PRESS RELEASE

Average number of owners is 2.64 per vehicle

Vehicle history expert Cartell.ie report today (1^st January) there are 22,181 vehicles in Ireland that have 10 owners or more over the course of the lifetime of the vehicle. The highest number of owners recorded for a single vehicle is 34 owners. There are 177 vehicles with 17 owners, 45 vehicles have 19 owners, and 5 vehicles have 25 or more owners over the course of the lifetime of the vehicle.

Of those 22,181 vehicles with 10 or more owners, 5,385 are located in Dublin, 2,579 in Cork, 1,080 in Galway, and 1,042 in Limerick.

Table: Location by county of vehicle’s with 10 or more owners

 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 that people do not change their vehicle on a whim as the results show the bulk of vehicle’s are still on their first, second, or third owner.

The average age of a vehicle in the Irish fleet (all vehicle types) is currently 9.38 years and the average number of owners is 2.64 owners per vehicle. This means the average sales cycle in Ireland is 3.55 years between ownership changes. When buying a vehicle the consumer should use this rule of thumb. Any less than 3 years between owner changes and a higher number of owners than 3 owners should impact on the selling price when buying a vehicle.

Cartell.ie Director Jeff Aherne says:

Obviously counting the number of previous owners and the dates of sale are a very important part of the history of a vehicle. The higher the number of owners the more important a car history check becomes. 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.”

Chart: Number of ownership changes per vehicle

ENDS

About Cartell.ie

Cartell.ie was set up in 2006 to help buyers make an informed choice when buying a used vehicle – including imported vehicles – by providing a user-friendly and cost-effective vehicle data checking service. Cartell.ie is a totally independent company and fully Irish owned.

For further information please contact John Byrne on 087 4199018 or at john at cartell.ie or check out www.cartell.ie  for further information.