Vehicle history expert Cartell.ie has released new analysis of the Irish car parc that highlights how the average age of vehicles on the road is growing and cars are changing hands more frequently.  

The latest Cartell.ie data shows that 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 (a Honda Civic registered in county Carlow) still live in the fleet is 43 owners. 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. However, the majority of vehicles in Ireland are on their first, second or third owners.

The average age of a vehicle in the Irish fleet 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. Cartell say 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.”