Fleet Management- How do you do it?

[HMC]

After reading in Craig The Princesses' saab for sale section, and his 19 vehicles, it got me thinking. Most of us have more than one car. Quite a few of us have several. This can be a joy or a right ballache at times depending on how we deal with a range of ageing vehicles, plodding on well past their intended life span.

 

Ive got 4 at the mo. I try to rotate them so at any time only 3 are fully road legal, the fourth (presently the escort) having some sort of repair/ restoration work/neglect in my garage. In theory should one break at short notice ive still got 2 to use as transport. I try to spread out the MOTs if possible. Ive got a very short attention span with cars and love driving so avoid having stuff immobile for too long if possible as it starts to become a convenient mobile storage shed rather than a car. I always have a few decent spare batterys on hand just in case, and I like to lob a decent cover over anything not in the garage thats not in daily use that week.

 

How many vehicles do you own? How many are presently road legal and on the button? What approach do you take to organising/ dealing with them? I had in mind that theres bound to be more savvy people than I out there juggling their cars. Any top tips or pet hates?

 

Have a fleet pic (more than a few months old and hence I no longer own any of the cars pictured)

[MarvinsMom]

i've got 4, which i think may be 3 too many though i couldn't/cannot decide which should stay and which should go.

[stripped fred]

I have 3 at the moment. A daily driver Alfa 156, an MR2 mk1 on a classic policy and my K plate Astra estate which I've driven a total of 20 miles and am keen to use as my daily as soon as the Alfa has finished caravan towing duty in August. Insurance and storage are my main challenges. I am also in serious danger of adding to my total fleet number soon...

[beko1987]

"Ah crap, I need to do this to the Meriva before the MOT"

 

"I must get an exhaust for my car!...*looks on ebay, adds some to watch list and worry that they probably wont fit*

 

"Will the windscreen pass the mot in the meriva"

 

"What's that love, there's a new sound from your car? Yea, I'll look into that at the weekend"

 

repeat for a while, until I fix something or it's MOT month/I get REALLY nagged at

[holbeck]

I've got 3, one modern that is the preserve of Mrs H. The poojo which I use for commuting and tip runs etc. Plus the BMW e30, which comes out of the garage too infrequently.

 

Now you come to mention it, maybe I need another.

 

Although maybe not, if I wish to keep my nuts.

 

 

BTW Brookjm, sorry  Essexman, whats your preferred way to dispose of your cars, not through AS?

[JohnK]

2011 BMW 520d SE

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

2002 Vauxhall Omega 2.2 CD Auto

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

2000 Vauxhall Omega 2.5 CDX Auto

Currently off the road.

 

1992 Rover 214Si

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1991 Mercedes 190E 2.0 Auto

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1989 Volvo 760 Auto

Currently not taxed as exhaust is badly blowing so SORN'd it at end of May until I sorted it.

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1986 BMW 728i SE Auto

Currrently SORN

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1982 Ford Siera 2.0 Ghia Auto

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1982 BMW 728i Auto

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1972 Triumph Toledo 1300

Taxed - Yes

MOT'd - Yes

Insured - Yes

 

1984 Mercedes 190E 2.0 Auto

Currently breaking but it does have a valid MOT until October! Not that its driveable anymore!

 

At the moment I have the most amount of taxed cars I've had for a while. I tend to rotate the cars around usually and tax as and when I use them and I go through phases with them. As an example, my 1991 Mercedes was parked up for a bit, I used it through April-May and then was going to take it off the road, however I'm still happy to use it.

 

The Rover has been parked up for a few weeks and is parked at the mother in laws at the moment, I will probably swap it over with the Merc at the weekend and bring the Rover back home to use.

 

I got into the 1982 728i today and it felt like an age since I had properly driven it. In short, I do struggle to use them all equally. I wouldn't change it though!

[KruJoe]

(Ah, BJM's changed his user name!)

 

I remember having part of this fleet management conversation with you Matthew a couple weeks ago whilst slightly drunk...

I have too many (don't we all?) maybe 8 or 10, only two or three on the road. Some are breakers for others. Space is not an issue, but having too much tat littering the place is.

My main technique to avoid acquiring more is to avoid the ebay thread (as much as I love it, and used to check it on every visit to the laptop). Temptation there is too great.

Elsewhere too lies temptation. A steadfast will of steel is essential. There's loads of spaffworthy tat offered up on the forum these days at bargainous prices, and as much as I'd love to give it a home, I daren't even type a reply with the usual "I'd love it, but can't because X/Y/Z", for fear that one of you bastards will talk me into making the purchase!

I just drool quietly to myself in order to remain attached to my testes.

 

[HMC]

 

 

 

 

BTW Brookjm, sorry  Essexman, whats your preferred way to dispose of your cars, not through AS?

 

I have sold quite a few over the years through the forum. Of the 3 in the fleet pic above, the white rover 220 was sold (to phil-lhip) and bought (from robt) through the forum. More recently local word of mouth has pre empted the forum ad (the volvo 760 and nissan bluebird)

 

On the subject of taxing and sorning different cars aver a period of months, I have found the new direct debit thing quite handy. Less up front cost and easily done online. My only gripe is why it has to run from the begining of the month rather than a date within the month- it seems a hangover from the old paper tax discs which for practical reasons were issued ( and lapsed) by the turn of the month, 

[New POD]

 

On the left we have my daily Honda. Bought in 2011 with 75K on the clock, it's just passed the MOT with 140K on the clock. I left it with the garage to do the handbrake as I just can't be arsed.  It has a value that is somewhat less than it cost me, and therefore not worth selling to buy something more exciting. I'm expecting to hack it to 250K with only oil changes and basic servicing. It smokes on start up for 4 seconds.

 

 

and I drove the MX5 to Derby yesterday, putting the top down, once off the motorway.  It's rusty. It starts first time. It's noisy, it will need a clutch in the near future. I reckon I might nurse 5K out of it. so 3 years of use. 80 mph is 4200 RPM. (It needs 2 more gears)

 

and the Bini.  we could have bought 6 x 53 plate ford Ka's for the same price. It's great to drive but feck me, they really hold the value.  This is not good, because that means I'm forced to not treat it as disposable, like all my wife's previous cars. I changed the oil on Saturday as it was leaking oil from the sump plug. I'm keeping what came out, with only 1000 miles use as spare. I'm going to filter it into a clean container, and use it for top ups. It's 0W40 mobil one fully synthetic with a darker shade of brown.

[garbaldy]

its a right bloody nightmare 15 cars (was 19 but scrapped 4)  two bikes 3 trailers although only 5 road legal just now, 

from March its every month for mots and tax with five separate insurance policy's, still its the storage costs that are the biggest hit

[stephen01]

I have my daily, CRV, wife has a leaf and I have two triumph heralds, a 67 1250 and a 61 948s both are off the road, 61 has been in my garage since I purchased it 5 years ago, Sold teh Saab a few weeks ago as I really dont have the room to keep them all saying that I've seen a tidy* 205

[catsinthewelder]

Cherry and Disco are legal and functioning in daily use but one has possible HGF and the other could do with a clutch.

 

The VW hits Ebay tomorrow (scheduled listing) and the Austin will hopefully benefit from the money it'll bring in to hit the road as I don't want to take any broken cars to my new house.  I try to spread out the MOT's and tax renewals with some success.  I'm going to have to get better at this after years of only really needing one working car.

[lincolndanny]

Doing quite well here at the moment...

 

2014 Fiesta-family car, she pays the bills with me as named driver

 

1998 106 GTI my daily from April -September Mint standard car-garaged over winter

 

1998 106 GTI track car-no worries on bills-it gets trailered to Cadwell...

 

1971 Escort Mexico-my project car for fun

 

????October to March winter hack-£400 in the bank, lets go shopping!!!!

[DodgyBastard]

I have six cars shared between me and mrs foad, she's insured on the Tata, Alto and 360 and I'm insured on those as well as the Proton and the Panda.

 

This is the only car without mot, tax or insurance.

 

DSC_0983 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Currently I have one battery shared between this

 

IMG_20150612_175239 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

and this

 

IMG_20150612_122736 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

It makes it slightly annoying when shuffling them around the drive.

 

The direct debit tax is great but I still haven't managed to switch between taxing and sorning cars when in use and not in use so currently everything is taxed and insured...

 

IMG_20150612_122514 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Technically I only have one row of driveway so parking them side by side is using the neighbours space who doesn't own a car, this is how they are usually parked which is a bit of a hassle when I'm wanting whatever is at the front...

 

Eastern Europe ghetto - Shite car lineup by srblythe, on Flickr

[forddeliveryboy]

I dissect mine if they're good ones, most recently a DS 23EFi, which is so rotten that the back axle is held on by the rear screen. The car's not as beautiful underneath as on top - a shambles of engineering compared with a Traction, GS or 2cv.

 

The cars on the road at the moment include an Octavia Veg, MGF and 2cv. I rarely remove the keys, in case they get lost. That would be even more silly (and far more likely) than having something stolen.

[320touring]

I tend to drive one til it breaks or I get bored, then buy another.

 

Current fleet is

 

320i-not running but mot/tax

335i running mot/tax

535i running but no rear end not mot/tax

Polo running mot/tax

Octavia running mot/tax

clio 172 running mot/tax

jag meh

Mk1 golf cab state of perpetual rebuild

[wuvvum]

I've just done a mental countup and I currently have 16 (fuck me, didn't realise it was that many).  The ones in bold (10) are currently MOTd.  The blue Mondeo and the Rover of Doom are both out of MOT but still taxed.  And the A35 is MOT exempt, but it's nowhere near being roadworthy at the moment.

 

Volvo 164

Subaru 700 van

Toyota Carina E

Innocenti Mini

Peugeot Boxer van

Mondeo TDCi (silver)

Mondeo TDCi (blue)

Rover 200 VI

Rover 200 SDI

Kia Magentis

Perodua Kenari

Subaru Forester

MGB GT

Austin A35

Renault 6

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

 

No wonder I'm skint.

[Lord Sterling]

My 6 cars are managed in possibly the worst way. I store 5 of them away in a unit and a garage and forget I own them until I can be afford to be arsed with them again:

 

 

They are dry and clean, the ones that do start are started now and again and run up to temperature and wheeled up and down again.

 

The 820E hasn't been started for a while, but then its been stored in a dry, warm garage for all that time. I am looking to get this started at some point soon and even back on the road for shows etc...

[Jon]

I'm currently at 7 cars but really want to be down to four before building up again.

 

Commodore is awaiting its V8 since its Nissan gearbox (coupled to an LD28 straight six diesel) shat out late last year. Am hoping to have it sorted and back on the road before Christmas.

 

 

 

Clio 172 is Mrs_Jon's pride and joy, especially now the shit wheels below have been replaced by a natty set of Ronal Turbos, at eye watering expense. Just means I can spend more on my cars, perhaps?

 

 

The 205 GTI which the Renault replaced is still here as its hard to part with. Currently unroadworthy due to no WOF (MOT) as windscreen is cracked, though that should hopefully all be sorted next week. Visa GTi has been off the road about 18 months due to HGF, though it's my plans to get this sorted soon, now I have the money due to a good amount of work this year. It's just finding the time to trailer it up to Auckland to the only person I can find interested in fixing it.

 

The Bluebird was bought as holiday transport for my folks who visited earlier this year though local advertising has netted no interest, so it'll shortly go on Trademe.

 

 

Likewise the Camira, which has been off the road ever since I bought it in late 2010. However, I literally can't give it away, so off to Trademe it'll go at $1 reserve.

 

 

With this sorry state of affairs and a busy work schedule, I bit the bullet and bought my very first 21st century car (the Clio is not mine!) at the end of April, a 2.0 Mondeo petrol estate, which has already had 3000 miles added to it commuting back and forth up north for work. Though worthy, it is incredibly dull but has always been seen as a stopgap car to tide me over whilst sorting the fleet out. Should've just kept the Nissan but I can't snooze in the back of that so comfortably after a long day at work!

 

To rub salt in the wounds, pre 2000 cars have 6 monthly WOFs, so it's a bit of a juggle to get these done on time. Add the little trailer we have which also needs 6 month warrants and it can get a little much. Fortunately, although you can buy rego (road tax) in 3, 6 or 12 month blocks, you can also fill in a form at the post office and buy anything from 1-365 days, so my idea is to get the rego of each car to expire within 2 weeks of their WOFs to coincide with their retest dates, then buy 6 months/12 months at a time depending on pre or post 2000.

 

Insurance isn't mandatory here but is well advised, so the 205, Bluebird and Visa cost £7.50 a month each on TPFT, the Commodore even less (though I'll upgrade it when it's been sorted) and the Mondeo about £10 a month. Can't remember for the Clio - £250 a year, perhaps? That's on full fat cover though. AA Relay equivalent is about £100 a year for us both, I think.

 

Finally though, one recommendation - move close to a retired Autoshiter who has a bit of garden space to offload excess miserable motors to:

 

 

[dollywobbler]

I got fed up with what a ball ache a large fleet can be, so just XM and Nippa on the road at the moment. Skintness helps mute the temptation of the Ebay thread. I'm not sure I can keep my reformed ways up for long, but I'll enjoy it for now. Until the XM goes spectacularly wrong anyway.

[captain_70s]

Currently have two cars, the most I've had is three and one of them was always not shite. The most cars I've had on the road simultaneously is two... The plan was to always have two cars road legal, one as a daily driver and one as a backup. The backup car has now been the daily driver for three months and it's state of health is precarious at best while the daily driver is dead in multiple ways...

 

I remember the glorious moment just around Christmas time when I first had both my cars road legal and working and could add a touch of class*  to my street...

 

 

Both Doloshites are taxed via direct debit which is a God send as it's one less thing to forget and trying to find £100+ that you didn't remember you needed until the morning the tax runs out isn't fun... The 1300 has an MOT and the 1850's expired after it failed it's pre-MOT check and I ran out of money. Both cars are insured although I can't remember the companies and have lost all of the paperwork while moving house. Renewal will be interesting as I won't have the funds to pay it outright like I used to do so it's going to mean an even bigger monthly cost.

 

I think two cars is really beyond the limit that my organisational skills and bank balance can cope with, which is why I've entered a raffle in an attempt to gain a third.

 

[320touring]

I've just done a mental countup and I currently have 16 (fuck me, didn't realise it was that many). The ones in bold (10) are currently MOTd. The blue Mondeo and the Rover of Doom are both out of MOT but still taxed. And the A35 is MOT exempt, but it's nowhere near being roadworthy at the moment.

 

Volvo 164

Subaru 700 van

Toyota Carina E

Innocenti Mini

Peugeot Boxer van

Mondeo TDCi (silver)

Mondeo TDCi (blue)

Rover 200 VI

Rover 200 SDI

Kia Magentis

Perodua Kenari

Subaru Forester

MGB GT

Austin A35

Renault 6

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

 

No wonder I'm skint.

Biggest issue there is you have for sale threads for a few.muchio temptimus

[doobietoo]

I average 4 at a time...the restoration project  (Austin 1100) is in the garage, the Saab is my daily, the golf  (previous daily ) has just been sold and the Rover (previous, previous daily) is being broken and bridged. Mrs Doobietoo thinks I should only have two cars but I can get away with 3 on the basis one is for sale and 4 if one is being broken. This means to my mind I have a spare space for a classic pre 73 "summer car" . I just need the funds to buy it ..... We have recently moved to a house with parking for 4 cars + and a double garage to replace the existing one is to be built before winter. This will free up 2 more parking places and so it continues. 

[LC Torana]

3 cars - daily, long-trip and erm, project.

[John F]

I've got six cars at the moment... the Disco, the LT and the MX5 are in daily use, the Calibra is MOT'd but needs a radiator & engine swap, the LR Series 2a is almost ready for MOT and the Maserati is in storage gathering dust.

 

I've also got two bikes - they both run but they'll need re-commissioning & I haven't got time.

[2MB]

1 sensible daily (190D)

1 for fun (skyline)

1 for sale (e30)

1 for the girlfriend to drive (polo)

1 breaking (other polo)

All road legal apart from the breaker, and the most sensible line up I've had in a long time, until the fact I drive a company van at least 50% of the time and often commute by pushbike is taken into consideration of course

[Jerzy Woking]

Only my Merc (shite) and VW T5 for lumping stuff around in. But I seem to have re found my love for having older motorbikes (which I last did in my 20's) in my fleet. Each has a different role to play (as I used to tell my ex-missus). Up to 7 now.

 

Now looking for a French 125 of some description, a 1980's Guzzi (V65, T3, Convert?) and even mulling over a GPZ500 on these very pages.

[nigel bickle]

I keep around a dozen UK road legal at any one time, with similar numbers on the near continent. I've got approx double that roadworthy, either Mot'd or ready for one.

 

I probably have double the whole near ready, with a few hours fettling.

 

Keeping control? Sas o year planners for me. Simples.

 

Don't see what the issue is , myself.

[mercrocker]

Four is my number, tried 5 but it was too many to keep on top of. Bear in mind my stuff is all on the road constantly, only the T25 gets a 3 month rest in the winter. Got rid of the worst of the 5 that I had which was by far and away the crumbling Farina. I miss it every day but the other 4 are now reaping the benefit of more time and money. Cowley and Minor count as one car really (in my Man Maths accounting method) van is for summer and Merc for Mrs Merc. Its going to have to be one in, one out in future (cars that is, not Mrs Merc - not having any more of those...)

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

All of mine have MOT except the H reg E36.

Four have tax.

One is on a classic policy.

Three are garaged.

 

It's expensive and hard work sometimes, but I get all of them into decent condition and then do bits and bobs to improve them gradually.

 

None of them were expensive and the Ford isn't actually mine.