Would a high amount of former owners make you avoid a car?

Dav4

Dav4

Dav4

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I am going to sell my car over the next few weeks providing i can get a fair amount for it. It needs to go with me doing large miles p/m and it having 94k now, once it hits 100k miles they seem to be almost impossible to sell i have seen the same 100k plus ST220's up for sale for a good few months now whereas any with mileage under that sell in reasonable time.
I need to save up a little more money to get a good Focus ST as i want to buy private and pay cash.
Now i have the opportunity to buy a top spec 2009 Focus Zetec S which is quite a rare model "looks like the ST" for a low price privately due to the guy just buying a new Mondeo and getting offered naff all trade in he needs to get rid over the next 2 weeks max and i can have it providing i shift my 220 private.
Now to the original question is 5 owners in 6 years too many? It has fsh and is in v good condition. But i am wanting it on the basis of driving it for around 5 months and still being able to get all my money back re selling.
The only downfall is 5 owners in 6 years will that put people off when i come to sell it?
would u guys buy a car with so many owners or do u have a set limit of owners vs age?
 
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Possibly a put off, a canny buyer will look for mot advisories and receipts for completed work, so the 'fsh' would need that above and beyond just stamps in a book, as people will ask the obvious questions over why so many owners.
 
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94K vs 100k means nothing. Its not some massive cliff :/

5 owners in 6 years is not high either, its only a bit above average and will make next to no difference.
 
Too many for a 6 year old car IMO - i'd wonder why so many people moved a run of the mill car on quickly at a pont where it was losing a fair amount each year

The kind of people that buy 1.6 focuses tend to be happy with their lot, not desperate to chop and change

If it was double the age I wouldn't be so fussed assuming the price was right
 
p1RATE said:
94K vs 100k means nothing. Its not some massive cliff :/

5 owners in 6 years is not high either, its only a bit above average and will make next to no difference.
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More than 3 owners in 5 years would make me ask questions, or just move onto another focus, rare doesn't equal desirable as we are talking about fords, not ferrari, also the zs screams boy racer who can't afford an ST or RS, more red flags.
 
Afraid to say it'll put me off, to be honest. An owner every 2 years would seem reasonable to me, anything less makes me wonder why people are wanting to get rid off it.
 
p1RATE said:
94K vs 100k means nothing. Its not some massive cliff :/
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It seems to make a difference on the ST220's though i have been keeping an eye on the prices for the last few months. If i do a nationwide search on AT there will be on average 40-50 ST220's for sale 60% of them will have 100+k miles on them and they sit for months and months without selling whereas 90k or below and people are all over them. Buyers must seem to think the ST220 will explode once its hit 100k:(

rodenal said:
Too many for a 6 year old car IMO - i'd wonder why so many people moved a run of the mill car on quickly at a pont where it was losing a fair amount each year
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yes i thought that originally but then on the other hand i think a Focus is the kind of car that people will use as a run around for a short while say as a first car or something to get there insurance down. I had 3 Focus's before my ST220 and i only kept them all a year each the same as my current car will be when i sell.
I know some might think there are plenty of Focus's around why bother but i only like black cars and this ZETEC S is the only one for sale with the upgrades like the 18 inch alloys etc.
 
If you plan to move it on in 6 months to buy something else, then think what a 6 month older car with 6 owners in 6 years is going to be worth - if it is not much less than you are buying it for, then it is probably worth it. If its significantly less then don't bother.

Personally it would put me off buying - but as mattyfez says, its a Ford not a Ferrari so personally if I was in the market for a Fiesta given there are literally thousands for sale - I would probably move onto the next just because of the choice. However someone will buy it!

If you are doing it purely as a cost saving exercise I wouldn't bother if you are planning on to move onto yet another car in the short term. Just keep yours, I would expect most people buying ST220s are expecting high mileage cars now given they are getting pretty old - surely the kind of buyer looking at that wouldn't be phased by the extra mileage.

Edit - just looking on eBay seems 100k+ cars go for 1800-2000, and that includes cars at and above 130k. There are a couple of cars with significantly lower mileage that went for over 2k but equally as many that didn't sell as above 100k!
 
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Nothing worse than a car that looks good but goes like....well nothing - the focus is a case in point.

Agree above r.e the st220 - nobody looking at 90k cars will care about it ticking over 100k, it's not as if it's 3 years old
 
When looking for my next car recently (where I ended up with my 530i) I viewed a 51plate 740i Sport e38 with a mere 19 previous owners,as it would have been had I bought it,it's last owner had kept it the longest I'd say at 6 years, I couldn't help wonder what the other 18 didn't like about it! It looked very clean, drove reasonably but had a noticeable thump as it changed gear.

Generally, on an older car I wouldn't worry about number of owners and concentrate more on its condition and how it drove.

I'd be very wary of say a 3 year old car with six previous owners...
 
Dav4 said:
It seems to make a difference on the ST220's though i have been keeping an eye on the prices for the last few months. If i do a nationwide search on AT there will be on average 40-50 ST220's for sale 60% of them will have 100+k miles on them and they sit for months and months without selling whereas 90k or below and people are all over them. Buyers must seem to think the ST220 will explode once its hit 100k:(


yes i thought that originally but then on the other hand i think a Focus is the kind of car that people will use as a run around for a short while say as a first car or something to get there insurance down. I had 3 Focus's before my ST220 and i only kept them all a year each the same as my current car will be when i sell.
I know some might think there are plenty of Focus's around why bother but i only like black cars and this ZETEC S is the only one for sale with the upgrades like the 18 inch alloys etc.
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But if it's just a stop gap for a year.. You may struggle to sell it quick for the right money, Joe average will just say "pretend ST, check. 18's, check, 5 owners, check. Why not a titanium or similar, if it's just for a year you need to think residuals and ease of resale, not what rims it's rocking lol.
 
There are so many crap looking (and/)or broken ST220s on the market that if you have a good, honest, well looked-after, well-serviced example then I can't see it taking long to sell to someone who isn't a chav and understands that mileage only tells a small story.

I sold mine for £2,250 with about 110k on the clock.
 
Howard said:
There are so many crap looking (and/)or broken ST220s on the market that if you have a good, honest, well looked-after, well-serviced example then I can't see it taking long to sell to someone who isn't a chav and understands that mileage only tells a small story.

I sold mine for £2,250 with about 110k on the clock.
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He's looking at chipping in an st220 for a focus Zetec s, as a very temporary stop gap until he can afford an ST, or at least that's how I read it.
 
I know. And my point is selling his one early and buying another 'interim car' is probably a false economy.
 
unrealrocks said:
If you plan to move it on in 6 months to buy something else, then think what a 6 month older car with 6 owners in 6 years is going to be worth - if it is not much less than you are buying it for, then it is probably worth it. If its significantly less then don't bother.

If you are doing it purely as a cost saving exercise I wouldn't bother if you are planning on to move onto yet another car in the short term. Just keep yours,
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As I want to get a good example ST225 and need 7k for that I've decided to save another 1k and an extra £300 ontop for the insurance rise over 6 months.
I could sell my just serviced and Mot'd "no advisorys" ST220 for 3k now but in 6 months time with about 102k on it and no fresh service or Mot i know it will only fetch 2.5k = £500 loss for the sake of 6 months.
As there are so few Zetec S models around and they seem to sell well with inflated trader prices due to the looks I know I could buy this private and maybe lose £100 max in 6 months. But as people have stated I might have trouble as once I'm on the V5 the former owner will then be the 6th owner on the v5
 
I was the 6th owner of my Focus ST in as many years, it did worry me a bit but the guy I bought it from is an honest bloke and well known to my best mate. It's been the most reliable car I've had, seems the fuel costs scared most of the owners off.
 
Liquidfox said:
I was the 6th owner of my Focus ST in as many years, it did worry me a bit but the guy I bought it from is an honest bloke and well known to my best mate. It's been the most reliable car I've had, seems the fuel costs scared most of the owners off.
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Yeh I suppose if u can see and speak to the owner it kind of makes up for it in someway if they seem like a genuine guy.
I've been looking at the Focus ST's for a few months and I find it strange that a large majority of them are all trade sellers charging silly inflated money :( I Would have 6k after selling my ST220 but most traders seem to be around the 6.5k+ mark for 2006 models that are only the boggo St2 model.
It seems like the price of the ST225 has not dropped an inch in the last 18 months which is weird considering hot hatches are in decline due to the diesel fan boys. And I want to buy private when I get one as at a trader I would have no idea if it's ever been remapped etc
 
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