More than 17,000 vehicles currently registered in Ireland have had at least 10 owners over the course of their lifetime, with 988 in Co Galway.
According to the latest report from Cartell.ie, the highest number of owners recorded for a single vehicle still in the fleet is 43. That vehicle is a Honda Civic registered in County Carlow.
There are eight vehicles with 24 owners, eight vehicles have 25 owners, two vehicles have 35 owners and one vehicle has 36 owners. Of those 17,166 vehicles with 10 or more owners, 3,598 are located in Dublin, 1,883 in Cork, 988 in Galway, and 856 in Limerick. The rest are divided among the other 22 counties. Cartell.ie says the majority of vehicles in Ireland are on their first, second or third owners.
The graph below documents the number of ownership changes per vehicle in Ireland. It clearly shows the importance of establishing the number of owners when buying a used vehicle. The graph also shows people do not change their vehicle on a whim - the results show the bulk of vehicles are still on their first, second, or third owner.
The average age of a vehicle in the Irish fleet (all vehicle types ) is currently 8.60 years and the average number of owners is 2.54 owners per vehicle, according to the report. This means the average sales cycle in Ireland is 3.39 years between ownership changes.
Innovation lead at Cartell.ie, Jeff Aherne, say counting the number of previous owners and the dates of sale are an important part of the history of a vehicle.
" The higher the number of owners, the more important a car history check becomes, he says."If the car has a higher number of owners, and, if it changed hands recently, then you have to question whether the vehicle has mechanical issues.
"Consumers can check the number of previous owners with us as part of the many checks we provide.
“If a car already has three owners, then it is above average and this should impact on the selling price.”
