Buying car, multiple recent owners

MayoForSam

My son is looking at buying a car on Donedeal that has had multiple ownership changes recently. According to the seller, this was because the car was left sitting during Covid lockdown and was not taxed or NCT'ed. In order to get the car taxed without having to pay arrears, he changed the owner on the log book twice in just over a year. Mileage seems low enough for a 14 year old car (108k miles) and he sent on 2 copies of recent NCT's which seem to indicate the mileage is genuine. Cartell check shows it was a UK import back in 2013 and had one Irish owner for 8 years.

Anything sound fishy about this? My son thinks the seller bought this car failrly cheaply from someone who had not been using it during Covid, has spruced it up and is looking to turn a quick profit.

User1998

Its a 14 year old car. So what if the seller is trying to make a quick buck. If everything checks out and drives well then why not buy it?

rje66

Getting insurance on a 14year old car........????

shane b

The change of ownership could be very genuine. The declaration of non use was changed a few years ago and now you have to declare the car off the road in advance.

If you forget you have to pay the back tax. The way around that is to "sell' the car to some one else like a family member or friend. Any back tax due is wiped as there is a new owner.

The original owner can then buy the car back at a later date and again won't have to pay any back taX.

elperello

As above the tax issue is the most likely explanation.

If you are sure the seller is the owner and it's a good car at the right price buy it.

Don't get hung up on the backstory.

walshtipp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058290461/buying-car-multiple-recent-owners

If the car seems ok mechanically then I wouldn't worry too much. Quite common to change owners to avoid paying tax arrears. I know a few people that have done this.