A significant milestone. I've now had my Berlingo 5 years - which is the longest I've ever kept a car.
What's the longest other backroomers have kept a car - and how long would they intend to keep their current vehicle?
In my experience, most people don't keep cars that long. They tend to fit into 3 categories
1) New car people. They buy their cars new, and keep them 3 to 5 years.
2) Nearly new people. They let someone else take the depreciation - buy their cars at about 1 to 3 years old - keep them until they are about 8 to 10 years old. These folk tend to keep their cars longer than most.
3) Bangernomics people. Buy cars at least 10 years old, and get rid of them when a big bill comes along - usually only a couple of years later.
(Yes, I know we've done this before, but it is a significant moment for me and the Berlingo!)
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What about the inebtween bangermatics and nearly new people? This would be like my dad, paid £1600 for an LX spec 1.6 Zetec Escort in 20002, still has the car today (its been off the road for 5 months as my dad fell off some ladders and couldn't drive) but he now intends to put it back on the road and MOT it, despite the fact its now got 100k on the clock. My dad has no intention at all of getting rid fo the car and I can see him owning it for another 5 years when the car will be 16/17 years old.
I will probably be a £2k-£3k sort of person, I paid £400 for my first car but that is because I know I will trash it. However I need my PAS, electric windows etc if I wanted to keep a car long term.
My dad also had a Lada which he kept for 6 years, he paid £800 for it when it was 3 years old. He had a Punto which he paid £5000 for and kept it for 4 years until it was written off in an accident. If he didn't have that accident he would still be driving that Punto, which means he would have owned it nearly 9 years.
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What about the in between bangermatics and nearly new people?
With the exception of my expensive first car I have bought cars a few years old and have kept them til they are scrapped or are write offs. Until my present car I have been able to DIY with bits from the scrap yard but due to the increase in complexity of my current car and my improved finance I now do not do much DIY.
I only do about 10 -12K a year.
My first car was an 18 month old 1600E that did 120K+
An old Triumph from a friend that I had for a few years and it was a write off due to being hit
A Cortina Crusader a few years old that I had for a few years and was stolen/written off
An older Crusader for a few years ( cam belt went but no damage) that also rotted
A Sierra Sapphire that did 100K+ started to rot so I scrapped it.
An old UNO at the same time, (for my offspring) that staggered on for several years until welding needs sent it to scrap
After the simple Sierra it was time to "treat" myself BUT
I have now got a massive increase in complexity Auto, PAS, A/C, plus electric heated sets, windows,sunroof , remote C/L. also has ECU, .Alloys with low profile tyres and a engine that would not like a snapped cambelt
Finally tissue thick bumpers.
Now running a 110K 98 Mondeo Ghia X 2.0l saloon.
So I await the outcome of driving, what I am lead to believe, the worst auto box available.
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Bought nine month old 1980 TR7 for £4250 - semiretired it in 1994, still use occasionally
Bought 4yr old 1990 Audi 100 2.0E for £4,200, exchanged in Feb 2003 for....
....just over 4yr old Audi A6 2.8Tiptronic for £8000, still got it, hoping it will last for ever....
That's just over 16 grand for 26 yrs of pleasant motoring - fun car for fine weather, comfy fast car for the other 364 days...roughly £500 per annum depreciation - can't complain...
If it works, don't mend it....
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Fiesta 1 - Two years
Fiesta 2 - Few months
306 - A year
Toledo - Until the wheels fall off.
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Fiesta Mk 1 - about 18 months - MOT failure so had to be scrapped.
L reg Fiesta kept about 3 years - problems with head gasket and burning oil handed back to finance company.
P reg Fiesta - kept two years
Focus - Kept almost three years. Was involved in an accident I got rid about three months later, just before it's third birthday in my ownership.
A2 - two years - wanted a change
A3 - two years and paid for in April - probably be changing this year.
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Funny how people always seem to scrap theior cars at MOT time. This why I have decided if my car costs £300 to get through the MOT (it may need a new engine due to emissions) I will happily pay it because £300 quid will only buy me another Fiesta which needs a new engine. I must admit when my dad had a £280 MOT bill last year for his Escort worth £500 he didn't think twice about paying it. My mate also spend £200 getting his K reg Fiesta he paid £250 for through the MOT only for his HG gasket to fail 3 weeks later :D
The best one was my dads first Lada, he only had it in a year and he spend a fortune on it, new clutch, new raidator, new startor motor, battery etc. His second Lada went on for about four years until the big bills came (usual Lada clutch, flywheel, startor motor and alternator replacement).
Depsite all this I still believe in keeping cars for as long as possible.
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'G' reg (1968) Triumph 2000............. 17 years.....will never sell it
'T' reg Jag S Type...... nearly 5 years, will keep it a good few years yet
'S' reg (should have been a 'T'...but a long story) Honda Blackbird m/c .... 5 years.......unlikely to ever sell it
'54' reg Jag X type estate...... nearly 2 years......will probably trade it in a year
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Capri 2.8i -- 22.25 years from acquiring new, and still sweet
MB W124 Coupé -- 6.25 years from acquiring S/H
Audi 100 -- sold at 10 years from acquiring new
Golf VR6 -- sold at 9.5 years from buying new
None have given me any significant problems, apart from persistent cool-running difficulties with the Audi, which were cleared overnight by VAG's own injector cleaner (.recommended to me by HJ).
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Rattle - when your feet are going through the floor of a car it's time for it to be scrapped! It was a 1981 model and this was 1994 so it had served it's owners well.
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1986 1600 Cavalier mk2 - 9.5 years from new
1988 1600 Cavalier mk2 estate - 18 months
1990 Carlton 3 litre estate 18 months
1996 Omega 2.5 estate 5.5 years
1994 Omega 2 litre 18 months
1995 Omega 2 litre 18 months and counting
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This why I have decided if my car costs £300 to get through the MOT (it may need a new enginedue to emissions) I will happily pay it because £300 quid will only buy me another Fiesta which needs a new engine. I must admit when my dad had a £280 MOT bill last year for his Escort worth £500 he didn't think twice about paying it. My mate also spend £200 getting his K reg Fiesta he paid £250 for through the MOT only for his HG gasket to fail 3 weeks later :D >> Depsite all this I still believe in keeping cars for as long as possible.
some years back , skint re paying off an ex to keep the house... i was driving around in my then 27 year old Triumph (now 39 yrs old) & worked out the bills over a 14 month period.....which were frankly daft... (i was doing 12,000 - 14,000 miles a year).
by putting £50 per month to it i could go out and buy any Escort sized modern car, a year old, from a main dealer and put it on 'tick' for 4 years........because of the modern car's reliability and improved mpg etc.........(bought a Rover 414 & parked the Triumph in the garage for 5 years until i could afford to repair it)
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My last car was a Nissan Micra, I bought it new. It was the top of the range and cost just over £7000 in 1988. I planned to keep it for 3 to 5 years, but ended up keeping it for 16 years. In the early 90's I went through a rough patch and could not afford to change it, then it was so reliable and cost little to keep on the road, then it was worth little and continued to cost little to keep on the road.
Finally I came into a sum of money and decided to change my car. Instead of buying a new car I decide to buy a 6 year old Fiat Marea Weekend with a 2.4 turbo diesel (top of the range model), a bargain compared with a comparable Focus or similar. This cost £2,150 (against £4,000 for a Focus) and has probably cost about the same in repairs over the nearly 3 years I have owned it (new clutch, glow plugs, injectors serviced, battery, tyres, disks and pads, and s/h rear wiper motor). The only thing that might possibly need replacing in the next 5 years might be the exhaust plus regular service items. It is currently running better than at any time since I bought it and now plan to keep it for at least another 5 years. Even if I came into a pile of money I cannot see the sense in changing it unless my needs change.
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Roger
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
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My dads car, which originally belonged to my late grandfather, has been in our family since new.
1993 Astra 1.6 GLS auto estate with just under 100k, still going strong. Has full service history though which does help.
14 years and counting...
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Volvo 340 - 3.5 years - 60k miles
Pug 306 - 2 years - 48k miles
BMW e36 - 5 years - 88k miles
BMW e39 - 5 .5 years and counting - 70k miles
SWMBO tends to change her cars more frequently due to changes in the size of the family, which hopefully has come to a stop now.
I used to think that you should spend a little more to start off, hoping that it will last longer, and then run it into the ground
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Mrs RTB: Grande Scenic - signed up for 4 years (limited to 48k), previously 2.5 years for the Micra (20k) and 4.5 years for Scenic (75k)
Me: Mondeo - seriously thinking of running it for another 3 (bringing up to total 5 years). Prevously dictated by Company car scheme: Passat - 3 years (39k), Laguna - 2.5 years (80k) etc etc
_______
IanS
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Used to keep my cars (usually bought at two to three years old) for three years on average from the early 1960s until early 1990s.
However, when I moved onto VW the record is 13 years (1.6TX Jetta) which was swapped for a November 1999 registered Bora in May, 2003. As far as I'm concerned it will remain until it finally gives up the ghost, which will be long after I've probably given up driving altogether...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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First car
1991 Peugeot 309 1.9D- September 2000 to April 2003. Great car, despite its 'shoebox on wheels' looks and poverty spec, but was utterly reliable. Only got rid because of a front end collision which I couldn't be bothered to fix.
Second and current car
1994 306 1.9TD- April 2003 until now. Just got it through it's MOT with a total bill of £180 (new front discs + pads and a tyre). Most I was willing to spend to get it through was around £230. At least it will (hopefully) give me another 6 months or so of motoring and hence more time to save for a newer car, even if I end up replacing the radiator which I'll do myself. May as well run the old girl into the ground and get my money's worth.
Martin
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I bought my MX5 at 10 years old. It's now 16 years old and other than routine oil, filters etc has cost me £100 for four springs and about the same for disks and pads all round.
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I suppose someone has to be the first to admit to being in Tyro's category (1)....
Having had company cars for 20-odd years until 2001, I noe have no compnay car bua a higher salary, but despite being a chartered accountant I do all the things that people say I shouldn't - buy new on PCPs and keep for 2 to 3 years.
I'm buying peace of mind, reliability (so far so good) and no unexpected expense. And I like new cars. I've worked hard all my life so why not?
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Though I'd like to be in category 1, I'm actually in cat 2 due to economic constraints. The story so far:-
1988 Fiat Panda bought at 2yrs old, sold after 18 months (had a crash - it didnt half crumple). Replaced by
1986 VW Polo bought at 5yrs old, kept 2 years. Dog slow, and not very reliable replaced by
1990 Ford Fiesta bought at 3 yrs old. Sold after 5 years due to growing family an spreading rust. Replaced by
1995 Pug 306dt. bought at 3.5 yrs old, kept for 6 long years (about 3 too many!). Replaced by
2000 Focus 1.8. Bought at 4 yrs old, 3 yrs ago. Will be kept at least 5 yrs, probably more as long as it remains reliable.
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Rover 214: 8 Months
Citroen Xsara: 14 months (crashed)
VW Golf: 2 Months (Stank of smoke, had to go)
Audi A3: 3yrs to date, going on 1st September to be replaced by a new TT.
Looks like I'm going to be in the Category 1 system from now on. The Xsara and Golf were both lousy purchases, the Xsara because I didn't know better, the Golf because I bought it unseen. The A3 is the best car I've had and I'm sticking with Audi.
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Until I find something else I'd rather own which I can afford. Unexpected issues aside, this could mean the 530i Sport is staying for quite some time.
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1989 Ford Escort - 5 years
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Resulting from the financial restrictions of retirement and with the increasing reliability of cars my aim is 80,000 to 90,000 miles. I just have the feeling that when the mileage goes from 5 figures to 6 figures it goes from high mileage to banger in the eyes of a buyer.
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L\'escargot.
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Longest I have kept a car is the 'project' car I have in the garage (1984 Visa Decapotable) which I bought in 2001. Only ran it for 8 weeks (MOT failure) and it has been on the pending list since then! Longest working car was my first BX TD which I had for 4 years and 70k miles.
Still, all this pales into insignificance against my other project - a 1929 Velocette motorbike. This was bought by my Grandfather in about 1938, ridden on and off by him till 1953 when he fell off it and gave up biking, kept in his garage till he died in 2000 and kept in my garage since (now in pieces).
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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I guess it depends on the condition of the car when bought, and the reliability. My first car was a 5 year old Micra, which was a mistake. It gave up the ghost after 4 years, and needed some quite expensive repairs. With older cars you can never be sure how it has been driven and looked after though I suppose if you maintain cars, you can get a good idea. I think in my case it was not in good condition, probably due to lots of short journeys. My second car is a Ford Ka bought from new and 5 years old. It's going nicely, with low maintenance costs, and I know it has not been thrashed. So I'll keep it till it dies.
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My wife's had her J reg Toyota Starlet for 13 years, takes a lot for her to change.
I keep mine for 5 years max.
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"With older cars you can never be sure how it has been driven and looked after though I suppose if you maintain cars, you can get a good idea."
When I saw that mine had a National Trust member sticker in the rear window I kind of guessed it had never been driven hard.
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Apart from company cars in the 1990s (and to be honest I don't think I had one more than two years) I think my record since 1996 has been 23 months, achieved in my Forester XT. I would have quite happily kept it for much longer, as it suited my purposes almost perfectly. However, my father commandeered it so I now have my Outback which I love, but the Forester suits me better.
Its funny, when I drove other cars (Mercs, BMWs, Hondas etc) I was always wondering what my next car should be, but with the Subarus, I don't have those thoughts - maybe I have stopped being a potential adulterer!
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Current car longest time.Passat PDI. 5 years and 3 months from new 94000 miles.Shortest time- 6 months a brand new MkII Golf Driver 1600 petrol. Absolutely gutless to drive. Replaced it with a new GTD- great- but over heavy non PAS steering meant I only had it for about a year.After that my cars did reach MOT time.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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What's the longest other backroomers have kept a car
Perodua Kenari - 5 years 7 months
how long would they intend to keep their current vehicle?
Toyota Yaris, at least 5 years
Being disabled and preferring to buy rather than lease on Motability scheme, I take 5 year HP then decide afterwards what I'm going to do.
Before I was disabled the longest I had a car was 4 years (Kia Pride) other than that they were all 'dogs' that were run into the ground & scrapped 6 months - 2 years after purchase.
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Up to now the longest that I have ever kept a car is about a year as I tend to get bored quite quickly, however, I can see myself keeping the BMW for a bit longer than that as there is simply no other high miler that I could replace it with that would drive better than my current car which is wearing it's mileage very well.
Blue
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Nice to hear a happy owner ! My cars have chopped and changed so much of late. I intend to keep the 535d now for as long as its economically possible, retiring in two and a bit years, may buy myself a newer Defender then to mess about in.
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1965 Singer Vogue bought new used for 16.5 yrs.
Replaced by Datsun 260C 3 yrs old, used for 10 yrs.
Sundry company cars then :
Nissan Maxima 3l V6 3 yrs old and used for 8 yrs.
Replaced by Toyota Prius 2 yrs old from a main dealer with 4 yrs Toyota { not dealer } full cover warranty.
As I am now retired, future vehicles will depend on cashflow.
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1981 'X' reg Triumph Acclaim - 20 months (owned from 1990-2)
1986 'D' Rover 213 - 3 yrs (1992-1995)
1991 'H' Citroen BX - 4 yrs and a bit (1995-1999)
1989 'F' Toyota Carina - almost 2 yrs (1999-2001)
2000 'X' Ford Mondeo - 5yrs 3mths (2001-2006)
2006 '56' Toyota Avensis - intend to change after 3 yrs
All of them have had between 55-75k miles on the clock when I got rid, the same will apply to the Avensis (which is the only one I bought new).
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I'm your category 2.
I've been driving 22 years and have had 5 cars.
2000 Accord; 110,000 now; will keep it until 2010 or thereabouts (unless I get rich before that).
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