If you were running a car with 160K on the clock as a Taxi, and everything with the car was AOK, why would you get rid? You wouldn't get much for it, and you could continue to make money from it if you kept hold of it.
I would be extremely suspicious of this car.
number_cruncher
|
|
|
Having previously worked selling vehicles to the taxi trade i personally would say to not touch it with a big stick. Taxi drivers generally only replace vehicles when their about to die.
How old is it? if it has been taxi'd from new then based on the mileage i would expect it to be 3 or 4 years old but in it's short life it will have been treated fairly hard.
There will probably be loads of holes in dash from fitting meter's and radios, the steering wheel/gearknob will be bald as a coot and the interior will generally be fairly grubby/tatty.
There are loads of 406's around so i'd look elsewhere
|
The only time I would consider this car is if it has been on a leasing scheme to the taxi company, i.e., it has been sold on at 3 or 4 years irrespective of its condition because the finance agreement has ended. Even then you'd have to ask why the taxi company wouldn't simply buy the car for peanuts and run it into the ground over the next two or three years.
The mileage wouldn't put me off per se - I've seen them advertised for sale with double this, and not looking that bad. Again I'd want the price I paid to reflect the mileage.
If the car is on an X plate, for instance, I'd want this car to be about £2,200 to even consider it, and then I'd go over it with a fine tooth comb to see whether it was truly going to last me longer than a 120k mile R plater that I could get for the same money.
|
|
how much is it going for?
|
IIRC there was a thread or post a year ago or so about a similar topic, an R reg something for £350 or so?
I'll try and find it sometime unless Dave beats me to it. I seem to recall that Dave Taxi Driver may have posted it.
An ex colleague of mine ditched his montego in favour of a Passat saloon on a G that had done 350000, though his uncle was the one that sold it to him. AFAIR he had no problems.
I think one of the problems that taxi companies face that the ordinary punter doesn't is a further legal inspection tha goes much deeper than the MOT.
Could be wrong
H
|
I bought a 1986 Ford Granada 2.0i GL ex-taxi in 1993.It had 278000 miles on it. Kept it for 14000 miles and 1 year. Sold it for what I paid for it. No dramas at all, didn't even service it. When I bought it, got telephone directory thick wad of work done on it by the taxi operator. Just because it's an ex taxi with high milage doesn't neccesarily mean a bad buy.
So long price is right.
|
If it's an ex hackney carriage as opposed to private hire then it may be a worthwhile punt.
Hackney carriages not only have the regular MOT, they also have a 'super MOT' inspection to pass each year, which is much more rigorous.
|
Frostbite, I think that's the test I was thinking of, you don't happen to know the name of it do you?
I have done a search and found this thread. In particular, read Dave Taxi Driver's Post 2nd from bottom about ex taxis he's had.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=10386&...f
Hugo
|
It's a story I've quoted before, but this appeared on another message board a couple of years ago. Looks like "your" Pug could do a few more miles yet!!
"I drive a BX diesel which I use as a taxi. It's my 5th. BX 19 diesel & all gave me the greatest satisfaction in both reliability & economy. I still have my 1987 BX which I cannibalise for spares, not that I need many. It was retired for 'scrap' after a crash @ 350,000 miles. It's replacement was sold off for less than the value of its parts @ 450,000 miles; one has been retired to my driveway @ 740,000miles & my current workhorse is now @ 380,000 miles. I've never changed a wheel-bearing, only one gearbox and a few suspension bits; one major engine overhaul; two head-jobs but never a tow-home failure [unless you count the one time I let the cam-belt snap!].
|
|
|
Sorry Hugo, no idea.
The Hackney Carriage Test?
|
|
|
Hugo, Private Hire vehicles (at least in my local area) are also given thorough inspection every 6 months by the local licencing authority. Pass/Fail Certificates giving details of any problems and 'advisories' are provided to the vehicle owner.
|
Yep in the vast majority of area's all taxi's be they hackney or private hire have some form of Taxi test they need to go through at least once a year.
|
|
|
|
how much is it going for?
>>
Y reg, £3K. Apparently it has a "detailed report" and passed
its "taxi test" 4 months ago. Everything is said to work
|
More: 2001/Y reg, £3.2K. 406 estate (110BHP). 167K miles.
"Interior as new" - due to seat covers, apparently. Cambelt
done 42,000 miles ago, clutch 10,000 miles ago, passes "taxi
test" 4,000 miles ago. A "couple of minor car park knocks,
nothing much really, no broken paint". Air con. etc. "works
fine". Not being used as taxi because "something to do with
city taxi rules, when a car reaches a certain age". "The car
has a detailed report of everything from day 1". F.S.H.
£3.2K for a Y reg isn't much, miles+FSH which is the are
better than average/noFSH, which is whi I'm slightly tempted.
Some opinions above say don't touch it with a disinfected
barge-pole. Some say it might be OK. Does anything in this
change or generate opinion?
Any further help in making a decision will be very welcome.
|
Doesn't sound hugely cheap to me for the mileage, but others will be better qualified to give firmer advice in this respect than me.
www.parkers.co.uk gives values of £4995 for Private Good and £3530 for Private poor with 30k miles. Suggests I may be right I think.
I do know that some cities are very strict on age and condition of taxis from a conversation with an airport taxi man from Canterbury.
|
i don't know of any Local authority licensing committee that has a 3 year old maximum age for a taxi - it's just not practical, most limits are 6 to 10 years.
Another thing is that the interior may have had seat covers but it's also had alot of bums on seats - i'd be suprised if there was no wear to it at all - especially the drivers seat and steering wheel/gear knob.
|
Why was the cambelt only replaced at ~120k miles (fair enough if it was the second replacement)? What other maintenance might have been skimped on?
What's the car really like - it sounds like you haven't seen it yet? Things like interior condition, air con, electrics etc., working, can be assessed when you're in front of the car.
I'd be very suspicious about the age limit for the car - why put it through the taxi test within four months if that's the case? Surely it would at least run until the end of its test period? In any case, this is verifiable by checking with the city it was used in - if it doesn't add up, run away! A Y-reg car would be between 38 and 44 months old, which isn't really a nice round number unless it's an August car that's been on sale for three months - in which case haggle even harder.
£2.5k would be the right right, given the mileage and history - which may be cheaper than the seller is willing to let it go for. If that's the case, you could be missing out on a great bargain but the depreciation won't be much better over 2 years and 30k than if you paid £2k more for a more typical car with an average 75k miles (average for a 406 HDi anyway!) and quite possibly, repairs would be a lot worse.
Finally, a big part of the reason why FSH matters on lower mileage is so you're not paying a premium for a car just like this with its mileage wound back. FSH is not a guarantee that the car won't go wrong, merely that it's been looked after when it has.
|
|
Heh. By the mysterious power of the Internet, and the telephone, and a picture of the car (you're right, I haven't seen it yet) I've got some information, and I'm going to phone up the man who drove this car... the person selling it does not seem to be the same person. The ex-driver is on a job in London at the moment in another car.....
|
"I'm going to phone up the man who drove this car... the person selling it does not seem to be the same person. The ex-driver is on a job in London at the moment in another car....."
Don't bother - too dodgy, find another.
|
Near where we live there is an age limit on minicab taxis. Don't know about three years though, but possibly no older than six.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
> I'm going to phone up the man who drove this car... the
> person selling it does not seem to be the same person.
Well, I called, & got his wife, who said Mr. Taxi would call me back at 8 p.m. He did. He had been about to retire, but as his wife *had* retired, and our fine Gvt. wasn't paying enough pension, he'd traded in his car for something else, an offer he couldn't refuse under the circumstances, he said. The place he traded the car in to gave him 2K. When I said it was up for £3.2K there was an audible hiss (as of someone "done" out of money!). No skin off his nose if he told me about the car... it was a reliable machine, no cutting about inside, holes for plate had been drilled on the back (now presumable blocked as not obvious in pictures). It had been in one crash where he rear-ended someone, had been driveable and taken to be fixed. Had gone through two Taxi tests since then fine.
The vendor has e-mailed me with a load of pics. of documents, taxi test certs., log book, etc.
I'm going to e-mail him back with my info "from the council" and see what he says.
|
|
|
|
|
