On average how long do you keep your car for?

[Mark9999]

As long as it’s reliable I keep my cars as long as possible. My mx5 lasted to 20 years old before the dreaded tin worm took over.

 

[pioneercollector]

I keep all my vehicles until they are either not up to the job required or are just plain dead!
Owned my LWB Shogun 3.0L DOP for around 18 years, I still own my XJR 1300 which i purchased new in 2000, the Honda VT-1100 Shadow is now 28 years old, Just took on my fathers Honda CR-V which he has owned from new (2012) and that was 3 years ago .... should get 15 years out of it! The SL500 i have owned for over 3 years. it was aged when i purchased it, so will be very aged when i let her go!

Even my EV vans had been worked for 9 years before being replaced recently ......

 

[Fastcar155]

I owned a 2.8 diesel Mitsubishi Pajero for 12 years ( 3 years on a SORN ) Took the car for an MOT and only required a small amount of work to pass the test.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Normally well under a year.... which is why I have had so many even though I rarely have more than one at a time.... somewhere between 30 and 40. Also had around mid 20s motorcycles....
.......but I've had my current ALFA daily for 5 and a half years... unheard of!!!!...although I've had a couple of others in that time. Got to go soon.... as at 175,000 miles I'm pushing my luck.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Normally well under a year.... which is why I have had so many even though I rarely have more than one at a time.... somewhere between 30 and 40. Also had around mid 20s motorcycles....
.......but I've had my current ALFA daily for 5 and a half years... unheard of!!!!...although I've had a couple of others in that time. Got to go soon.... as at 175,000 miles I'm pushing my luck.

How do you go about insurance on that many ? With NCB etc , asking for a friend

 

[ALFAitalia]

As it says....I rarely have more than one at a time....so insurance is not an issue....if I get a second or third car they just add it on...funny that when I do the premium is not proportionate.
As an example we have a18 Yo working in the shop he pays £1200 to insure a 14 plate Corsa (no black box).....but he loves MX5s....but the insurance on it own was a no go. He was offered one by a customer of mine (import, 1992, mechanically great but UV damage to black paint)...so he bought it...we all joked about him never getting insurance for it.....but it only cost £500 to add it to the Corsa policy....so even at £1700 total its over £1000 less than insuring the MX5 alone!!!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

As it says....I rarely have more than one at a time....so insurance is not an issue....if I get a second or third car they just add it on...funny that when I do the premium is not proportionate.
As an example we have a18 Yo working in the shop he pays £1200 to insure a 14 plate Corsa (no black box).....but he loves MX5s....but the insurance on it own was a no go. He was offered one by a customer of mine (import, 1992, mechanically great but UV damage to black paint)...so he bought it...we all joked about him never getting insurance for it.....but it only cost £500 to add it to the Corsa policy....so even at £1700 total its over £1000 less than insuring the MX5 alone!!!

That’s great value. Especially for an import.

Some insurers are accommodating and offer “mirrored” no claims discount when cars are insured on a multicar, group or fleet policy, a question to ask when shopping around.

My current insurer takes the view that my wife and I are the only two drivers on a larger number of cars, and so we can only drive two at a time and that’s true whether we have 2 or 22 cars on the policy.

It sounds like your colleague has an even better deal than mirrored NCD.

 

[NJSS]

In the case of my MGB GT V8 over 50 years.

My MGA, the third which I have owned, 9 years.

Sadly I will have to sell them both in the next year or two.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

In the case of my MGB GT V8 over 50 years.

My MGA, the third which I have owned, 9 years.

Sadly I will have to sell them both in the next year or two.

Wow, 50 years is truly remarkable.

 

[pioneercollector]

50 years! That is impressive indeed!! But why change cars if you love the one you have?

50 years though .....

 

[Pontoneer]

My record was with my Ponton , which was 25 years old when I bought it in 1982 , and traded it after 38 years , just four years ago at which point it was 63 years old and still running well , but bodywork starting to deteriorate ! It was always one year older than I am , having been built in 1957 , and would now be 67 years old compared to me being 66 !

Generally I keep my cars between five and ten years , some a bit longer than that .

At the other end of the scale , my dad bought me a new Austin All-Aggro to go to university in ; that one had to go after six months due to endless problems and constant returns to the dealership on a more or less weekly basis ; got to know so many other customers and we all compared notes in the waiting room about which faults we all had had and if anyone had a 'new' fault , which the rest of use would then wait to experience ! After that bad experience , the car was traded for a 9 month old Audi 100 , which was utterly faultless and I kept it for 11 years before passing it to my sister and she kept it a similar length of time .

My other bad car , sadly , was an M-B S203 C270CDI which in less than a year needed all five Diesel injectors replaced , swirl flap issue , machine gunning door locks , thermostat , fuel cooler , turbo inlet pipe , front suspension control arm , rear wiper mechanism and had a rotten rear exhaust when I traded it for my R129 . Not long after I traded it - the turbo blew up and the new owner never put it back on the road ; that was a car with barely 100,000 miles on it .

 

[Pontoneer]

In the case of my MGB GT V8 over 50 years.

My MGA, the third which I have owned, 9 years.

Sadly I will have to sell them both in the next year or two.

I've driven many Spridgets over the years , plus a few B's . A friend has a show winning MGA which I've often been out in , plus two 'Big Healeys' , and another friend has an E-Type , all long term owners .

This was the MGA at Bridge of Allan , where it took 'best of Show'

 

[optimusprime]

This was my last convertable Austin A40 Sport ..Body made at Jensen all aluminium exept floor pan ..Picture just off for delivery.

 

[OldskoolRS]

Will be coming up 45 years between me and my parents for one of my cars (which is still off the road pending my 'retirement project' actually getting started despite me being retired for 2.5 years now ).

Typically I've had new company cars every 3 years, but we tend to keep my wife's car longer and will continue that approach now I have my own car. Hoping to get another 3 years at least with our 2016 C200 bought over 2 years ago and maybe another 3 years with our 'shopping car' so we can replace both with a single newer car...then keep that for at least 5 years if not more.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Will be coming up 45 years between me and my parents for one of my cars (which is still off the road pending my 'retirement project' actually getting started despite me being retired for 2.5 years now ).

Typically I've had new company cars every 3 years, but we tend to keep my wife's car longer and will continue that approach now I have my own car. Hoping to get another 3 years at least with our 2016 C200 bought over 2 years ago and maybe another 3 years with our 'shopping car' so we can replace both with a single newer car...then keep that for at least 5 years if not more.

Can we ask...what is the "retirement project" ??

 

[OldskoolRS]

Can we ask...what is the "retirement project" ??

Sure; my forum name is a clue. It's a 1979 Ford Escort RS2000 custom. Owned by my parents since nearly new in 1980, I bought it from them in 1995 and it's been summer use only since 1985, so it's more like a 5 year old car in some ways. Still had rust on the strut top area, which I started repairing back in 2012, but still have the second side to finish. Probably should have sold it as a project while prices were up as I suspect that by the time I get it roadworthy again it won't be worth as much as they once were.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Sure; my forum name is a clue. It's a 1979 Ford Escort RS2000 custom. Owned by my parents since nearly new in 1980, I bought it from them in 1995 and it's been summer use only since 1985, so it's more like a 5 year old car in some ways. Still had rust on the strut top area, which I started repairing back in 2012, but still have the second side to finish. Probably should have sold it as a project while prices were up as I suspect that by the time I get it roadworthy again it won't be worth as much as they once were.

Sounds epic!
I wouldn't worry about the value, these classic Fords seem to be going only one way and that's up

 

[merc07]

Works cars, private owned, 6 years, 180k, 8 years, 220k, my current C350, 9 years 150k - can't afford to buy another.
Our new policy is 148 CO2 and no more than 7 years old....