Owning multiple cars. How do you deal with it.

[90Notch]

Ok I've owned multiple cars in the past and present. The most at any one time was 4 and it was sort of a pain. Moving the cars to get to another, paying the insurance/registration, buying different grade oil and different filters, different parts etc...

For me having the 2 cars is fine but I soo miss driving manual. This is the first time where both my cars are auto because in the past I had at least on MT car. So for those of you that have multiple vehicles, say 3 or more, are you fine with it? Wish you had only 2? wish you had more?

I'm at a point where I'd like to get a manual but don't really feel like selling the cars I own now. IF I did it would be something relatively inexpensive(really missed my first manual '95 GSR, such a fun ride).

Any comments is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Nick R]

My family owns 4 vehicles at the moment. the expedtion, jeep, mustang, and my focus. 2/4 are paid off, and I'm paying for the Focus. We have a decent size driveway that allows us some breathing room. Jeep doesn't get driven much, it's parked on teh right, in the garage. I park behind it in the driveway, and the truck get's parked at the end, behind me.

The mustang get's parked in the garage on the right, we all can maneuver out and around well enough.

It's nice to have an extra vehicle, in case something happens to one of them. (For example, the transmission in the jeep, or fuel pump on the truck, or whatever, since we have 3 people that need to commute to completely different areas.

 

[stephen9666]

My GF and I have 3 vehicles. It can be a pain, but at least our driveway is double wide.

I park the Hyundai in the garage. My Nissan isn't driven very much now, so it sits in the driveway, but not blocking my entrance to the garage. My GF parks her beetle behind the Nissan.

As far as registration/insurance, I'll pay it to have a 3rd vehicle. I have a job that is 25 miles away and I can't miss work. I'm always paranoid about one of the cars breaking down an not being able to get to work. Having 3 cars mean 2 will always be drivable.

 

[90Notch]

I definitely agree with having the extra vehicle in case something happens to the other which is why I'll probably have at least 2 until I can no longer drive. My situation is that I'm the only driver and go through cars quite a bit, it's like a sickness (LOL) or maybe a hobby?

If I get a 3rd car and it's fun to drive, I'll probably end up driving it most of the time and neglect the other 2. I'm sure there are those that run into a similar situation. Hmmmm.......

 

[opus1]

The Ranger is currently parked at my remote parking facility (ie, Mom's garage).

The rest of the fleet is at my place. I have a 2-car garage and driveway, the Cobalt is and always will be garaged. The Dakota and Sonata swap garage time depending on which one is my DD, which sits outside. Currently that's the Sonata. Soon I'll switch over and the Dakota becomes the DD so it'll sit outside until November or so. All I have to do is remember which car in the garage I plan to drive and make sure I don't park behind it in the driveway and I'm all set.

Adding to the multiple car sentiment, as long as I can afford it, I plan on having at least 2 at all times. I'm on my own and 3 miles or so from the nearest bus, which only runs during rush hours on week days to get to the train station.

 

[meangreen01]

You gotta have a larger area to park 'em(driveway, garage, field, etc.), otherwise it does become a pain playing musical cars.

As far as paying for them, I guess you either can or you can't. Same reason why some poor people have no car and some rich people have dozens.

 

[onebigunion]

Having an extra vehicle is a luxury that costs at least some money, but its one that is nice to have. Having a "beater" is great for those fishing trips or a trip into the city where you might have to park in a narrow garage space or (even worse) use a "valet". Great if you need to drive in the snow too - make the beater do that duty. I finally have this luxury again after a number of years of not. The 300 or so in insurance and registration and a little extra maintenance cost is worth it to me. Have a big square driveway and garage that help a lot, otherwise all the moving around can wreck the experience.

 

[90Notch]

Originally Posted By: onebigunion
Having an extra vehicle is a luxury that costs at least some money, but its one that is nice to have. Having a "beater" is great for those fishing trips or a trip into the city where you might have to park in a narrow garage space or (even worse) use a "valet". Great if you need to drive in the snow too - make the beater do that duty. I finally have this luxury again after a number of years of not. The 300 or so in insurance and registration and a little extra maintenance cost is worth it to me. Have a big square driveway and garage that help a lot, otherwise all the moving around can wreck the experience.


Well, the thing is I have a one car garage but I can park up to 2 additional cars behind the garage door in tandem and I have another space to the left where I can park one more. The space isn't an issue, it's more so the "musical chair" playing that a previous poster said and the fact that I may start neglecting cars.

I'm wondering if I leave a car a week without driving it, will it be an issue with all the oil draining into the pan at start-up.

 

[onebigunion]

Originally Posted By: 90Notch
Originally Posted By: onebigunion
Having an extra vehicle is a luxury that costs at least some money, but its one that is nice to have. Having a "beater" is great for those fishing trips or a trip into the city where you might have to park in a narrow garage space or (even worse) use a "valet". Great if you need to drive in the snow too - make the beater do that duty. I finally have this luxury again after a number of years of not. The 300 or so in insurance and registration and a little extra maintenance cost is worth it to me. Have a big square driveway and garage that help a lot, otherwise all the moving around can wreck the experience.


Well, the thing is I have a one car garage but I can park up to 2 additional cars behind the garage door in tandem and I have another space to the left where I can park one more. The space isn't an issue, it's more so the "musical chair" playing that a previous poster said and the fact that I may start neglecting cars.

I'm wondering if I leave a car a week without driving it, will it be an issue with all the oil draining into the pan at start-up.


I've been running my "extra" about once every two weeks for about a 50 mile round trip. It seems to not suffer any from the down time that I can tell. No unusual noises, etc. But the weather is nice now. Once a week I think you'll be just fine.

Once you get into a routine, I bet you'll be able to find a way to manage things without so much musical chairs.

 

[rationull]

Between my wife and I we have 3 vehicles. We each have a decent, reliable, fuel efficient daily driver, and then we have a truck (actually a Suburban). I think it works out pretty well. We actually have garage space for all three, and I really like being able to park then independently of each other. I'd be a bit turned off by having to play musical cars but it wouldn't be that bad in my case I don't think, given the truck doesn't get driven much. We have it primarily for towing a horse trailer, but it's handy when we have guests (last weekend we did a beach hotdog cookout and we had it filled with 7 people, two dogs, and a bunch of stuff). Given it provides that kind of utility, I'm glad we have it as a third vehicle.

BUT, I don't think I'd want any other third vehicle. Also, if either my wife or I lived close enough to work that we could walk or bike most of the time, I think I'd rather just have two vehicles, one of them being a newer, reliable truck. As long as the wife wanted to drive the truck

Both of our daily driver cars are stick shift so that specifically isn't a problem for us. At this point I would not be happy with a daily driver that had an automatic transmission, but I do like having both in the fleet. Another reason I like our setup now since the wife likes to drive an MT too.

One thing I've been thinking about is getting a little faster, more fun car for myself. I know if I were going to actually do that I'd replace my DD with it, because I definitely don't want to deal with 4 cars. 3 is enough

If I were you I think I'd want to sell one of the AT cars and get an MT rather than get an additional vehicle.

 

[CivicFan]

It's a financially painful situation. I sometimes wonder whether I should sell my Civic (the winter car) and make my Z4 a year-around vehicle. It's probably a doable task if I put winter tires on it.

 

[Astro14]

If you amortize the vehicles over the drivers, we have 1 per driver plus a spare (4Runner) and a hobby car (I'll give you one guess)...

It is expensive to keep up on so much maintenance, not to mention insurance, but we have no car loans...they're paid for. Depreciation, not to mention interest, begins to eat you alive when you get multiple vehicles.

I am not including the Dodge that my stepson drives, his father gave him that and covers the operating costs....That would bring us to 7...

Still, even with all the expense, there are a few hobby cars I would love - a nice 60s muscle car, a Mercedes convertible, Boxster, vintage Ferrari...oh, and a 3/4 pick-up...there are so many choices...and I would welcome adding just one more to the stable!

 

[daves87rs]

I can park mine nearly anywhere (Apartment living until next year)
ample parking spots, and the one that gets the least use gets to spend time under the carport.

I enjoy cars in general, so more is never a bad thing....

 

[Stu_Rock]

We have four vehicles in our household of two people, and three are mine. There are two driveway spaces in line at our house, so we do have to shuffle occasionally. It's not that big of a deal; I think about what trips are coming in the next week and then I park one car in front of the vehicle I won't need. There are two or three (depending on how tightly we squeeze) spaces on the street, so that means that at least three cars are able to get under way at any time.

No one gives me any trouble about it since most households on my street are the same way. The car-to-person ratio is well over 2.0, which is very unusual for this region. During July 2008, we had five vehicles in the household, and my neighbors each had one additional car as well. That was a squeeze!

As far as maintenance, the funny part is that the two of us only rack up about 9000 mi/yr combined, so there's not much maintenance to do. Restocking the lubricant shelves does take a little extra thought. I try to find as many cross-vehicle applications as possible (ATF+4 for all the non-Honda power steering, for example).

The costs are not too bad. Registration fees for the Dodge van are high, but are absurdly low for the Peugeot 505. For insurance, my Buick is the primary car; the van and the 505 are $150/yr and $190/yr additional for liability coverage, respectively.

I enjoy the vehicles I have. I would even add another if a good deal turns up. It's nice to have variety, as well as having a backup in case one doesn't run. In fact, the 505 has been in the driveway spot for three weeks now as I work on rebuilding various parts of it.

 

[TallPaul]

Quote:
This usually means an SUV to handle the occassional times they need a large vehicle, and precludes them from buying an electric vehicle because of the few times they need to drive more than their daily commute during the day.

Well I suppose the insurance company prefers you drive the big SUV as you are less likely to have huge medical claims from an accident (assuming larger vehicle is more protective).

 

[JosephHarmon]

We're barely making it at $60 a tank. The car we make payments on cost $16 a day whether we drive it or not. Our new 27/34 mpg car we bought is not helping our economy.

Folks need to educate themselves of the REALITY of the current transportation situation.

What will ACTUALLY be a feasible mode of travel without giving up the farm?

 

[440Magnum]

I own 7 vehicles at the moment (well, wife drives one and daughter another), plus I maintain 2 others for my elderly mother. Doesn't bother me a bit, but I'm definitely a fan of MINIMUM 6k oil changes!

I don't "stash" large quantities of maintenance items(*) either, so getting the correct oils doesn't bother me. I have cut down on the filter diversity by running PL30001s on both Jeeps and a Durango in addition to my old Mopars which use the same filter. The PT and the 08 Ram are the only oddities there.

At the moment 2 of my cars (a 49 Plymouth and a '73 Plymouth) are in long-term dry storage, so that also cuts down on things. But everytime I check on them I get the itch to do something with them- build a hotrod or retro-rod out of the '49, and put a modern Hemi / NAG-1 driveline in the '73 for example. But neither option is practical right now, and storing them costs exactly nothing.

* I don't stash maintenance items, but I'm ashamed of the the attics (yes, plural) full of Mopar B/RB v8 parts and roughly 1965-1975 miscellaneous Mopar junk I've got. Oh, and then there are the short-blocks and complete engines... :-/

 

[90Notch]

I was thinking about getting something cheap to toy around with like a 911 Turbo or Audi RS4. I'm not sure if either one of those are as fun to drive as my currents rides though.

LOL, all kidding aside. Being just the sole driver, I guess I am ok with the 2 cars but there's always something else I want that's fun to drive.

The car I'd most likely sell is my pathfinder but I've only owned it for a year and have done practically all necessary maintenance:

-(2) Oil changes since I only put about 6000 miles a year (2nd car)
-Spark plugs, rotor, cap (wires still looked good and I don't have any issues so I left them in)
-Changed the transmission fluid and filter
-Changed the differential fluid
-Flushed the brake system with fresh synthetic DOT3 fluid
-Air Filter
-Lubricated the driveshaft
-Lubricated the spare tire chain link
-replaced passenger side window switch
-replaced the power steering fluid
-replaced the fuel filter
-installed cabin filter (didn't come with car)
-recharged the A/C system
-flushed the cooling system
-replaced PCV valve
-shampooed the interior carpet (pulled the seats out)
-waxed/clay bar

Timing belt was replaced by the previous owner(original) at 75,000 miles so I think I'm good for awhile
-inspected the drivebelts and they still look pretty good on both sides, tension good, no squealing
-inspected front and rear brakes and bad/shoe thickness is still good.

With all that work I put into it I'd hate to see it go to waste.

 

[Shannow]

We've got 2 on the road (E30 to be parted out in the back yard probably).

It would probably be cheaper to only have one and use a taxi for the times when I'm at work and it's raining during shopping/child drop off at activities ($600 per for rego, $600 per for insurance).

But with the nearest family entertainment (bowling, movies, museums etc.) being 40 miles away, and the big smoke nearly 100, we like the "security" of having two fully functioning family cars (which the E30 certainly wasn't, about as useful as a moped for family duties.).

 

[Pop_Rivit]

My wife and I own 3 that are driven on a regular basis.

We live in a rural area on a large property so parking isn't a problem. My wife's Outback and my Elantra park in the attached garage, the pickup is usually parked out in the shop building or somewhere between the shop and the house.

We haven't had car payments since the early 1970's, even though we've purchased both new and used cars since then.

Insurance is about $1000/year for all 3 vehicles. We both have been accident (non-chargeable) and ticket free for 40 years or so, plus we don't carry collision after a car is about 4 or 5 years old.

With very few exceptions we keep a car until it's pretty well worn out, so we get our moneys worth even on new car purchases.

Each one of our vehicles was purchased for a specific reason-the Outback gets my wife home from the office even in the worst of snow storms and it has plenty of room to pack it up with supplies when we go to the lake house. The Elantra is my "cheap" transportation to town, the grocery store, to the winery and on occasion to a client site. The pickup is used almost exclusively for working, hauling my tractors to shows, or on the rare occasion I need to get out when there is significant snow on the ground.