Well happy New Year..!
I thought that I would kick of the New Year with a little bit of investigative journalism by looking at the cost of my motoring last year in 2025, (January 2025 to December 2025), and this will serve as a base line for future comparisons.
Items Excluded
In order to make year by year comparisons fair, what is not included is petrol or diesel costs, nor car parking, fines or ULEZ fees, as this depends on the number of miles travelled and where you went. For example, in travelling to London, car parking would be way more expensive than travelling to say Birmingham.
I checked all the usual places, bank statements, third party portals, eBay purchases, etc., etc., and I came up with a total figure of £4,713, or the equivalent of £392 per month for the whole fleet, not just one vehicle. This is broken down as follows…
Maintenance
I spent £1,860 on maintaining the fleet of vehicles and trailers. Most of this is on servicing, tyres, and the remainder on restoration materials or preventative preservation.
MOTs
Only one car, “Oskar” was presented for an MOT during the year, and this cost £55.
Road Tax
Only “Oskar” was on the road causing road tax to be paid to the Government. There was a price increase from 1st April, so the split worked out that I paid £317 in total during the year.
Insurance
Interestingly, Sainsbury’s Bank car insurance reduced my fully comprehensive business car insurance from £320 in 2024, to only £278 in 2025. I was on maximum no claims protected for both years. This meant I was paying more in road tax for “Oskar” than in insurance during 2025. The caravan insurance for “Colin” was only £72 bring the total insurance paid for the year to be only £350 as “Bluebelle” wasn’t insured until 2026.
Finance
Zero. All vehicles are fully owned by myself, none have any finance agreement on them, and the annual insurances are also paid in full as well.
Vehicle Storage
Both “Colin” the caravan and “Trailer Swift” the car transporter trailer incur storage fees, and in total £610 was paid out. “Daisy” is kindly kept by my mum for free at her house along with “Lippy”.
Other Costs
Other one off costs were £21 to the CRIS, the caravan registration, and a whopping £1,500 in specialist tools, or replacement tools as some had worn out in the workshop. I see this £1,500 as a cost perhaps spread over a number of years depending on the tool, perhaps a provision of £150 for 2025.
Conclusion
Since this total cost was for a whole fleet of vehicles being maintained and being restored, this is cheap motoring. It pays to have your own little workshop and some tools in order to do some of the work yourself, especially if you enjoy driving an older classic vehicle like I do.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist”