How many owners is too many for you? This 2004 Lexus ES 330 has had four owners in 167k miles. Would the number of owners scare you away or would you at least give it a look if you were in the neighborhood?
Are you buying the car or marrying it? It's not like a potential spouse that you find out was married four times in the last 20 years. I'd be way more concerned that it spent 20 years in the middle of the rust belt.How many owners is too many for you? This 2004 Lexus ES 330 has had four owners in 167k miles.
There seems to be a stigma attached to cars that have had multiple owners. I take it the number of previous owners plays no role in your buying decisions?Are you buying the car or marrying it? It's not like a potential spouse that you find out was married four times in the last 20 years. I'd be way more concerned that it spent 20 years in the middle of the rust belt.
When I buy a car at auction, I have no idea how many owners it has had until after it's bought and I run a Carfax. Not spending the money on a Carfax beforehand when I don't know if I'm actually getting the car, and in most cases I only see the car coming a minute or two before it's sold.There seems to be a stigma attached to cars that have had multiple owners. I take it the number of previous owners plays no role in your buying decisions?
I live in the rust belt. It’s going to be hard to find a car locally that is from elsewhere.
I don't think you are reading the Carfax correctly, PM. The first title was issued in 2003 and the second title was issued in 2007 after 43,000 miles were accumulated on it by Owner #1.The way I read the Carfax it looks like from the time it was manufactured to the report of the second owner is less than a month? I'm not sure if the first owner really was accurate seems weird. Still that would be three owners. Personally that would not deter me in and of itself. Of course a thorough test drive and an inspection might not be a bad idea.
That's what I get for skimmingI don't think you are reading the Carfax correctly, PM. The first title was issued in 2003 and the second title was issued in 2007 after 43,000 miles were accumulated on it by Owner #1.
If the Lexus is truly accident free and not rusty, it may be an OK buy at $4700. I'd not fear the 4 owner stigma since each owner kept it for several years and drove it for at least 25,000 miles. This suggests that the vehicle did not have any significant or insurmountable problems that would cause a buyer to quickly turn around and dump it.
I've ended up with one owner cars that ended up being a complete lemon and many 2-3 owner cars that worked out okay for a while.How many owners is too many for you? This 2004 Lexus ES 330 has had four owners in 167k miles. Would the number of owners scare you away or would you at least give it a look if you were in the neighborhood?
I've ended up with one owner cars that ended up being a complete lemon and many 2-3 owner cars that worked out okay for a while.
It's luck of the draw really. Pay a shop to look it over before you buy it so you don't get nasty surprises.
At the very least check the condition of the fluids and plug in an OBD-II scanner to see if it's got any pending codes or if it had some and they tried to clear them real fast to turn off the light. Most people selling a bad car don't do fluid changes and don't figure anyone will show up with an OBD scanner so turning off the light for a while might get the thing sold.