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Car Storage - My Experience

I'd love to do that for a couple of mine, but those storage fees soon add up and suddenly your car owes you alot more. I'm thinking of buying a single garage (if I can find one) as somewhere better than a cover to keep one (my own two garage already in use!)
 
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.....The car was kept in a very dry, well ventilated building on a trickle charger and swapping cars over was never an issue with 48 hours notice, albeit some days he was closed but he would notify clients of these particular days the month before by his regular email.

I’m in a position where I may buy a Caterham at some point in the future and wouldn’t hesitate to go back to the same provider as for £110 a month it is a complete no brainier.

I would imagine for a TVR and Caterham dry storage is a bit more essential. Like you say, I can't imagine 48 hours notice is hugely problematic. I assume that the cars stored are not owners only vehicles so if someone wants a car for a weekend or specific period they probably know with enough notice.

If you wanted to pop in every weekend or random week days then perhaps it's not ideal. That's where an exclusive garage is probably a better option.

Interesting timing - just looking for a storage facility for my Elise over the winter since it’s not really a winter (track tyres etc..) car. Not too far from Caterham for me (J9 M25) so I may PM you OP. One question - did you notify your insurance that you would be storing away from home? Also wife wants the garage space back for her SLC over the winter!

For that kind of storage then it's ideal, they don't have a minimum term but would ask you how long you're aiming for. I suspect they get a lot of people doing exactly the same as you.

I will be informing my insurers today. This place advises that you should maintain your own insurance although they are covered.

I'd love to do that for a couple of mine, but those storage fees soon add up and suddenly your car owes you alot more. I'm thinking of buying a single garage (if I can find one) as somewhere better than a cover to keep one (my own two garage already in use!)

I did consider potentially putting another car into storage as I have one car in my garage and another parked up outside. Like you say could add up quick though.

I did look into renting a garage but the prices were fairly similar per month and realised the CLS wouldn't fit in one. Well not a standard one! haha
 
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I leave my car in a similar storage facility near me when I'm out of the country. When I bought my previous CLS the insurance company said I couldn't leave it on the drive if I was going to be out of the country for more than 14 days, otherwise my insurance would be heavily loaded, and this was before key less theft and the like came to prominence.

The place I keep my cars is practically impossible to find, a completely innocuous and unassuming building hiding treasure trove of cars! (alas, no pictures). Obviously, being in the Midlands its a little cheaper, I pay £2.60 per day plus vat. That's the 'deep storage' price, as in buried behind a number of cars and more than a few days notice is required. You can pay I think £3.10 per day plus VAT for short notice access, typically the night before, but not Sundays.

People say the car owes you a lot if you start to store it, but I have looked at renting garages near by and this starts to get real expensive especially if you want power. I don't really want to move, but I do keep looking and the cost of a house with adequate storeage adds considerably more than £100 per month, per car to my current mortgage...
 
The place I keep my cars is practically impossible to find, a completely innocuous and unassuming building hiding treasure trove of cars! (alas, no pictures). Obviously, being in the Midlands its a little cheaper, I pay £2.60 per day plus vat. That's the 'deep storage' price, as in buried behind a number of cars and more than a few days notice is required. You can pay I think £3.10 per day plus VAT for short notice access, typically the night before, but not Sundays.

People say the car owes you a lot if you start to store it, but I have looked at renting garages near by and this starts to get real expensive especially if you want power. I don't really want to move, but I do keep looking and the cost of a house with adequate storage adds considerably more than £100 per month, per car to my current mortgage...

Sounds very very similar to this place, hidden away and very inconspicuous.

Yes I looked at renting a garage and even a standard garage was only a little less per month than I am paying. No power there either so would have needed the battery removed or at least disconnected. Let alone the fact that a CLS wouldn't fit in the standard single garage. I'd like my next house to have a double garage but like you say, adds a significant sum over the cost of these kinds of services.

No I didn't find any, you're in front of most people on that front.

I've worked in the IT industry a long time so I'm mindful of this kind of thing. I switched off all the data stamp options on my iPhone so it doesn't capture any of that. Also the images that I take I often tweak on an app which changes the metadata anyway.

Like you say though most people haven't a clue! Scary what you can obtain from a photo really.
 
I've used a similar type of place for storage on and off for the last 10 years or so. It's near where I live in Wing (Bucks) and I guarantee if you hadn't been there, you'd never find it! It's on a huge multi acre site buried behind a beautiful house (of which there are loads in this area). Very nice people to deal with, amazing cars in storage and for the option I choose, only around £100 a month. Great idea for keeping a classic off the drive! :)
 
I can see your point but then I suspect it’s easier to steal off driveways and from peoples houses. Rather than find a lock up, pay for it, find the location then sell that location to people who’ll then traipse down a mile long country lane, break in, manoeuvre the vehicles one at a time to steal them. It could happen but the reality is most of those cars are blocked in and the keys off site.

By me taking s photo which doesn’t have any metadata those are just photos of a car somewhere in the UK. Same as taking a photo at a show or passing in the street. I do see your point and maybe a judgment call on their part as I emailed from my work account which shows a respectable job title and a relatively large city firm so they had a bit of background on me by default.
Like I said in my post, no high end cars visible , so 'no harm , no foul' .
 
Like I said in my post, no high end cars visible , so 'no harm , no foul' .

No point making the post then really? :dk:
 
Disagree. my original repose to the OP was that the storage company was not as security conscious as others might be.

Fair enough :)
 
I wanted place with short notice, so I can drive my car whenever weather is nice. Notice of few days is not good with UK weather ;-) My friend kept his Nissan GTR in one of these places and it limited his usage. Finding garage to rent in my area is almost impossible. I've seen only one so far and I'm not sure I would want to keep my car there, insurance would probably cost a lot more. Anyway, when I contacted management company it was already let. I just wanted to get rid of the car from driveway, so I can park other car in the garage every day.
 
I leave my car in a similar storage facility near me when I'm out of the country. When I bought my previous CLS the insurance company said I couldn't leave it on the drive if I was going to be out of the country for more than 14 days, otherwise my insurance would be heavily loaded, and this was before key less theft and the like came to prominence.

The place I keep my cars is practically impossible to find, a completely innocuous and unassuming building hiding treasure trove of cars! (alas, no pictures). Obviously, being in the Midlands its a little cheaper, I pay £2.60 per day plus vat. That's the 'deep storage' price, as in buried behind a number of cars and more than a few days notice is required. You can pay I think £3.10 per day plus VAT for short notice access, typically the night before, but not Sundays.

People say the car owes you a lot if you start to store it, but I have looked at renting garages near by and this starts to get real expensive especially if you want power. I don't really want to move, but I do keep looking and the cost of a house with adequate storeage adds considerably more than £100 per month, per car to my current mortgage...

We have a lot of people here who work offshore in oil abroad how do they manage with leaving their cars for 8 weeks at a time?
 
We have a lot of people here who work offshore in oil abroad how do they manage with leaving their cars for 8 weeks at a time?

Can't speak for anyone else, as a divorced guy with grown up kids and an empty house, both my home insurer and current car insurer asked how long I spend out of the country when I told them my occupation. The current car policy is with Elephant, previously Aviva (the most appauling insurance cartel on the planet) and both of those stated (very ambiguously) that theft with keys from the home address would not be covered if the vehicle had been left unattended for more than 14 days. And that includes from my locked integral garage. Living in rural Derbyshire, where theft isn't really a massive problem, I never liked leaving the car sat on the drive anyway, so when I got my CLS SB it most certainly wouldn't fit in the garage so it was a win win situation as I saw it.

Hiscox don't do car insurance but if they did.... well I wouldn't care what they charged as they are by far the best/most transparent company I have ever dealt with. I think they are worth it all day long, house can be left unattended for any period without notification. There are not many home insurance products that do allow leaving the house unattended for more than a month, but I'm also guessing not many people read the T&C's with their home policies.
 
We have a lot of people here who work offshore in oil abroad how do they manage with leaving their cars for 8 weeks at a time?
Most cars should be able to stand 8 weeks without problem, go (as i do) to any major airport in the UK and you will often see 'high end' cars covered in dust waiting for the owner to return from wherever. I have on many occasions left my ageing C55 AMG parked up at Gatwick/Heathrow for up to 6 weeks while away on business without incident .
 
Most cars should be able to stand 8 weeks without problem, go (as i do) to any major airport in the UK and you will often see 'high end' cars covered in dust waiting for the owner to return from wherever. I have on many occasions left my ageing C55 AMG parked up at Gatwick/Heathrow for up to 6 weeks while away on business without incident .

I meant as regards to the insurance issue in the quote not the cars capability
 
Mine says to expect battery damage in four weeks.
Mine is a basic 'analogue' car , just the other week I replaced its battery . I had no issues with the one in the car, but it was the original battery from 2006 and 140000+ miles old so I thought it best to change it even though I have had no starting problems even in the depths of winter after 5 weeks standing outside , but no need to tempt fate , Plus I got a 50% discount on a 'top of the range' Bosh battery with 5 years 'guarantee'...which is less than half the time the original battery has already survived ...! :rolleyes:
 
Thought I'd follow up on my storage thread since it's been over a year since putting the CLS in there. I was impressed with the place and the process, I have a couple of other cars so thought I'd put another into the same place.

Somewhat contrasting to the CLS but I've had my RenaultSport Twingo 133 from new, it's very low mileage and I've had it tucked away under a cover. I thought it was about time it got some TLC so it's now in some very good company...

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They finally managed to get it into it's proper spot so I popped down today to give it a wipe down and fit the cover on it.

Took it's place next to a very old Austin. I suspect the reason for this spot is that it's the smallest car in there. Fits like a glove haha.

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Fitted an indoor cover from Coveryourcar.co.uk as well, just to keep the dust off.

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My CLS is actually blocked in at opposite back corner of the lock up.

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There are other options but I like this one, on charge, heating and carpets! Over the top for a Twingo I know but hey why not haha.
 
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No I didn't find any, you're in front of most people on that front.

I first looked into this when I got my first company iPhone in 2015 and was actually going to take photos with it.

The default setting at the time and ever since was Location Settings disabled for the camera so the EXIF metadata doesn't get populated with location.

Not sure about other phones though.
 

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