What did you do today?

[SiC]

Payday tomorrow. It's the time of the month where I see money flowing in and a surprising amount of money flowing out.

£200 will go into thin air to pay for Boxster+TT road tax and 2 bays of storage. At least the £290 for the small loan I took on for Mrs SiC Civic (so cheap to have a loan that didn't make sense to go into savings) is paying off that asset. Insurance I pay as one lump yearly but that works out as an additional £100pcm.

So £300 as a minimum burning into fresh air on cars. Then parts + MOT + servicing to keep them running. I reckon £500 a month on cars. That's without the fuel.

Which is fine if I enjoyed them. But...

- Boxster has done 1k miles this year. Maybe I'll hit 2k by the year out.

- MGB hasn't moved a wheel this year at all.

- Spitfire is fun but hasn't moved in at least a month.

- Midget I haven't done much on in the last few months

- Dolomite moved to storage and I've not worked on in 2 years. This is taking up a £72pcm storage bay.

That's not exact getting much fun out of what I'm spending the £6k a year or more on.

I think a fleet cull is going to happen very soon. The Boxster and MGB are at the front of the firing line. Both owned for 4+ years so had a lot of fun out of them. Possibly the TT as well, to save on car tax and get one modern for myself instead.

That £6k per year could go towards something automotive I would have a lot more fun with. Whether towards a decent loan for something more exotic or even something cheaper and sticking into traditional investments.

[mercrocker]

Not sure but I have a feeling you are doing exactly the same sums and costings as me but still end up keeping them all.....It is fucking bonkers when you write it all down, though.

[Eddie Honda]

Rule 1: Never write down stuff
Rule 2: Never add up stuff

[panhard65]

I have the same thing at the moment as well. Mine don't really cost me much once done though. The hearse just eats money all the time and after spending at least £500 on it this month with new valves and exhaust manifold. Tuesday it is off for paintwork and another £300. It owes me so much money I will just have to keep it and I do actually enjoy driving it so it has to stay. The Renault 25 owes me shit loads more than it is worth again but has spent at least 2 months sat in the garage all taxed but just no call for using it. Then there is the Lancia again all pretty much sorted and just needs using. I just don't seem to have the time to use any of them at the moment. I really should try harder to sell the Lancia but as the money would only get sucked into the black hole that is the Jensen I don't really want to. I have done well though as it has been over a year since I last bought a classic and nothing is tempting me either.

[Asimo]

It drives me nuts when I have more than one motor on my hands. One is definitely enough for me. Having a yard full of broken shite would be a nightmare, I'd get the crusher in!

[PhilA]

As a rule, I don't tend to add up what the cars cost.

I keep the receipts, but that's about it; if I enjoy the car then it's worth the money. If I don't then it isn't.

That's about the end of where the man maths goes with me.

[SiC]

Not sure but I have a feeling you are doing exactly the same sums and costings as me but still end up keeping them all.....It is fucking bonkers when you write it all down, though.

The difference is that you probably get more use and enjoyment out of what you spend. I can't say I get £6k of enjoyment out of that.

Quick figures - Boxster + BGT + Spitfire + Dolomite @4k a piece = £16k. £5k p/a would roughly give a £16k loan.

£32k would buy something reasonably special and nice. Whether something like a Lotus Elan, Alfa GT Junior, 60s Mustang, early 70s Corvette or something modern like a Lotus Evora, Aston Martin Vantage or Audi R8. And would be saving money as that's paying off an asset rather than going into someone else's bank account to pay for their services.
While still having the Midget as a project to play with.

Or stick it into my mortgage and pay that off quicker. Reducing my long term stress in paying that behemoth off in preparation of reducing the kick in the balls we'll get when it comes to renewal.

Or stick it into stocks, bonds & investments and leave it to increase over many years to have a tidy lot of fun later on in life.

That's enough to get me to act.

[SiC]

I have the same thing at the moment as well. Mine don't really cost me much once done though.

Is that just because you've not added it up yet though?!

I have done well though as it has been over a year since I last bought a classic and nothing is tempting me either.

I've pretty much hit peak fleet for what I want. I kinda knew this would happen. I've planted the flag in my mind that I've done it, despite not all working cars. However across the working cars, they're not used much. So even if the others were done, the lot would be used even less.

My mental argument of "at least I can get my money back" doesn't hold either. I paid £4k for the Boxster in 2019. Probably worth about that now. Good right?
Working the inflation calculator in reverse...

Screenshot_20230727-141810.png (106.2 KiB) Viewed 292 times

Selling it for £4k isn't the same as buying it for £4k, as each £1 doesn't go as far today as it did back then. So I've still lost money on depreciation. Admittedly not a massive amount in the grand scheme of things but it weights up my argument in my mind that my money would be better used elsewhere.

[SiC]

It drives me nuts when I have more than one motor on my hands. One is definitely enough for me. Having a yard full of broken shite would be a nightmare, I'd get the crusher in!

I guess this is the other thing. Having so many cars and keeping them ship shape is a time hog. I could outsource the repair & servicing of them and I do to some degree, but that costs even more money. Then there is still the time needed to organise having it repaired and the hassle of moving it there/back.

[SiC]

As a rule, I don't tend to add up what the cars cost.

I keep the receipts, but that's about it; if I enjoy the car then it's worth the money. If I don't then it isn't.

That's about the end of where the man maths goes with me.

I'm not from Yorkshire but I probably an honorary Yorkshire man ...I hate spending money.
I can excuse it if I can get it back then it's technically loaning money. But to not get it back it's spending.

I've realised that what I've been loaning in my man maths is actually more like spending. Then I can't justify that continued spending as actually getting enjoyment from that expenditure. The logical next question is then why have I spent it?