Should I worry about a car having six owners?

Could there be a reason why a Nissan Almera 1.5 SX five-door (2005 with 60,000 miles on the counter) had six owners? It is selling at €3,950 and I'm concerned there might be a fault in it.

Emilie Rewers (Loughrea)

Aug 2013 Filed under: miscellaneous

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Expert answer

Hi Emilie,

Well, there are other Almeras around of that age and mileage for that kind of price, so perhaps we're jumping to conclusions here. It's also not unknown for a car to have multiple owners. Apparently there's a Honda Civic out there somewhere currently on its 40th owner! 

Nevertheless, if your antennae are twitching, it's always a good idea to follow up your suspicions. Check the service record. Does the car seem to have been back to the garage a lot? Can you contact any of the previous owners or a garage where the car has been looked after?

If you're still concerned, get the AA to inspect the car. They'll find out pretty quickly if there's anything wrong with it.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Adviser
@neilmbriscoe