Vehicle history expert Cartell.ie report there are 17,166 vehicles in Ireland that have 10 owners or more over the course of their lifetime. The highest number of owners recorded for a single vehicle still live in the fleet is 43 owners. The vehicle is a Honda Civic registered in county Carlow. There are 8 vehicles with 24 owners, 8 vehicles have 25 owners, 2 vehicles have 35 owners and 1 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.

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

DUBLIN	3598
CORK	1883
GALWAY	988
LIMERICK	856
WEXFORD	721
LOUTH	696
TIPPERARY	654
WATERFORD	649
DONEGAL	641
KILDARE	591
MEATH	578
WESTMEATH	573
MAYO	528
KERRY	525
LAOIS	512
KILKENNY	464
OFFALY	437
WICKLOW	371
CARLOW	370
CLARE	330
ROSCOMMON	228
LONGFORD	222
SLIGO	216
CAVAN	204
LEITRIM	171
MONAGHAN	158

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.

Graph 1: Number of ownership changes per vehicle – 1 to 10 owners (Source: Cartell.ie Carstat)

Table 1: Number of ownership changes per vehicle (Source: Cartell.ie Carstat)

Number of Owners	Number
1	755835
2	781524
3	452351
4	237471
5	123341
6	66370
7	37273
8	20876
9	12071
10	6920
11	4084
12	2357
13	1482
14	868
15	525
16	352
17	180
18	119
19	89
20	64
21	39
22	31
23	22
24	8
25	8
26	4
27	3
28	2
29	4
30	1
31	1
32	2
34	1
35	2
36	1
43	1

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. This means the average sales cycle in Ireland is 3.39 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.

Innovation Lead Cartell.ie, 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.”

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Cartell.ie is Ireland’s first and most comprehensive automotive data supplier providing Car History Checks to consumers and dealers. Launched in 2006, Cartell.ie is the automotive data expert providing tailored vehicle intelligence data to insurers, financiers, parts suppliers, vehicle manufacturers, and all sectors of the automotive industry. We supply data for multiple European countries such as, UK & Ireland, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Malta and more.