quirk of the V5 that, at the time of sale the V5 did say "1 previous owner" and is a common thing. It is only when the V5 is re-issued it says 2. This happens on places like ebay and Autotrader which use DVLA information to fill in the details of the car.
For example, if you sell a car on ebay and are the second owner of the car and use the registration number to sell it, the field for number of previous owners will be "1", i.e. 1 previous owner plus the seller.
I really wouldn't worry about it - any effect on the value of the car will be negligable.
The correct terms for the V5 should also be "previous number of keepers" as the V5 doesn't technically state who owns the car merely who it is registered to.
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Big Birdy has it right.
One previous owner. (plus the current owner)
you get car
Now has Two previous owners (with you as the current owner)
Man did not lie to you.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thanks for your comments TVM "Man did not lie to you."
I agree with this the sales guy didn't lie, the advert was however inaccurate. The salesman clearly didn't correct my misconception that the car had only had one owner.
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Big Birdy has it right. One previous owner. (plus the current owner) you get car Now has Two previous owners (with you as the current owner) Man did not lie to you.
No, you're wrong. When I private owner sells a car then he should state the number of previous owners as per the V5. So if I sell a car I bought new then its 'no previous owners', if it had one owner before me then its 'one previous owner'.
When buying off a garage then the garage has bought the car off its last owner and should state the total number of owners.
If a garage states 'one owner car' then it should mean just that. I used to do the sales ads for our garage and that's the way I did them (and everyone else I knew did the same).
In value terms the difference will not be much. Try to squeeze a free basic service out of them or something like that - think its the principle, rather than the value.
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that is what I said April
the car he bought was on its second owner, the man he bought it from. So it had one PREVIOUS owner. He buys it, it now has 2 PREVIOUS owners he is the third owner.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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that is what I said April the car he bought was on its second owner, the man he bought it from. So it had one PREVIOUS owner. He buys it, it now has 2 PREVIOUS owners he is the third owner.
No mate, you're still not understanding. What you say is correct for a private sale (that's the way I would word it) - but he bought it from a MAIN DEALER. The prev. owner sold it to the main dealer. So the main dealer should be selling it as a two owner car. I've done countless ads for cars we were selling and always did it that way. Trade and private are different.
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whatever
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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"whatever"
How gay was that RF?
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"whatever" How gay was that RF?
>>
Talk to the hand
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Big Birdy has it right. One previous owner. (plus the current owner) you get car Now has Two previous owners (with you as the current owner) Man did not lie to you.
At the time the statement was made by the salesman the owner of the car was the dealer. They had bought it from the second owner and the dealer then became the owner. Their name may not have been on the V5 but nevertheless they owned the car at that time. So the salesman fibbed. The car had had two previous owners, not one, and the salesman knew it.
--
L\'escargot.
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you often get a car that is garage registered and one real keeper, i would advertise this as one owner but show the customer at point of sale that it was first registered to a dealer,maybe this was the case?
sorry i meant to write "one previous owne" and that can be taken both ways but i always show the v5c to all my customers at pos or earlier it makes them feel better anyway.
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The salesman has led you up the garden path. The car has had two owners before you and that is what he should have made clear.
All this arguing over 'previous owners' & 'current owners' is just by the by waffle. The practice of dealers registering cars to themselves went out of the window years ago with the change in the Registration Documents, and although technically the dealer owns the car that he sold to you, they are never a registered keeper and quite rightly so.
Go back to the dealer, make it clear that you are unhappy that they have lied to you and you want some kind of goodwill gesture. In real terms the cars value won't be too badly affected when you come to sell, so if you are happy with the car just push for something like a free service etc. If you are unhappy with the car then I reckon this would give you grounds to reject it.
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One family owner, Father then Son?
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The car is only 20 months old and I did get a good deal but feel that the dealer misled me.
Misled or not, you said yourself you got a good deal. Now put whether it's previously had one or two owners to the back of your mind and start enjoying the car.
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If they lied and it had two previous owners ,ask for all your money back and see what they offer.
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If this is/was important to you why not ask to see the reg doc before you purchase,that way you get to see what is really on it,not what might be on it.Dont forget sales the sales johny is dealing with lots of cars and can easily make a mistake,if its important to you check it first,to your own satisfaction.
When did Marks&Spencers start selling cars that you can just take back and get a full refund?
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I took the word of the salesman and the advert produced by the dealer. The salesman had the V5 in front of him when he gave me the answer.
I have no intention of asking for my money back, I would however like to mention it to the dealer along with a couple of other things that should have been done before I took the car.
Thank you for your answers the jist of them is that the number of owners should not make to much difference to the value of the car. If this is the case I can rest easy I still got a great deal.
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This just goes to show that words can mean anything. I like the advert that says 'one careful owner' - meaning there were nine but one of them was careful.
Anyway as has been said, enjoy the car: the number of owners will make little if any difference to the residual value. Let;s hope they were both careful and that neither sold the car because they hated it.
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Technically the dealer is within their rights and correct - it's just a bit misleading and a simple "the car has had two owners" is what any decent person would say.
Also, as I stated above, registered keeper and owner is different. Many cars pass through lots of traders before ending up with an owner, therefore from a technical stand point your car may have 6 previous owners but it is the number of registered keepers which counts.
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Technically the car has had two previous owners/keepers when the garage acquires it. Not one. They have sold the vehicles. Title has passed.
It is simply that the V5 is not updated until the 3rd owner/keeper receives the updated document.
"It said in the advert 1 family owner" - which is reminiscent of the "one careful lady owner" [and 3 boy racers - but we won't mention those...] school of advertising which belongs in the ark.
"It's just a bit misleading" is precisely the point.
If it's only £200 or so I would be inclined to go for a free service/ extended warranty or similar as a goodwil gesture.
I suspect Trading Standards would take the "plain English" view.
Remind me : Between £100 and £500 fine per vehicle if found to be misdescribed ?
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"one careful lady owner"
Remember a Laura Ashley company car being described as above !
Ask the garage first, then go with NVH's advice.
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I still fail to see why people think that the dealer wasn't misleading Regedit.
The car was advertised as having only one owner. When Regedit asked/checked the details of the advert with the salesman (who had the V5 in front of him), he confirmed that it had 'one previous owner'. Now whether he meant the Registration Document had one previous owner listed plus the 'current' owner is neither here nor there. The car was clearly in the first place advertised as having only one owner.
I would definately be pushing for a free-be such as a service because they have definately mis-represented the car.
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The car was advertised as having only one owner.
Quote "It said in the advert 1 family owner."
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Quote "It said in the advert 1 family owner."
Okay you're right it did. But it didn't say this in Regedit's first post, which is the one I was basing my viewpoint on. It is difficult to correlate all of the facts when they are spread throughout various different posts rather than all of the facts being laid out in the first instance.
As an aside the one thing that lets this forum down is that there is no facility for editing posts once they have been made. The number of times we see silly spelling mistakes and people having to repost because they forgot to include something is increasingly common. Is there any reason why we can't have an edit facility?
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Apprilia is right, state 'previous' owners if current owner is selling it, state 'total' owners on a trade sale, although everyone I know states previous owners without complaint. Problem here is that the dealer has clearly stated 1 owner rather than 1 'previous' owner, and thats a mistake of fact that should be compensated if the buyer insists on it.
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"Problem here is that the dealer has clearly stated 1 owner rather than 1 'previous' owner"
To expand the question mathematically, would anyone object to the description 'no previous owners'? It seems clear to me what that means, if the car is clearly not spanking new. ONE previous owner is one more than none. ??
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I would however like to mention it to the dealer
If you decide to tell the dealer about it, make sure you tell someone at a suitable level. I would suggest the Sales Manager as a minimum or if you'd like to go higher then the Dealer Principal. Ask for an appointment because at these levels they may not be available to talk to you on demand. Make your point calmly and pleasantly ~ but firmly.
--
L\'escargot.
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This seems to be a case of a dealer wilfully misleading a customer. Whether the car had 1 owner prior to the current one or 1 family owner (perhaps owned by father and son) the dealer led the OP to believe that he would be the second recorded owner/keeper. The extra owner, or rather keeper, on the V5 will potentially effect the value so he should demand some recompense.
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1 "family owner" would imply to me straight away that it had more than one registered keeper eg father & son or man & wife etc.
You should have asked to see the V5 for yourself or else done your own check for free at :
www.rac.co.uk/web/carbuying/vehicle_data_search/
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Update.
Thanks for the advice, I called the dealer and explained the situation and he offered me £200 back which makes the deal I got fantastic.
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