Mileage depreciation T6 Ocean

I currently run my T6 Ocean as the only family vehicle doing around around 14k miles a year. I am trying to figure out whether I should run another car and spend approx £150/month or just suck up the extra depreciation.

Has anyone been able calculate the rough depreciation per mile? We love the van and with constant driving it never misses a beat. Thank you in advance for any ideas.

My calcs are:
Purchase - £50k with 39k miles
Now - £43k with 54k miles

Therefore £500 for every 1k miles

I suppose you need to know what you depreciation would be if you halve your mileage to 7k. Would have thought running a second vehicle would be more costly with insurance, maintenance, tax and depreciation of that vehicle, unless you buy an older vehicle as a general run around.

For me the cali ticks all the boxes as my only vehicle, but my annual mileage will be less at around 10k per annum.

BristolCali said:

I currently run my T6 Ocean as the only family vehicle doing around around 14k miles a year. I am trying to figure out whether I should run another car and spend approx £150/month or just suck up the extra depreciation.

Has anyone been able calculate the rough depreciation per mile? We love the van and with constant driving it never misses a beat. Thank you in advance for any ideas.

My calcs are:
Purchase - £50k with 39k miles
Now - £43k with 54k miles

Therefore £500 for every 1k miles

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Nah, by that reckoning it would be worth zero at 100k miles!

I get where you’re coming from tho and would be very interested to see more informed and less flippant answers than mine…..

chockswahay said:

Nah, by that reckoning it would be worth zero at 100k miles!

I get where you’re coming from tho and would be very interested to see more informed and less flippant answers than mine…..

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Well now on 120,000 miles my California must be paying me now.

Depends where and when you get your valuation. I would think that if you had sold it a few months ago, you could have got at least 50k for it. Prices are going down currently but by next spring they could be up again. Who knows in the current climate. If you look at the cheapest vw calis on autotrader, the cheapest ones are more than your valuation and higher mileage.

WelshGas said:

Well now on 120,000 miles my California must be paying me now.

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Surely, you will be paying to get rid of it!! By the above reckoning, your Cali will be worth -£10,000 not paying you, ha ha!!!!

Using man maths you could justify getting another car if that’s what you really want!
I did when it looked like I was creeping up to 30k miles per year in our first van. I used the excuse to buy a fun car to keep a few miles off.

I think you would do well to buy and run any sort of reliable car for your £150 a month.

We used to just have Amarillo ~15,000 miles per year. It sat on our drive about 95% of the time.

We now have a small city car as well.

Now Amarillo sits on the drive 97.5% of the time so does the Skoda.

And 99.95% of the time at least one car is on the drive.

So the benefit is those few hours each year when we both need to drive in different directions.

El Greco said:

Surely, you will be paying to get rid of it!! By the above reckoning, your Cali will be worth -£10,000 not paying you, ha ha!!!!

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I’m waiting for something significantly updated to come along and I’m afraid the T6/6.1 are not that much different.
Motorway valued it at £27,920 with 118,000 miles. Only paid £52,000 for it new.

i went through exactly this problem as i commute to sheffield and back for work which is around 65 miles / shift. i bought an old BMW diesel for 4.5k 3 years ago. it's not just the mileage, its also the extra stone chips, dings, tyre wear etc. my vans now mainly used for camping only doing around 5000 miles / year in the van and about the same in the car. i keep the van in my garage and just park the car on the drive. a 2nd car is worth it in my opinion. also if parking at airports or just going to a hotel, shopping etc, i take the car. the diesel bmw is cheap to run too

An older 2nd car from the time that low emission cars were only £20 per year VED and also can be cheap to insure might swing your decision somewhat.
Pre March 2017.
Depreciation on them has also pretty much levelled off.

That seems to makes sense if you can buy a second vehicle that won’t depreciate too heavily and is cheap to run. We run a small second car alongside the T6 which is £30 to tax and does 50 mpg, it still needs tyres and maintenance.

It seems to be a reasonable option but without doing a spreadsheet and working out the actual depreciation of the T6 if we used it as the sole vehicle with the added maintenance, tyres etc and comparing it to running two vehicles and the increased value of a lower mileage T6 it’s hard to say with any accuracy.

It’s also convenient to have two vehicles for us even though we are retired, we often have social engagements or other reasons to run around separately.

Bruce Alldritt said:

That seems to makes sense if you can buy a second vehicle that won’t depreciate too heavily and is cheap to run. We run a small second car alongside the T6 which is £30 to tax and does 50 mpg, it still needs tyres and maintenance.

It seems to be a reasonable option but without doing a spreadsheet and working out the actual depreciation of the T6 if we used it as the sole vehicle with the added maintenance, tyres etc and comparing it to running two vehicles and the increased value of a lower mileage T6 it’s hard to say with any accuracy.

It’s also convenient to have two vehicles for us even though we are retired, we often have social engagements or other reasons to run around separately.

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We’re similar to you, our aging Peugeot 107 just refuses to die so until it does we will as likely use it for running around the block.

However……….. the Cali is just SO MUCH NICER in every way that it’s difficult to get excited about spending too much time on the little car!

I find I spend too much time worrying about it all………. then I realise that life is just too bloody short…… jump in the van……. turn the key……. and grin like a Cheshire Cat all the way to wherever we’re going

chockswahay said:

We’re similar to you, our aging Peugeot 107 just refuses to die so until it does we will as likely use it for running around the block.

However……….. the Cali is just SO MUCH NICER in every way that it’s difficult to get excited about spending too much time on the little car!

I find I spend too much time worrying about it all………. then I realise that life is just too bloody short…… jump in the van……. turn the key……. and grin like a Cheshire Cat all the way to wherever we’re going

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Is that the 1.5d version? Will go forever that

flying banana said:

Is that the 1.5d version? Will go forever that

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Nah, it’s the Toyota engined 1.0 3 pot petrol. It has ran like a dream for 115000 miles but big hole appearing on the Cat/manifold area which now has more filler than metal holding it together

Vehicles don’t depreciate on a straight line basis so it’s not as straight forward as £500/1,000 miles. Age plays a part too, and it’s much steeper in the first 2 years or so. However, current market conditions are playing havoc with vehicle values which makes it even more difficult to predict future values based on age and mileage. You’ll need to add in all the elements of TCO (total cost of ownership) too and do two calculations based on two mileage profiles. Personally we run a 2011 Fiat 500 Twin Air (really fun to drive) as a second runaround car that we bought for £2,250 just over a year ago and it’s still worth the same today so we bought it at the bottom of its depreciation curve. Although the Mrs only does about 6-7k miles per year. Only had to replace an aux belt, an oil service and MOT in the 14 months we’ve had it. But we did buy that for Mrs G whilst we waited for the Cali to be delivered and the intention was to sell it once we got the Cali but we decided to keep it to keep all the heavy wear & tear shorter journeys off the Cali, especially to protect the DPF from getting clogged up. And the Fiat gets used for all the messy jobs too like tip runs etc. I think running just one car will certainly cost less in TCO than running two, but it really depends how convenient you’d find having a second car. And, perhaps importantly, if you have the Cali on a PCP agreement with VWFS with a GFV and mileage restriction.

£36k in 2006 new, 161000 miles. Was offered £25000 for it in September but I refused the offer, will keep it and use it .

My user name reflects my own struggle with this topic! It made sense to me to have a cheap car when I ran a T4 westfalia exclusive (still a Cali) with high roof, long wheelbase and heavy to drive, but the sums changed with a T5 pop top..... Although I'm always still looking at small cheap cars and wondering.
You may find if you buy a separate car, the Cali will get used just for camping.... And there are more comfortable (bigger) vans for camping in, as many here have found recently (certainly with a loo, possibly fixed bed, no canvas pop top in the bad weather etc.

We have always had two cars. Living in the country with poor public transport links has always made that a necessity, not a luxury. However, I have never really wanted to rack up unnecessary mileage on our expensive Cali. Not only is there the accelerated depreciation issue to consider but short trips aren't good, as they tend to clog the DPF. There's the increased servicing costs to factor in as well. Consequently, we mainly use it for longer trips, picnics, days out, camping breaks and seven seater family use, e.g airport runs. Most of the short day to day run arounds fell to my wife's car, a Skoda Superb Estate.

Things took a different turn during the covid lock down when my father passed away after having caught it in hospital! He had been admitted with a fractured hip following a fall at home! Rather than sell his old 2005 Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDi diesel, we decided to keep it as a family hack/pool car. This car cost us nothing, and can be taxed, insured and MOT'd for around £300 pa. It constantly returns 60+ mpg and parts are ridiculously cheap. We can leave it anywhere and lend it to family members without worrying if it's going to get damaged. It's constantly in use and is a delight to drive.

This meant that my wife's Skoda Superb wasn't getting much use. Also, as it had started to hint at developing several potentially expensive issues, we took the opportunity to off load it onto WBAC pdq before we had to start paying out. That presented us with the opportunity to replace it with a fun car. (We still needed a number two car as my dad's old Fabia is often away being used by our kids). We didn't want a classic car as it wasn't going to be garaged and I didn't fancy the DIY maintenance that that option would have required. Being old, bald and nearly past it, I naturally fancied a convertible. Never owned one! We looked at various alternatives but settled on this Mercedes E Class Cabriolet, as it's a proper four seater which should prove more useful than a two seater and therefore be a little less self indulgent.

Like our Cali this car doesn't get used much for day to day work. Instead we use it mainly for long distance trips and days out with the top down. Just like the Cali, it too gives us a glorious sense of freedom and well being. It's not a sports car but a proper four seater wafting barge, ideally suited for cruising through our glorious British countryside.

We couldn't and wouldn't have considered buying this car if it wasn't for having a cheap inexpensive alternative to do all the donkey work at home.

Borris said:

We have always had two cars. Living in the country with poor public transport links has always made that a necessity not a luxury. However I have never really wanted rack up unnecessary mileage on our expensive Cali. Not only is there the accelerated depreciation issue to consider but short trips aren't good as they tend to clog the DPF, and then there's the increased servicing costs as well. Consequently we mainly use it for longer trips, picnics, days out, camping breaks and seven seater family use, e.g airport runs. Most of the short day to day run arounds fell to my wife's car, a Skoda Superb Estate.

Things took a different turn during the covid lock down when my father passed away after having caught it in hospital, having been admitted following a fall at home. Rather than sell his old 2005 Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDi diesel, we decided to keep it as a family hack/pool car. This car cost us nothing, and can be taxed, insured and MOT'd for around £300 pa. It constantly returns 60+ mpg and parts are ridiculously cheap. We can leave it anywhere and lend it to family members without worrying if it's going to get damaged. It's constantly in use and is a delight to drive.

This meant that my wife's Skoda Superb wasn't getting much use. Also as it had started to hint at developing several potentially expensive issues, we took the opportunity to off load it onto WBAC pdq before we had to start paying out. That presented us with the opportunity replace it with a fun car. (We still needed a number two car as my dad's old Fabia is often away being used by our kids). We didn't want a classic car as it wasn't going to be garaged and I didn't fancy the DIY maintenance that that option would have required. Being old, bald and nearly past it, I fancied a convertible. Never owned one. We looked at various alternatives but settled on this Mercedes E Class Cabriolet, as it's a proper four seater which should prove more useful and a little less self indulgent.
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Like our Cali this car doesn't get used much for day to day work. Instead we use it mainly for long distance trips and days out with the top down. Just like the Cali it too give you a glorious sense of freedom and well being. It's not a sports car but a proper four seater wafting barge, ideally suited for cruising through our glorious British countryside.

We couldn't and wouldn't have considered buying this car if it wasn't for having a cheap inexpensive alternative to do all the donkey work at home.

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You only live once, enjoy!

We have a little Up …. Cheap and cheerful and 7 years old now. We use that for most short trips. Try keepki

img diesel for longer journeys