Number of former keepers, important or not?

Right, been searching for my next mk1 and everything I find seems to have had alot of past owners, say anything from ten to near twenty in some cases.

I bought my last one for many reasons but the biggest was because it only had 5 former keepers.

Now there seems to be little to choose from in what's out there so is the amount of former keepers that important?

I do plan to keep the car for life this time but still have my own criteria as it were, but my Budget puts me at a disadvantage!!

Many thanks all

It wouldnt bother me personally.............

as these are second cars for alot of people they do get passed around alot

cabby's especially because people buy in the summer then when winter come around they give up and sell on

mine has 15 owners

Past owners is irrelevant so long as it's in good nick.

You can have a 1 owner mk1 which is a total rotter…..

Not important...

the way i see it if its had ten owners ten people have had sumthing fixed :roll:

its not important at all mate

I would say its not that important, as long as it has been well looked after by all of the owners then it should be fine.

My golf has 2 former owners and i know it has been well looked after as the last owner had it for 26+ years and it was garaged.

It depends really when you see one for sale just go and see what it is like to see how good it has been looked after.

No longer impotant, as long as its the right car.

Mine has about 5 previous but ive had it 16yrs

Its not important to me ive had mine for 8 years and the last owner had it for 19 and im sure someone had it for the first year or so (3 owners total)but u get the idea lol i plan to have it for another 8

I suppose I disagree as I do think its important as can be one of many indicators towards condition.
Just like a fully documented service history with receipts for early work and then you will know if its been in the hands of an enthisast as their own service will be well documented.

But its only one of many factors, I agree its the condition of the car thats the most important.

Given two cars in what looked to me to be in the same condition and similar price I would go for the low owner vehicle.

if the last owner totally restored the car (with all OEM+ parts would be best) before you bought it, it shouldn't make a difference i recon. i am the 9th owner of my golf and i'm hoping, once i am done it will be better than new. it was pretty good when i bought it but now it is nearly perfect i think. I'm not gonna sell it though. i'll leave it to the next owner in my will.

Raul said

Past owners is irrelevant so long as it's in good nick.

You can have a 1 owner mk1 which is a total rotter…..

this.

I would like to know and would personally prefer one that has had less no. of previous keepers.

But that's just me.

I don't think it matters. My Mk1 has 8 previous owners and is almost 28 years old. We've just bought an R32 - we'll be the fourth owners and it's only 8 years old.

If you were talking about a 5 year old car that already had 3 owners, I'd be put off.

mines had 2 previous owners in 26 years and 53k miles.... i am personally a little odd about it.

I'd be most interested in how long the current owner has had it and how long the one before did (date previous keeper acquired it is on the V5 I think). Anything less than a year for either I would be very wary.

Fewer has to be better but there aren't many out there with less than 5 owners are there?

I can't say I've ever been bothered by number of owners & when your looking at 28 year old car it's going to have a few owners  

I'm might have to check my V5 when I get home just to see  

I really feel your pain. When we bought the Clipper we saw cars with so many owners and it put us off. Everyone said be realistic, its an old car, its going to have a lot of owners. RUBBISH! Bide your time and do a real good hunt. I am the 3rd owner of mine. The 2nd keeper was the wife of the owner. He popped it into her name when he bought a new car. So really we are the 2nd. There are still 1 & 2 owner vehicles out there. I know it as we have only have ours since August.  " use the force, let go your emotions and trust your instinc " ( starwars, thought the quote might sound good at the end )

Some of these comments are beside the point.

Question was, is the number of owners important or not?

View an absolute untouched minter, look at the V5 and it's been passed around 20 people your still gonna buy it.

View an absolute Rot box that some douche has owned for twenty plus years your gonna cut and run.

It's ALL about condition not owners!!