No matter your level of car expertise, buying a used vehicle is fraught with stress-inducing uncertainty. I am still affected by this after years buying, selling, and maintaining cars. I’ve bought vehicles which turned out to be absolute albatrosses as well as some which have lasted me years without issues. How can you tell the difference between a new best friend and potential nightmare? Vehicle history reports can tell you a car’s ownership chronology, indicate whether it’s been in an accident, and show you maintenance schedules. Arming yourself with additional knowledge like a list of engines that run for 300,000 miles can protect you even further. But is a long list of owners on a vehicle history report necessarily a deal-breaking red flag?

The answer is a complicated yes and no, and three owners is by no means a magic threshold for knowing if a used car is trouble. How many owners a car has had is far less important than how those owners drove and maintained the car. For instance, I once bought a Volkswagen Beetle from someone who left it parked in a muddy field for five years. On another occasion, I bought an old Jeep Cherokee from a retiree who kept it in the family for 25 years; it’s probably no surprise that the Jeep lasted longer. Whether a used car has had one owner or twelve, it’s best to get as much information as you can from the seller. Hopefully you can get an honest answer as to why they’re selling it, and you might inherit information from previous owners in the process.

All cars deteriorate over time; this applies to daily drivers, garaged classics, and cars left rotting in fields for years. There are special maintenance procedures that should be followed if a car isn’t being driven regularly, so regard the words “ran when parked”  in a listing as a “buyer beware” notice. Rubber bushings, hoses, and wiring are subject to dry rot, and gas can go bad after several months. Paint will fade, rust takes hold, and tires can get flat-spotted. Older cars will normally have higher mileage and more owners, but if they were driven carefully and maintained properly this shouldn’t be an issue. You’re going to want to pay special attention to the specific quirks of any car you’re looking at.

Ford partially submerged the rubber timing belts in some 1.0, 1.5, and 2-liter EcoBoost engines’ rubber timing belts in oil, causing the belts to expand and fail.  Late ’90s and early 2000s Subarus with 2.5-liter engines are notorious for leaky head gaskets, so see if previous owners have addressed those particular problems. You’ll also want to look at a vehicle’s title history to see how long each owner held on to the car. While having four or more owners might not necessarily be a sign of trouble, if one or more of them sold the car soon after buying it that could indicate a major mechanical flaw. A series of short-term owners may not always indicate a major problem, but it can spell trouble if you can’t speak to each previous owner about why they sold it so quickly.

Some of these guidelines go out the window when considering a desirable classic that has changed hands many times because of high demand. On the other end of the spectrum, one-owner cars allow you access to their complete history provided you can trust the seller’s word. They’re rare finds these days; many cars change hands when the initial financing and/or warranty periods expire after a few years. If you see one or more rapid-fire sales at that point, it’s a cue to do some deeper investigation. You may be able to get service locations from a vehicle history report; these facilities might share details of the work they’ve done. There are many mistakes one can make when buying a used car, but doing proper research helps you avoid some of them.

Because a car’s ownership history can be inscrutable, having any potential used car purchase checked out by an independent mechanic is a must. Don’t make a hasty or emotional decision, and remember that all cars carry their own unique history whether they’re five years old or 50. Sometimes families simply don’t need a car anymore, or they could be dumping a lemon that has disappointed many people. Try to be patient when buying a used car, trust your eyes and ears, and gather as much information as possible about each potential purchase. Although ownership history can give you clues about a car, it won’t tell the whole story.