Previous owners check
The advert says two owners and leaves it there. The useful version is who had it when, for how long, and what each of them did with it — because six months and 22,000 miles in one pair of hands says something the headline number cannot.
Free check first — the Pro report is the upgrade on your results page. See a sample report.
What the keeper history shows
The DVLA keeper record, crossed with the odometer readings that give it meaning.
- Number of previous keepers
- As recorded by the DVLA, not as described in the advert.
- When it last changed hands
- A car that changed keeper three weeks ago and is already for sale is worth a question.
- How long each keeper held it
- Tenures in months, so a run of short ownerships is visible at a glance.
- Miles per keeper
- Keeper dates crossed with MOT odometer readings to show what each owner actually covered — and flagged where the endpoints had to be estimated between tests, because handovers rarely fall on a test date.
- Who has it now
- The current keeper's tenure and usage rate, which is what you are taking on.
What it cannot tell you
The registered keeper is not necessarily the legal owner. A company car, a lease or a car on hire purchase all show the driver as keeper while somebody else owns it — which is exactly why the finance check is a separate question.
Keeper counts also say nothing about care. A fleet car with four keepers and a full stamped service history is usually a better buy than a cherished one-owner car that has never seen a garage.
Where this comes from
The DVLA keeper record through the provenance feed, crossed with DVSA MOT odometer readings to produce the per-keeper figures.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Is a car with many previous owners a bad buy?
- Not on its own. It matters when the ownerships are short and recent — a car passed on quickly several times is often a car that people bought and then discovered something about.
- What is the difference between a keeper and an owner?
- The keeper is who is responsible for the car day to day and whose name is on the V5C. The owner is who holds legal title. On finance they are different people, and the V5C does not record the owner at all.
- Why does miles-per-keeper say 'estimated'?
- Because a keeper change almost never falls on the day of an MOT. Where the handover sits between two readings, the endpoints are interpolated — we mark it rather than imply survey accuracy.
- Does the seller have to be the registered keeper?
- No, but if they are not, ask why. Selling on behalf of someone else is common and legitimate; it is also the standard cover story when the car is not theirs to sell.