How does the everyday suburban car collector deal with storage? Although I currently live in the suburbs, I often dream of the day I can acquire a rural property and erect a large pole barn to house my car collection. Vehicle storage is one of the biggest challenges that I face as a suburbanite with a small automotive collection. Over the past few years my car collection has fluctuated between two and four cars and trucks. Although not a large fleet, storage becomes an issue if your goal is to keep every car in a garage. Challenges also arise when I work on a project that takes up a large part of my two-car garage. For automotive enthusiasts who have a large building this may not be a problem, but what options does the suburban car collector have?
Park Your Cars Outside
Keeping part of your car collection outside is a perfectly fine option, however, not ideal with collector or classic cars. Obviously, cars stored outside are exposed to the elements and damage from severe weather. Vehicles parked outside are also at risk of theft or damage from criminals. Depending on where you live and how large your car collection is, you may run afoul of city ordinances, the HOA., or your neighbors. In my case, I try to keep all my cars in garages but that’s not always possible.
Rental Storage for your Car Collection
Renting garage space at a storage unit is another option. For the last several years I’ve been renting a one-car garage at an apartment complex. As my car collection began to grow a few years ago I started looking at garage rental options. I was excited when I found a relatively cheap one-car garage at an apartment complex just 15 minutes from my house. I had solved my storage problems! Not so fast.
Although only a short 15-minute drive from my house, I found the distance to be enough to limit my use of any vehicle kept there. Occasionally cars stored there over long periods of time would have dead batteries. My outlook of this option has soured for other reasons as well. The garage door opening is not tall enough to fit my daily driver pickup. As a result, I had to park my daily driver in the “visitor” parking area. One evening I returned to get my daily driver after parking it there all weekend to find the rear window smashed. Additionally, the cost of garage rental also adds up. When I think about what I’ve spent to store cars there over several years I question if it’s worth it. I currently still rent the apartment garage; however, I am looking into better options.
Ask Family and Friends to Help Store Your Car Collection
Perhaps you know someone who is only using one space of their two-car garage. You might be able to work out a deal to store part of your car collection in their garage. I have used this option as well. One benefit is that you can probably negotiate a lower rental rate in this situation. In many ways this can be better than renting a garage at a storage unit or apartment complex.
However, it comes with its own set of challenges. Unless they give you keys to their house or a garage door opener, you have to make contact with them to get your vehicle. What if they need to move your car for some reason? Is a rolling project that has a three-step process to start it? Will it leak various fluids on their pristine garage floor? What if you need to return your loud muscle car to the garage late at night? While not ideal, this car storage option can be a more affordable solution when compared to a rental unit.
Move to a Different House with a Bigger Garage
This option seems like a long shot. It can be difficult to find a house with enough garage space to store four or more cars. The cost will most likely be prohibitive. Car enthusiasts can all dream of finding a house like Ed Bolian’s, but it may be a pipe dream. That being said, it’s worth looking into.
Renovate Your Home for More Car Storage Space
If you have the means, renovating your garage can be a great solution for car storage. This is especially true if your renovation plans include an attached garage. I first became aware of this possibility when I read the book “Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic: How Fixing Broken BMWs Helped Make Me Whole”. I had never considered zoning and attached garage size until reading about Rob Seigel’s garage. For those unfamiliar with zoning ordinances, suburban zoning is pretty restrictive when it comes to the size of a detached garage. However, with an attached garage you may be able to create more storage space for your car collection.
While I don’t claim to be an expert on zoning ordinances, in my experience it’s possible to achieve a larger garage footprint with an attached garage. If the blueprints for your dream garage are marginally outside zoning standards, you can request a variance and plead your case in front of the zoning board. If your requested variance is not too excessive there may be a good chance the zoning board will sign off on it. How do I know? Thats a story for another day…
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