How much are taxi worth?

wazza

Brother in law has a vw passat 130hp tdi sport on a 02 plate with 95k on the clock. He has had it for approx 8 months. He has an eye on an audi and wants to sell the vw. He is asking £4500 for it. He keeps it in good condition and regularly services it.

He took it to a garage which had the audi. The garage offered aroung £4500 but when they found it is a taxi they valued it at £3500. Don't know if the garage were taking the mickey. They said they have to legally inform the buyer that it was once a taxi.

I know that taxi tend to lead a hard life but some owners keep it in tip top
condition to keep it on the road and also as a requirement from their operator.


how much do you reckon it is worth? Mot is till end of this year

aj3001

Try taking it to another garage and see if they do the same!

I personally wouldn't buy an ex-taxi, so by losing some of the market it will lose some of its value

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

If its still a taxi then it won't have an MOT. All it will have is the council test which is completely different. It will need a normal MOT test certificate. Irrelevant of whether it is kept in tip top condition, it's a taxi. Several of my mates are taxi drivers and I know how much they welly their car from A to B.

Roger_Rampant

A lot of high-mileage cars have done mainly motorway mileage and have only had one person sitting in them, whereas most taxis mainly drive around a town. The seats suffer a lot more abuse, and so do the tyres/suspension. An ex-taxi is definitely worth significantly less, so I don't think they're taking the mickey, personally

wazza

yep i am aware taxis are normally trashed/raced etc but i am familiar about the passat and the work that has been done to it etc. Thinking that if i can get it dirt cheap it will suit me as i only do 6k miles a year.

Roger_Rampant

That would be an excellent solution, then in 3 years you could probably sell it with it having cost you very little, as it will appear to have "normal" mileage by then

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

I forgot to say, what you need to bear in mind is the council test to get a car its plates to become a taxi is a lot more stringent than the standard MOT test.

wazza

thanks i am aware of that. Also they will not pass the car if there are deep scratches/dents on the bodywork.

vansboy

The fact that it HAS been a taxi/hackney carriage at some time during it's life WILL show up, when anyone (future purchaser) does a check on it's history.

This will have the £$£$£ reduced, for the reasons mentioned earlier. Although you are at ana dvantage now, by knowing who has used it - some cabs are lots different drivers & run day & night, so suffer harder wear. Yours might be that much better though!

VB