I sold my 51 plate Octavia vRS a few months back and have regretted it every single day since :(

I've owned a new shape mondeo and an E39 BMW since, but nothing has come even remotely close to the Skoda.

I've therefore been looking round for another one and came across this example today. It looks spot on and seems to be quite cheap for what it is

http://www.mh2k.com/information.aspx?v=19713&mo=464&dm=0

however.......................................................................................

I've had the car HPI'd and it turns out it has had 4 OWNERS it its short life. The current and previous owners (listed on the V5) appear to be private. The dealer has suggested to me that the car was probably a demo (1st owner?), was then sold to a private person (2nd owner) and then was possibly re-taxed by another dealer before being sold on again.

Question:

is there any way I can trace the first two owners, as only the current and previous owners appear in the V5.

what is the likely impact of this many owners on the cars likely future value as it will have had 4 previous owners (5 in total) if I buy it.

The dealer considers the mileage to be "warranted" but I'm not sure with so many previous owners and the first 2 being "uncontactable". The service history documents 2 services by Skoda garages on the variable service schedule - the first was at around 13K in 2005 and the last at 20K in June 2006.

many thanks

You can try contacting the garages who done the services and see if they can give you the details. I'd be surprised if they did though, with the data protection act as it stands.

If the services have been done on variable, and the service book has been stamped, then the car should be in good technical condition. It wouldn't worry me to much unless you are thinking of reselling it again in 1-2 years time. In 3 years time, the number of owners doesn't really matter.

Notice that the car only has 16's so you may be looking at an Irish import (or are estates always on 16's?).

Estates were all 16's. The number of owners wouldnt put me off, its quiet possible the first was as a demo because IIRC thats about the time the estate version came available.

Notice that the car only has 16's so you may be looking at an Irish import (or are estates always on 16's?).

Is there anyway you can tell this as mine has 16's on and its the hatch on a 51 plate

Is there anyway you can tell this as mine has 16's on and its the hatch on a 51 plate

1) What stereo was in the car when you got it?

2) Do you have a centre arm rest?

3) Do you have climatronic or just aircon.

If the answers are

1) Aftermarket

2) Yes

3) Aircon

The chances are the car is an import, that said though some early vRS's came with 16s and not 17s.

If you have access to the service book the name and adress of the first owner is usually written in the front by the supplying dealer As for re-sale to a certain extent I think performance cars are more likely to have more owners and this is acceptable, ie buy then find out how dear it is to run compared to the 1.6 they used to have , or they have racked up so many points the insurance as gone sky high :lol:, know its not quite the same but I have seen 15 year old ferraris with low miles and 20+ owners.

many thanks for the input.

I'm very tempted with the car, despite the number of owners. The only thing putting me off is the effect on the cars future "re - saleablility" and if the mleage can truly be verified with 4 owners as it is not possbile to trace the first 2.

thanks

by the way a number of early vRS hatch backs did have 16" wheels instead of 17". My old octavia vRS was on a 51 plate and had 16" wheels. I have driven both and found the ride to be better on the 16's without much noticeable deficit in grip.

My car had three previous owners when I bought it at three years old. It was in excellent condition so it didn't bother me.

Also; noticed that the car in the link doesn't have any floormats. Remember when agreeing a price that these are circa

the floor mats are in the boot

I've been down to have a closer look at the paperwork today. The car was registered on the 20/7/2003 and was then delivered to an engineering company in Lincoln on 27/7/2003. It then changed owners in April 2004, September 2004 and finally June 2005 until the present day. The service history shows a first service in May 2005 at 9.5K miles (lincoln Skoda) and another in June 2006 at Rainworth Skoda at 21K miles. Interestingly a HPI check shows a private plate being transfered from an Audi S4 to the vRS by the fourth owner. Now I like Skoda's but think I'd rather change TOO an S4 rather than from one.

I'm concerned that there is a large gap between delivery to the first owner in July 2003 and the first service in May 2005 as the car apparently only covered 9.5K miles in this time. Could anyone with knowledge of variable servicing confirm if this sounds appropriate ?

thanks for the helpful replies thus far.

looks good,that garage is a mile away from me:)

That would be about right, done on time (2 years) rather than mileage.

Is there anyway you can tell this as mine has 16's on and its the hatch on a 51 plate

A number of the very first dealer hatches had 16" rims fitted too,not good but that is how they came from CZ to get them on the road over here.

thats what mine is as ive actually opened the service manual and its all the way from...........Leeds