Somewhere in Ireland right now, there exists an Audi A6 with some 43 recorded owners on its Vehicle Registration Certificate - that's according to new data released by Cartell.ie.
What the data reveals
The data reveals that the majority of cars on Irish roads are on their first, second or third owner, but that there are still 18,260 vehicles out there with more than 10 owners. While that lone Audi stands out from the pack, there are six cars in Ireland on their thirty-first owner and one apiece on 32, 33, 34, 35 and 37.
There are 823,268 cars on Irish roads on their second owner, the highest number, followed by 749,139 on their first and 477,631 on their third. Those 18,260 cars with more than 10 owners therefore make up a small minority among the national fleet. Of that minority, the distribution throughout Ireland broadly follows population trends with the highest number of 10+ owner cars (3,795) recorded in Dublin, followed by 2,152 in Cork and 920 in Galway.
Why you shouldn't buy a car with too many owners
"The number of owners is a data point which some buyers ignore - this is a mistake," said Ross Conlon, CEO of CarsIreland.ie.
"A high number of owners can indicate one of several things including mechanical issues with the vehicle, where owners are off-loading a troublesome car, for instance, or, at the very least, a high number of owners points to various different driver-styles which increases the likelihood of wear and tear issues. In the long run it's best to get a vehicle history check to establish issues like number of owners before you purchase the car."
Is a high number of owners actually such a terrible thing though?
With all that in mind, however, it's worth pointing out that a high number of owners doesn't necessarily indicate that there's anything dodgy about the condition of a car. The older a car is, the more likely it is to have a higher number of owners (and, unfortunately, the less likely it is to come with a full service history) but, provided you've done your due diligence, thoroughly inspected the car and found it to be fundamentally sound, there's no specific reason not to buy a car with a high number of owners. If a car appears, on inspection, to have been well maintained and to be in good condition, the number of owners on the Vehicle Registration Certificate, while not irrelevant, is less important.
A high number of owners on the Vehicle Registration Certificate doesn't necessarily indicate that a car has, in reality, changed hands that many times either. Often, the on-paper owners of a car will transfer ownership of a car to one of their relatives, friends or business partners in order to avoid a specific tax or insurance liability, and while this will be recorded on the logbook as a change of ownership, often the car may, in actuality, be remaining in the same hands.