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The owning a fleet of cars thread

jeff

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#1
My driveway looks like a used car lot lately. My neighbors make fun of me. I had some thoughts about owning a "fleet" as they say, and I made a vid for my YT channel about it. Wondered if any of you guys had thoughts on this.

I love cars and see having more than one as a fun investment. The $3000 I dump into another car could be $3000 in the bank or $3000 in my driveway. I see it as no different aside from differing interest/appreciation. To me, the fun of having multiple cars outweighs the negatives.

Speaking of, negatives are:
1, Cost to purchase...
2, Maintenance required for multiple cars
3, Insurance cost of multiple cars
4, Space needed
5, Potential for having a junkyard in your driveway/yard

Positives as I see it are:
1, Fun, variety
2, Convenience - if one is under the knife, you still have a ride...plus you can loan them out
3, Investment/profit - the right car will bring profit when you sell it
4, Infrequent maintenance/gas fill ups/etc. (if you keep maintenance current)

Wondered if anyone else has a "fleet" and thoughts on the "fleet mentality"...

Here's my vid if you want to check it out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugRIsqBz9N4
 


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Virginia
#2
I'm a single guy that owns two cars, and that already seems slightly excessive to me. Make no mistake if I had the space to own more, I would. Money is a bit of a limiter too; I don't have much time to do my own work. Insurance I could probably manage with a decent umbrella plan (if you own a lot of cars and don't know what an umbrella plan is, you owe it to yourself to look it up).

Variety is definitely the main perk for me. Turbo, FWD angry hatchback one week. RWD, NA drop top the next. I know there are some people that will own a dozen FWD VWs; that I don't understand. It's definitely nice to have a backup and not have to make the run to IAD for a rental. Running costs are a bit of a wash; each car may need less on its own, but you're just spreading that cost around now.
 


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Independence, OR, USA
#3
I generally have 6 cars, with the 5th and 6th getting rotated around.

I think 3 project cars is about all my brain can take.

I tell myself a similar lies that the cars are mobile savings accounts, but it's probably not 1:1, but for most of them I'll never find out because I'll never get rid of them lol
 


OP
jeff

jeff

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Thread Starter #4
I tell myself a similar lies that the cars are mobile savings accounts, but it's probably not 1:1, but for most of them I'll never find out because I'll never get rid of them lol
Haha well said. I'm confident I can get all of my money out of my two "extra" cars...the trick is finding something that is in decent enough shape to start with so that it will be desireable for a next owner. Good bones....

But maybe you're right maybe I am fooling myself. But I do tend to make profit when I sell cars...
 


gtx3076

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#5
We had 4 vehicles at one time but once we got a proper work van for the business we gave away the ranger to a family member. So we have a family hauler minivan, my fist and her work van.

I still want something with RWD.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 


Se7eN

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#6
I currently only have 2 cars of my own and my wife's car. I don't really have space at my apt so my 2nd car is kept at my fathers house. Later this year the Fiesta will paid off and I'm thinking of getting an SUV as a daily so I'm not tempted to mod it and focus on bringing my LS6 Z28 Camaro back to life as my Sunday drive car. The Fiesta I'm thinking of finally going to autocross as it will be paid off. We don't have kids yet so I might as well have fun for now.

The Fleet mentality in my family is strong. My dad has had a fleet of cars since I've been into cars myself. 2 first gen Miatas, 1 05 GTO, 98 C5 Vett, 80 C3 Stingray, 69 vert Stingray along with Vans and SUVs and the current 2nd gen Miata for Sunday drives along with the 2 stingrays which are projects. My uncle had a bunch of Mustangs along with other cars. My dad is retired so he went ahead and added a small shop next to the house and put a Lift in another part of the property so we could work on all the cars of the house and not have to pay for labor somewhere else.,
 


flbchbm

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#7
I've never had more than two at a time. (plus motorcycle or boat) and it wasn't for that long. I've had the Mazda 5 and FiST for a year now. The 5 is my truck/van/suv/trailer hauler and I have no intention of selling it. Well, read on... I have too many other hobbies to be spending all my time maintaining cars and the costs associates with keeping them, even when paid off. Minimum $30-40 month TCO for NoVA.

Having said all that, I am picking up a 2005 Colorado tomorrow for a song, but no dance. Why? The price was right from my GF's father's estate. I wasn't going to buy it at the low end of the market price given it's a Chevy and their baggage. I miss having a truck on occasion. I'll drive it for a while and decide if I want to keep it to replace the 5. Generally, I swore I would never own another Chevy...
 


M-Sport fan

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#8
Later this year the Fiesta will paid off and I'm thinking of getting an SUV as a daily so I'm not tempted to mod it and focus on bringing my LS6 Z28 Camaro back to life as my Sunday drive car.
You swapped an LS6 into the 4th gen?
That's what I wanted to do IF I kept mine, since then one does not have to bother with all of that; either swapping the LS1/6 reluctor ring onto the crank, or using the UN-reliable Lingenfelter reluctor 'translator' if one opts for an LS3 and up swap. [wink]
 


Se7eN

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#9
You swapped an LS6 into the 4th gen?
That's what I wanted to do IF I kept mine, since then one does not have to bother with all of that; either swapping the LS1/6 reluctor ring onto the crank, or using the UN-reliable Lingenfelter reluctor 'translator' if one opts for an LS3 and up swap. [wink]
yeah, the original engine spun bearings after the mechanic that worked on it put the spacer for the fuel pump backwards (had a double timing chain) Cost more money to have it fix than just get another block. A guy took pity on me and sold me a LS6 short block for cheap. Got LS6 heads off from a guy who modded his C5Z06 and took my time to clean everything up and rebuild the engine on my own. that was a good 6 or 7 years ago. Still running strong, and my wife loves the car even though she's only ridden in it a few time. So just gonna fix it up and use it for cruising.

Edit: By fixing it up, i mean Clean it and do maintenance on it. Cause its been sitting for nearly a year.
 


Dpro

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Los Feliz (In the City of Angels)
#10
My driveway looks like a used car lot lately. My neighbors make fun of me. I had some thoughts about owning a "fleet" as they say, and I made a vid for my YT channel about it. Wondered if any of you guys had thoughts on this.

I love cars and see having more than one as a fun investment. The $3000 I dump into another car could be $3000 in the bank or $3000 in my driveway. I see it as no different aside from differing interest/appreciation. To me, the fun of having multiple cars outweighs the negatives.

Speaking of, negatives are:
1, Cost to purchase...
2, Maintenance required for multiple cars
3, Insurance cost of multiple cars
4, Space needed
5, Potential for having a junkyard in your driveway/yard

Positives as I see it are:
1, Fun, variety
2, Convenience - if one is under the knife, you still have a ride...plus you can loan them out
3, Investment/profit - the right car will bring profit when you sell it
4, Infrequent maintenance/gas fill ups/etc. (if you keep maintenance current)

Wondered if anyone else has a "fleet" and thoughts on the "fleet mentality"...

Here's my vid if you want to check it out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugRIsqBz9N4
Actually I operate a lot the way you have lined it out here and have since I was a teenager, except the little lies part lol.

It just kinda of happened and truth be told the only thing limiting me is space . lol. I got into buying and selling cars for fun because I modded them.

My main rule of thumb is break even or if depreciation be it a market beater depreciation.
I have been successful at that all my adult life. I have always gotten my moneys worth if I did wind up owning a car that I took depreciation on it was always significantly less than anyone could ever do on a lease or rent.

Though usually it was I made money or broke even and that is even with BMW”S which is no simple feat. lol

If space was not an issue I would probably have two FiST’s just because. I used to have 2-3 running 240z’s back in the day and had multiple 240sx’s as well. I also had multiple BMW M cars and actually now lament letting one of them go which I should have kept . Of course much like your outline the one I did keep has been money in the bank and has appreciated. .
 


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