Finding out about previous owners

McDonald

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SL500 2004
I bought my 500SL a year ago from a dealer in the midlands. It was first registered in 2004 & I love it. The dealer told me that Mercedes had owned the car for the first 10 years, then a retired chauffeur had sold his Rolls Royce and bought it - the sports car he'd always wanted. The car had an exemplary service history and low mileage.

I'm puzzled that the registration document shows 3 previous keepers, and i can't understand why Mercedes would retain the car for 10 years. Is there a way to trace the registered keepers? I don't need the information, I'm just curious.
 

peterws1957

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sl350 /2004/3.7 and CL65/2009/6.0
I bought my 500SL a year ago from a dealer in the midlands. It was first registered in 2004 & I love it. The dealer told me that Mercedes had owned the car for the first 10 years, then a retired chauffeur had sold his Rolls Royce and bought it - the sports car he'd always wanted. The car had an exemplary service history and low mileage.

I'm puzzled that the registration document shows 3 previous keepers, and i can't understand why Mercedes would retain the car for 10 years. Is there a way to trace the registered keepers? I don't need the information, I'm just curious.
Won't the Dvla provide this info for a fiver?
 

umblecumbuz

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S204 and CLC 204 cdi, MX5, Kia Soul
The number of previous keepers is sometimes misleading.

One car I own shows four previous keepers. The first was Mercedes who ran it for 3k miles, and the other three were the same lady. She bought it while she was single, then moved and had the V5 updated, then got married and had it updated again. I bought it off her at 160k miles.

Two previous, really - with the real keeper having clocked up c98% of its mileage.
 

Flyinspanner

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CLK320-A209 (sold CL500 & W168)
I sent letters to prev owners of mine, from V5 and from service invoices, never heard a word back. Only asked for broad details and asked if anyone still had a keycard. Ho humm.
 
OP
McDonald

McDonald

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SL500 2004
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DVLA supply the name and address of previous keeper but Data protection denies the rest. I have no reason to need the info, my car is terrific but the cloudy first 10 years intrigue me. I'll try writing to the last keeper but he's 74 years old and might be suspicious in case I'm looking to make trouble.
 

Flyinspanner

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CLK320-A209 (sold CL500 & W168)
Tell him he can check out your post on here, explaining your desire to find out a 'fuller' history of the car. That may place their minds at rest. God luck, hope you get more response than I did.
 

mikestrivens

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1995 W124 320TE, 1998 R129 SL500, 2016 Triumph Tiger 800 XCx
If I got a letter like that I'd probably bin it.
 
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