Help Solve a History Mystery

[samleigh]

Hi

I'm an owner of a Volvo S60 model 2011. Recently I have been prompted to check the history of the previous owners, what I have learned is quite intriguing. I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this?

Here is a brief summary with the history of this car:

• The first owner bought it new from a Volvo main dealership in July 2010, kept it for 2 years and used it for about 23k miles.
• The second owner then bought it seemingly from the same garage, kept it for 3 years and used it for about 37k miles.
• The second owner then part-ex at the same dealership and this car was then registered in the name of a business manager at that Volvo dealership as the third owner before being sold on to a non-franchised dealer and then sold to me 4 months later.

The simple question is why would a dealership register another owner on the log book which is then being sold on the market? Surely this reduces the value of the car.

Could there be a genuine reason for this or have they possibly been trying to hide something?

In the time that the car was registered in the 3rd owners name the car would have been used for around 1,000 - 4,000 miles.

Anyone? Anything?

Thanks
Sam

[Dippydog]

Staff at a dealership can normally buy a trade in for what it stands the company at plus an amount for admin fees.Business manager may have bought this one as a private car for himself/wife/other family member.Business manager may then have left the dealership or the dealership may not have wanted to buy it back again[any number of reasons such as age of car/mileage/number of owners to go on their stock]so not necessarily any dodgy dealings-although of course that doesn't rule such a thing out entirely.

[samleigh]

Thanks, in this instance I think it's quite unlikely. It appears to be quite a senior manager and they are still with the dealership. It also seems that during this time there was a fleet insurance on this car, however, I haven't yet been able to establish this for certain.

[Dippydog]

Ah,if there's been fleet insurance on it then it might have been done the way you describe to dodge out from under the company car tax that sales staff/mangers etc have to pay on their company demonstrators which are registered to the company whereas if registered to a named person they're effectively leasing it and are registered as the owner but it's not counted as a company car.

[samleigh]

Thanks, never thought of that one. Anyone else have any other suggestions? BTW I'm keeping an open mind about this so seeking a geniunue reason why this would be done in such a manner.

[cheshired5]

There are legitimate reasons and dodgy reasons in equal measure and whilst speculation from complete strangers is vaguely fun and interesting, why not just go and ask the Business Manager in person?

[samleigh]

I have a hunch that it was done for dodgy reasons so I highly doubt that anyone is going to be upfront and honest about it unless of course there are genuine reasons for this which is what I'm trying to understand.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by samleigh

I have a hunch that it was done for dodgy reasons so I highly doubt that anyone is going to be upfront and honest about it

Face to face, I can spot a liar a mile off so hopefully you will too.
Speak to the guy and trust your judgment.

That said, your contract is with the seller to yourself so ultimately any comeback will be with them but that said (again) you don't mention any issue with the car so how come you're taking a higher interest in the car's history now as opposed to before you bought it?

[samleigh]

I think you can also smell a rat from a mile

Yup, car is a gooner, seller has ceased trading and it would appear that the main dealership was complicit in trying to conceal the history or usage of this car...

There is something majorly wrong with the car and every mechanic that has seen the car and looked at its history are scratching their heads why a Volvo S60, 2010, D5, Diesel, 75k miles, fully serviced at regular intervals would fail so miserably...

I've had some compromise from the finance company but left out of pocket by £1000's.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by samleigh

There is something majorly wrong with the car and every mechanic that has seen the car and looked at its history are scratching their heads why a Volvo S60, 2010, D5, Diesel, 75k miles, fully serviced at regular intervals would fail so miserably...

In what way?
What exactly are the problems?
Too many "professionals" don't have a clue about our cars hence this forum.