Disposal of Arriva vehicles

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva St Helens Paint Shop & Repair Centre

(06/07/2020 19:28)iMarkeh Wrote:  Well, it kind of is stupid storing unusable assets for 12+ months. If you are using the bus as a donor, that's fine, makes sense.

Arriva chose to withdraw the buses when they did and it just takes up land space which could be used for other purposes whether Arriva related or it got sold for redevelopment.

First and Stagecoach get rid of withdrawn buses as well as many other bus operators. Arriva take it to the extreme though. NW&W has over 80 buses 'withdrawn'. The highest of any Arriva groups including London which has far more buses but still a lower amount of 'withdrawn' buses. Around 25 of the buses which are being stored were built in 2001 or later. How have these not reached scrap level yet. Elsewhere companies are making it work, it's clearly an Arriva issue.

Whether you get rid now or get rid in a year, you get the same amount of money and the bus hasn't earnt you a penny extra in revenue. Get rid, get it off the books and save on land.

Even after a bus is withdrawn from service it still has some residual book value - and depending on the vehicle's age and condition this will usually far exceed what Arriva would get from selling it to a scrap dealer immediately after the vehicle has been withdrawn. It makes far more sense to let the asset depreciate to a value where the company won't make an unnecessary loss - and anyway - what exactly would their disposal make space for?

Another example: I'm not sure on the exact value of my car but let's say for example it's £10k - if I were to sell it for £5k just so I could get rid of it quickly and buy a different car instead would lose me a lot of money

What's stupid is selling an asset - whatever condition it's in - for far less than it's actually worth