Original owner or not

[bimmerboi510]

Hello,

I have a quick question as I'm looking to buy a M3 from out of state, Seller claims he's the original owner but Carfax shows up as 2 owner vehicle.

He did tell me he bought the car originally from California and had moved to Oregon and registered the car there.

Can someone shed some light on this? If that is the case, does carfax show up as a 2 owner? Or is this shady and I should stay away.

Thanks.

[Van]

Maybe he has a split personality. Lol

[brettcp]

Years ago I bought a new Audi S5 straight from the Audi dealer.. I believe it had 550 miles on it when I took delivery (it was one of the first around so the dealership owner was driving it around a bit and showing it off for a couple of weeks). When I went to sell it a couple of years later, the buyer asked why it showed up as a 2 owner car.. I looked at the carfax myself and it showed the dealer was owner #1, then myself as owner #2. I don't know if this is the case with your situation, but in my case it was a non-issue as it was easily explainable.

[cjpavao]

it’s possible he’s the original owner, I’m in sales and have seen it before. sometimes when you change states depending on the dmv, it can be documented as a second owner when it gets reregistered. just like if you buy out your lease, or buy an ex-loaner or a demo that was registered.

[phantasticphan]

When you register a car in a different state it shows up as a new owner even though it is the same owner on carfax. Also you could ask for the original paperwork from the seller which shows he bought the car with 0 miles on it.

[Scrippy]

When a car is sold the title is changed. So yes original owner is #1, the dealer (CarMax) is #2 and you are now #3. Technically you are the 2nd owner as CarMax is a dealer who purchased the car to sell it. So if you're worried about selling a car you just got that's up to you but really anyone would understand this. And for the record these cars are on 3rd and 4th owners easily by now.

[EJT86]

If he leased the car then bought it after the lease was up it would be a 2 owner car

[M3_92101]

Carfax can definitely show two owners on a single owner car if the owner moved to a different state and registered the car there. I’ve bought a car like that before with other evidence to show that i bought a one owner car.