What's A Fare Price For An Ex-taxi?
The Age
Saturday April 27, 2002
PICTURE Michael enjoying his newly-acquired '95 Falcon EF wagon on a street in Brisbane a couple of weekends ago. And then...
"I was doing a U-turn and this guy came running down the road with his hand up and he could not work out why I was not responding to him. I just ignored him thinking he was waving to somebody else," Michael said.'
"He kept trying to get my attention. Waving me over to the kerb. And I was thinking: I am not going over there!
"Even after I drove off, he was still looking at me trying to work out, ``why didn't that taxi come over'?"
Michael was driving his new ex-taxi still in the company's orange paint.
"It didn't have the lights or the stickers or anything. But he was a little bit p----- off," Michael said.
"I don't know when or if I will ever go back to a conventional car.
Michael is delighted with his 1995 dual fuel Falcon, for which he paid the asking price, just $4700.
"This is the sort of motoring I like to do, with a car I don't have to worry about being stolen or damaged because it did not cost me much.
"I don't have to spend a fortune on comprehensive insurance, and it is a nice model.
"It has got airbags, all the mod cons you find on the later model cars and it hardly cost me anything. Cost me the same as people running round in 12 year-old cars!"
Michael, a Melbourne engineer who helps design aircraft and ships, was keen to withhold his surname and stay out of a me-and-my-car picture.
"I don't want to advertise in Melbourne that I am such a cheapskate that I won't pay full price for a car!" he laughed.
Yet as an engineer he was proud to ring and report his adventures and his new worry-free lifestyle, having found a good body, 120,000 kilometre engine and factory reconditioned automatic transmission in an EF Falcon for $4700.
He couldn't find a private EF on dual fuel in Brisbane for under $10,000.
Any bits that that had worn out, including the cloth seats, engine, transmission, power steering pump, dual fuel gas regulator and differential had been replaced.
The body, which has been over the Department of Transport pit every six months of taxi service, has no evidence of a major collision or metal fatigue.
But what about the emotional baggage an ex-taxi brings? He found it depends on the original luxury level and the condition of the car.
"Some of the cars I drove were really sort of sad," he said, ``especially the company cars sold from large fleets owned by depots.
"It is just another piece of machinery to these guys that are selling it and they don't have any personal connection to it."
The fleet managers he spoke to were generally not prepared to take the time to go back and search files for the history of component replacement.
Michael's experience so far has proved he got a good one. Indistinguishable to drive from a private car. Blue paint over the orange, cloth seats (replaced by the vendor) and air-conditioning.
Specific shortfalls:
• Occasionally the wipers would not work. Cause: the heavier weight of Michael's keys pulled down on the lock and affected a worn switch.
• Orange exterior. $500 will get it back to blue, which will match the inside and underbonnet and boot.
• Missing knob off the radio.
• The ceiling lining has a bit of a droop in it.
• Some of the interior trim is a bit loose. Needs to be re-fitted.
• Missing the interior overhead assist handles. $5 for two at the wreckers.
• Scratches inside the tailgate where luggage has banged around against it.
• Interior dirty. Needs an afternoon with a vacuum cleaner and a bucket of soapy water.
• About once a month, when locking by remote radio key the door lock snibs go up and down repeatedly until the ignition is turned on. Problem not solved.
The other source of taxis is from a large fleet.
Every case history, from small company or large is going to be unique because every ex-cab has high kilometres, the chance of having had minor or major collision repairs, and varying components replaced or due for replacement at some time.
But while Michael's experience with large fleets in Queensland was negative, there is a case for a cab maintained by a company with more resources, rigid service schedules and the ability of the big fleet buyer to insist that a dealer solve an expensive problem.
A large Melbourne taxi depot, Eastmoor, with 74 cabs, put our call straight through the senior mechanic, Luke.
Eastmoor buys its cars brand new, in yellow (all taxis had to be after September 1997) and in taxi-pack form, with roof wiring for lamps, vinyl seats and rubber floor.
Everything else is exactly the same as a normal car. The current vehicle is the Falcon Forte with automatic, air-conditioning, power windows and CD player.
While you can operate a car as a taxi for 61/2 years in Victoria (six in Queensland) they change theirs at four years to keep the fleet modern.
Eastmoor quotes an average of 130,000 kilometres a year, or 600,000 to 700,000 for an ex-taxi.
Q: Would you tell buyers what replacement parts you had put into the car?
A: If they ask, sure. We have dates, kilometres, everything.
Q: Have they had an engine by that time?
A: Depends on the vehicle. Yes and no.
Q: They run hot a lot of the time so the wear rate is very low?
A: They do. That's correct. Most of their cabs run two shifts, Wednesday through Saturday.
Q: The cars are well maintained?
A: Yes they are. We service them every 15,000 kilometres, which is about once a month.
Q: When you have retired the car. Where do the buyers come from?
A: We put ads in the paper. We have currently got an EL for sale for $4000 with a roadworthy certificate.
Q: Dashboard. Meter? Two-way radio?
A: It is just double-sided tape. And you just rub it off. You can clean them right up. On some of the Falcons they have got a hole where the meter used to be but that is about it.
Q: So we have a well maintained car about 41/2 years old?
A: They have had automatics and cylinder heads along the way.
Q: In a car life of 600,000, as a buyer you are taking your chances on what sort of accidents the car has had?
A: Yep you are. But if a car is off the road it is not making money. So all the parts we use are all genuine parts.
Did you buy a taxi? How did you do? Would you let me know on scoop1@optushom
© 2002 The Age
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