Taxi No Brainer

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 22:14
Taxi No Brainer - BobbyG
Noticed the other day that one of my neighbours, who drives a private hire car, has got rid of his diesel Octavia and bought a Kia Magentis as per

www.kia.co.uk/magentishome.asp

I must ask him the question - why? And then I will ask him again - why?

Any taxi drivers out there that could shed any light on this decision? I am looking at the fact that it is petrol, and I think auto, and wondering what sort of fuel consumption he is going to get with that about town?

I really need to ask him .....
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 22:20
Taxi No Brainer - Altea Ego
Perhaps the car smells so evil inside from new he cant smell the saturday night vomit?
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 23:15
Taxi No Brainer - DavidHM
Is it possible to convert it to LPG?

The other thing is that not all taxis cover very big mileages; there's one knocking around that only does 15k miles a year as the driver is semi-retired.

Admittedly it's a Cav with 300k on the clock and so is worth 20p, but given that a Magentis is about £2k cheaper than the Octavia it might actually be just as cheap in the long term.
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Mon 10 Oct 2005 23:27
Taxi No Brainer - horatio
If he has any sense he will convert it to LPG then it will beat an Octavia for miles per pound.
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Tue 11 Oct 2005 02:17
Taxi No Brainer - Blue {P}
I'd hazard a guess he went for it due to low purchase price, seeing as whatever he buys will be worth buttons when he parts with it, depreciation won't be his biggest worry.

The fuel consumption won't be great, but I'll bet it's not too bad a car to drive, probably not very precise handling, but more than likely it will be a comfortable car to spend all day long in.

Just a guess though!

Blue
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Tue 11 Oct 2005 07:49
Taxi No Brainer - Sprice
Perhaps he wanted to be the only taxi driver in the UK without an Octavia diesel?
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Tue 11 Oct 2005 08:34
Taxi No Brainer - NowWheels
Perhaps he wanted to be the only taxi driver in the
UK without an Octavia diesel?


the taxis around my way are all japanese -- mostly Toyota, a few Honda and the occasional Nissan. Not a Skoda in sight
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Tue 11 Oct 2005 23:29
Taxi No Brainer - Tomo
"would make a fantastic taxi with unlimited mileage 3 year warranty."

Source HJ! (see car by car.)
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Tue 11 Oct 2005 23:35
Taxi No Brainer - AlastairW
But I bet the unlimited mileage warranty excludes use as a taxi...
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Sun 16 Oct 2005 18:49
Taxi No Brainer - BobbyG
I had to solve my curiosity so whilst washing the cars today I asked my neighbour about his change of car.

He had an accident last year when he hit a drunk pedestrian who fell onto the road in front of him and he had a major claim on his insurance to repair the car.

The cheapest insurance he could get at renewal was £3900 per annum for his Skoda. Thats £75 a week just on insurance alone.

So he has got rid of his skoda ( I guess just handed back to finance company) and he "rents" the Kia for £120 a week, all inclusive. Fuel is a killer but overall its working out cheaper for him, although I think it is a short term arrangement as he wants out the taxi game altogether.

Apparently the owner of the Kia rents it out to my neighbour and another guy, who basically run it night and day, and they both pay him £120 a week each. So he gets a grand a month for sitting on his backside and arranging the insurance and servicing!

(My neighbour did 240 miles in it last night and it cost him £44 to fill it up! I reckon thats about 22-24 mpg! Ouch!
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Sun 16 Oct 2005 18:53
Taxi No Brainer - codefarm
>>>Apparently the owner of the Kia rents it out to my neighbour and another guy, who basically run it night and day, and they both pay him £120 a week each. So he gets a grand a month for sitting on his backside and arranging the insurance and servicing!<<<

Seems like a good way to make money! Wonder what the disadvantages are?
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Sun 16 Oct 2005 18:58
Taxi No Brainer - mare
Apparently the owner of the Kia rents it out to my
neighbour and another guy, who basically run it night and day,
and they both pay him £120 a week each. So he
gets a grand a month for sitting on his backside and
arranging the insurance and servicing!


Cabbie Friend of mine does a similar thing, he drives a Galaxy in the car, a mate drives it at night and also he rents a Omega (for the plate) and rents it out to two drivers, night and day again. So that's two cars, total of four drivers (including himself) and he gets a cut of the other guys' earnings!
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Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.

Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.

Real MPG