Regency Travel: Prices of Vehicles

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The Price of a new Two Wheel One Horse Chaise Dennett Tilbury Stanhope & c is from 40 to 90 Of a Cabriolet from 100 to 130 Of a Four Wheel One Horse Chaise with head to it from 100 to 150

EXPENSE OF KEEPING A COACHMAN AND A CAR RIAGE AND TWO HORSES IN YOUR OWN COACH HOUSE AND STABLE s d A Peck of Oats per Day for each Horse when Corn is 25s per Quarter say 24 Quarters per Annum A Quarter of a Truss of Hay for each Horse per Day at 5 per Load say 5 Loads per Annum One Truss of Straw each Horse per week say three Loads per Annum at 36s Beans which are only wanted when Horses are worked very hard and Physic which ex cepting the Persuader prescribed see In dex is as little wanted by a Horse as it is 30 0 0 27 10 0 5 8 0 by a Man See OBS to Estimate No I 4 0 0 Twenty eight sets of Shoes at 5s per set Farriers Bills 7 0 the Risk of your Horses turning out unsound and inefficient the 73 18 s d Brought forward Expense of hiring other Horses while your own are Ill & c and the Interest of the Mo ney paid for the purchase of the Horses & c cannot be estimated at less than 20 per Annum for each Horse 73 18 0 40 0 0 113 18 0
As most people Job their Carriage Horses we shall continue our Estimate and set down For a Pair of Jobbed Horses the lowest price at present The Duty on Two Horses On a Four Wheeled Carriage On the Coachman Wages of the Coachman not less than 10s per week Board ditto ditto at 14s per week Carried forward s d 135 O 0 4 14 6 6 0 0 1 14 0 326 26 0 0 36 8 0 209 16 6 Do not give unusually high standing Wages These should neither exceed nor fall short of the Rates which Custom has established or in the former case you will make your own servants idle and extravagant and those of your neighbours unhappy and discontented If you do not pay the customary compensation for the service you receive you will excite a continually rankling discontent in the minds of your Domestics and will be harassed with those continual changes in your establishment which will soon render Good Servants shy of engaging in it The Traveller’s Oracle; Or, Maxims for Locomotion: Horse and carriage keeper’s oracle ; Rules for purchasing and keeping or jobbing horses and carriages ; Estimates of expenses occasioned thereby ; An easy plan for ascertaining every hackney-coach fare (1827)

This fount of information about various aspects of the care, purchase, and maintenance of a horse and vehicle provided the above estimates for maintaining a vehicle. I have seen some similar estimates, many based on London, so the prices would vary if purchases were made elsewhere, though there would be a significant lack of options.

We have a post that explains the major type of Regency era conveyances here, and if you search the Regency Travel category, we also have some additional vehicles:

Regency Fashion: Carriages, Coaches and the Barouche

Regency Travel: Double Body Coach

Regency Travel: The Town Chariot

Regency Travel: The Tilbury Firm 

Regency Travel: The Sulky

We also have posts about travelling, Coachmen, and various other tidbits.

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