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      06-12-2019, 12:49 PM   #1
dab1981
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How Bad is Six Previous Owners?

I found 2011 E90 that has everything I'm looking for. Mileage is decent and the price isn't bad. The listing says the car has six previous owners. I would definitely prefer fewer than that. Should I disqualify the car just based on that, or is it worth looking into the car more?

Here's the listing (and everything I currently know about it):

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...ting=243372124


Thanks!
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      06-12-2019, 01:55 PM   #2
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Move on.. there's obviously a reason this car has had 6 owners and looking for its 7th
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      06-12-2019, 02:14 PM   #3
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It could actually have 3-4 owners... Not that there's a perfect way to find out, but often it counts trading hands between dealerships or moving across state lines as multiple "owners"
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      06-13-2019, 09:21 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wfdeacon88 View Post
I could actually have 3-4 owners... Not that there's a perfect way to find out, but often it counts trading hands between dealerships or moving across state lines as multiple "owners"
Agreed, you'd have to look into it.

6 owners would be almost 1 every year. Not impossible but I wouldn't bet on that. Most '08s don't even have 6 owners.
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      06-13-2019, 12:07 PM   #5
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Good point! I'll have to look at the Carfax for some more detail.
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      06-13-2019, 12:59 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dab1981 View Post
Good point! I'll have to look at the Carfax for some more detail.
Try EpicVin also... after I got my car, I heard about epic VIN and ran my car through it... found stuff Carfax never had. Found a past ad that had the original brochure from a previous sale, with description, pictures, etc. interesting stuff.
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      06-13-2019, 01:10 PM   #7
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6? what a slut.
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      06-13-2019, 02:06 PM   #8
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I think Vladislav the vampire's thoughts on why he prefers virgin blood applies well here...



Just saying six is a lot...
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      06-13-2019, 03:47 PM   #9
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6? what a slut.
You wouldn't say that if it was a guy!! Lol
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      06-13-2019, 03:49 PM   #10
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"A key that opens many locks is a master key. A lock that is opened by many keys is a shitty lock."
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      06-13-2019, 03:55 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OG Shark View Post
I think Vladislav the vampire's thoughts on why he prefers virgin blood applies well here...



Just saying six is a lot...
That's some funny fucked up perspective...I like it.

OP I was in the same boat as you. I'm the 6th owner of my 2010 E90 but I checked my carfax, the car has only been on the Oahu island. Traded hands with 2 dealerships, 3 real owners, found it out through carfax. I got enough of the maintenance history from the Honolulu dealership to know that the car was solid and I even asked a few of the bimmer shops on the island if they knew the car. One of them did and gave me their run down, so lucky for me. Had it shipped back to mainland. Now I'm trying to see if I can ship it to Germany but have to change my exhaust and headlights to stock...maybe.
But it's been 2 years, 14k miles of good modded, tuned, babied ownership, did the rod bearings 2.5k miles ago...worn but not about to be grenaded worn. I took a gamble...it paid off. Bought mine from the dealer for $29k out the door at 42k miles so I understand 6 owners can be scary even for me when I bought it. But it's all good.
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      06-13-2019, 07:48 PM   #12
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Thanks for sharing your experience! I think I'll look into this one some more.
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      07-31-2019, 07:16 PM   #13
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Yeah I would avoid putting too much stock in what Carfax says about previous owners. Obviously there's some peace of mind with one-owner cars, but I'd more heavily weight mileage, pre-purchase inspection, and my own gut feeling about how the car looks, runs, and rides.

As mentioned above, Carfax numbers get inflated because they count transfers between dealers as changes in ownership. When I bought my e90, Carfax report showed 7 previous owners, but when I dug deeper, it turned out ownership transferred 3 times in about a year with nearly zero miles added to the odo in that time. All evidence pointed to the car being shuffled around between dealerships, perhaps with one owner who ran into financial trouble and had to sell it back to the dealer.

At any rate, the car is clean and solid, confirmed by both my local Indy shop during PPI and ACM while servicing the rod bearings. Drives like a dream.
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      08-01-2019, 04:05 PM   #14
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Per Carfax I'm the NINTH owner of my '08, and it's one of the cleaner and more well-sorted cars I've had.

I battled with the same question for a while: "Why did nobody else want to keep this car?" but ultimately a clean PPI, clean title, and clean car put those fears to rest, and I'm glad.

Some of mine is some quick shuffling around dealers or within a family, it seems, since it was the same area with very few miles added, similar to what Eja144 mentioned above. The rest? Who knows, but it obviously hasn't had much ill effect on the car, as any visual or mechanical inspection could tell you.

Plenty of people shuffle through cars every 6 months to a year regardless of how perfect the car is, so would I look at a car more critically if it had a thousand owners? Definitely. Would I cross it off my list? Not at all.

...I know, I know, spoken like the driver of a 9-owner M3, but I love the car and have had zero issues that I wouldn't have had with a 1-owner E92 M3.
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      08-06-2019, 12:53 AM   #15
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Figured I'd post but I ended up purchasing this car. I was on vacation when it was first listed and the original buyer ended up backing out so I was able to scoop it up. Mechanically the car is in great shape. The paint has some swirls but I plan on wrapping it at some point. So far so good, Ive been enjoying the car.
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      08-06-2019, 08:40 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gbnubcake View Post
Figured I'd post but I ended up purchasing this car. I was on vacation when it was first listed and the original buyer ended up backing out so I was able to scoop it up. Mechanically the car is in great shape. The paint has some swirls but I plan on wrapping it at some point. So far so good, Ive been enjoying the car.
Congrats! Hope it's a good one for you! Seventh owner is the charm, haha.
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      08-06-2019, 11:36 AM   #17
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As others have said Carfax isn't always accurate. I had an uber clean e46 M3 that I bought with only 18k miles a few years ago. It showed like 6 owners but I know at least 3 of them were the same owner. The guy I bought if from moved a couple of times and it was counting it as separate owners when getting registered in a new state. Plus it passed through a couple of dealerships prior to his purchase. At the end of the day it was one of the cleanest used cars I have ever seen. Inspection and condition far outweighs # of owners IMO.
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      08-08-2019, 12:10 PM   #18
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My car had 6 owners, drove it for 25k miles and not a HICCUP! I wouldnt think it would matter.
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      08-08-2019, 01:39 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gbnubcake View Post
Figured I'd post but I ended up purchasing this car. I was on vacation when it was first listed and the original buyer ended up backing out so I was able to scoop it up. Mechanically the car is in great shape. The paint has some swirls but I plan on wrapping it at some point. So far so good, Ive been enjoying the car.

Congrats and enjoy!
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      08-16-2019, 08:34 PM   #20
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An E92 M3? You should probably second guess.

But to give you a greater view, I was shopping around for a used R35 GT-R in 2018.

Even good R35 GT-R's can have like 5-7 owners. It comes with the performance car territory, everyone wants a piece or a few years of ownership.
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      08-27-2019, 07:04 PM   #21
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Carfax shows me as the 6th owner of my e90, in actuality Im the 3rd. the 2nd owner was in the military and registered the car as he was moved from base to base. Car was dealer and then bmw specialist maintained throughout its life, we were able to verify through my local dealer and then with the records provided by the seller, everything matched up. No issues thus far and Im glad I pulled the trigger on it.

Moral of the story is, check the car out in person, review the service history and then decide if its what you ultimately want.
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      12-06-2019, 07:50 PM   #22
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My 2008 had shown 4 owners back in 2013. I looked at Carfax and reviewed and 1 owner was for a month or 2. I opened a research case with Carfax and they actually corrected it... see attached message!
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