Man maths - multiple cars

[V8forweekends]

Can it ever make sense to buy more cars in order to share the wear, like having multiple pairs of shoes?

Since I can't afford something I can guarantee won't need occasional time off road for repairs (well maybe I could but I'm not prepared to tolerate dullness to get reliability), but I do need to have a car most days of the week I am considering what to do (other than mortgage myself to the hilt for some white goods with a warranty). Thing is, I have seen a £500 Jag with a current MOT but the alternator light on - surely this would be a perfect "backup classic"? :-)

[Matt UK]

If a man has the space, he should have a fleet.

The value, condition and suitability of the cars within his fleet are very much his secondary concern.

[bp1000]

sort of yes it can work out

I bought a prius for work and claimed 45p mile, the car does a genuine 58mpg winter and 68mpg summer so claim back is excellent. I only got one i could buy for what i thought was a great price nearly 4 years old but latest gen low mileage so minimal depreciation. Its dirt cheap to run, liberating, leave it anywhere, won't curb or depreciate my other car.

I also run an XFR which was doing 12k+ a year, i started to pick up scratches and curb scrapes on the alloys, high mileage XFRs plummet in value and fuel costs alone are high. I also saved on tyres which last about 8-9, prius last 30k somehow. .

The upside is, i get to drive and throughly enjoy it on off days, evenings and weekends. It is almost more enjoyable to drive because doing high mileage / stuck in slow moving rush hour traffic is pretty miserable whatever the car.

The maths worked out. I appreciate prius is not for everyone, and other hybrids, ev's are too expensive to make this scenario work. The sweetner was mrs works for toyota so dirt cheap servicing and maintenance. Not sure if this is replaceable with a cheap but solid diesel. As you factor in tax and higher servicing etc.

Edited by bp1000 on Wednesday 18th February 22:54

[snotrag]

Costs me less having two cars for sure. Much more fun too.

[anonymous-user]

I'm voting Matt UK as PH president come poll time

[V8forweekends]

Thing is, I have daily, convertible Yanktank and 2 projects, but the convertible isn't really a stand-in for the daily when it breaks, as it leaks a lot and is chilly in winter - and my daughter has been banned from it because it's "not safe". So an old Jag.....I mean what could go wrong, right?

I did (perhaps inadvisedly) buy a house which has plenty of driveway space, and a garage for the convertible and, ahem one of the project cars.

Am I doing this right?

[V8forweekends]

DoubleTime said:

I'm voting Matt UK as PH president come poll time

Good call.

[V8forweekends]

I just worry that I am becoming the automotive version of Mr Trebus, that's all.

[IanMorewood]

£500 Jag is going to cost you if you hope to run it, the plasterer that I used had the right idea, you buy one, run it to the end of its mot and break for spares, that way it just costs you fuel.

[Mound Dawg]

snotrag said:

Costs me less having two cars for sure. Much more fun too.

Didn't for me and the second car was a free Punto I inherited from Mrs Dawg. The cost of insuring, taxing and MOTing a second car (yes, even a Punto) easily outpaced the savings on fuel 52 vs 38 Mpg over 22,0000 miles a year.

Still, if I'd kept using the Alfa as my only car it would now have 280,000+ miles on it so would be, to all intents and purposes dead.

I've since replaced the free Punto with a new one so the man maths are getting more troublesome but I'm happy.

[slipstream 1985]

Matt UK said:

If a man has the space, he should have a fleet.

The value, condition and suitability of the cars within his fleet are very much his secondary concern.

Every man should be able to call himself admiral.

[buckline]

Multicar insurance, bound to be huge savings with that. Get it bought.

[B.J.W]

Admiral - I like that.....

My fleet presently consists of the following:

Company Car - for commuting
Nissan Navarra - for shooting etc
BMW E21 323i - for retroing
Westfield SEiGHT for hooning/V8ing/burbling
VW T5 Camper - for.... camping
Fiat 500 - for wifeying

I also still technically own a Mazda MX-5, but I haven't seen that for a few years (since I last saw my ex GF) - I will class it as ''missing in action'

Man Maths enables me to justify all of the above.... although the camper is soon to be released as we can't envisage it being used much moving forward....

[Capt Bravz]

slipstream 1985 said:

Every man should be able to call himself admiral.

Commodore Shirley? And get a big hat! With a feather!!

[Poopipe]

I intend to purchase a 150quid corsa shortly and i will keep it for when my megane breaks - which is often

[ZX10R NIN]

If you can have a few cars then why not plus it means you keep the mileage down on the gems here's mine.

CLK320cdi Sport, Daily Driver (Re Mapped coil overs Poly Bushes K&N Vertini 19's)
CLK63 AMG, Fun car(as above with Weistec Manifolds Custom Exhaust)
Maserati GranTurismo Sportline, the family Car(Novitec suspension & Exhaust)sold this on Sunday
OH has her new Alpina D3

2010 ZX10R, Track Bike(soon to be put p for sale)
BMW S1000R, Commute/Track
MV F4, because i've always wanted one

It works just, now the Maser has gone I can justify the maths until the next thing that I have to have appears on my radar.

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Thursday 19th February 08:20

[Justin Case]

Man Maths proves that it is cheaper for me to add a weekend toy to the 'fleet' than replace my current car with a newer one, but no matter how creative I am, I am always defeated by space maths (ie 3 into 2 won't go)

[illmonkey]

I've gone from looking at sporty cars (boxsters) as my daily, to using the golf as a daily and have a old retro for fun (weekends and the odd commute in summer). I'm only talking about a E30 or similar, but it works out. A Boxster is a big running cost, where as a eurobox and a old car cost about the same tax etc.

[RedBull]

It doesn't work out cheaper for me to have multiple cars, quite the opposite in fact. It is good fun though.

[andy-xr]

I only have another car (kit car) because it has sentimental value rather than using one for one thing and one for another. It helps that it has specialist insurance but the tax makes me wonder why I do it for 12 months. Other owners just garage theirs up for the winter, start looking at it again around about this time of the year, run it March to September'ish. Mine was kept on street parking whether it moved or not, so I had to tax it, but having just moved I'm in 2 minds, see how I feel about it in the winter

The Mrs Ka gives us 3 on the drive, and to be honest, I'd take her car on a trip over my Jag. It's a fuel vs comfort thing, we've talked about getting rid of both our dailies and just having a diesel hatch, but neither of us really want to give up our cars to share one.