Car Storage

Car storage has become an important part of the self storage industry.  The ”baby boomers“ are now retiring and longing to relive the golden days of the ”muscle“ car. They have the money to buy and restore the Mustangs, Corvettes, and convertibles that they drove to the drive in movies, school dances, and on that first road trip without mom and dad. They also can afford car storage. One problem that has arisen is that neighborhood associations and city ordinances sometimes have strict ordinances about how many vehicles can be parked on anyone’s property and are against any sort of car storage on private property.  This has created a demand market for car storage.

In simpler times when people lived in less congested populations there was more freedom to use your own property and there was no need to pay for car storage.  In the small town America of the 1950’s and 1960’s if you owned your home you were freer to do what you wished.  Most people who had an extra vehicle or a classic car could park it in the driveway or even pull it up behind the house for free car storage.  AS long as it was not a rusted out heap that was on concrete blocks and did not destroy the esthetic beauty of the neighborhood (most people who owned a home had too much pride in it to use the front lawn for car storage) people were more willing to mind their own business and leave other people’s business alone.  There was no need for car storage.

In the 21st century we have lost many of the individual homeowner property freedoms and one of those is the right to have car storage on our property.  In fear that a person of low esteem will defile the appearance of the neighborhood and therefore bring down property values many suburban communities and municipalities have enacted strict laws and guidelines about car storage and other things you may and may not do on your own property or in your own driveway.  This makes car storage an important service for classic car owners and families who have a seasonal requirement for car storage of more vehicles than allowed by these laws.

If you are privileged to live in country setting car storage was not a problem.  If you were lucky to live far enough from town to escape the more stringent zoning regulations additional vehicles or vehicles to restore can be parked in any number of the utility buildings, machine sheds, barns, or cribs instead of paying car storage.  There are farmers who are in the car storage business, renting out unused buildings and spaces to friends, family, and others seeking car storage their ”dream machine“.

There is a rush of military personnel calling to inquire about car storage.  They are being deployed out of state or out of the country for extended periods also find a need for car storage.  Many of them have no family who could offer car storage to them and are concerned about the safety of this investment.  They turn to self storage companies to fill the need and utilize car storage for the length of the deployment.

In large metropolitan areas parking and car storage is at a premium and very expensive.  The price of a 10 x 20 storage unit or a parking spot for car storage may seem very large to those of us in the smaller communities of the mid west but the monthly rate for car storage in bigger cities may be far below the cost of parking garages.  Street parking in some areas such as Philadelphia may be as high as $11 per hour and in many inner city business areas you must park your car and take public transportation into the downtown business district. Many car owners would prefer to have a secure car storage unit. A safe and guaranteed parking spot in a car storage facility with an access controlled gate and other security features as well as a fixed monthly rate that is perhaps far below the price of daily or weekly parking permits would seem very attractive to me in such a situation.  Car storage also gives the peace of mind that the vehicle is not sitting out and vulnerable to thieves looking for a quick target to steal stereo equipment.  Friends who visited in one of our largest metropolitan areas told me that people there do not drive a decent car to work and put signs in the window –”No radio, no stereo, nothing worth stealing“. This too would make car storage very attractive

In the past year or so there was a television commercial that illustrated a need for car storage. The ad graphically demonstrated this point of safety.  The car appeared to be an ugly hodgepodge of body parts from junk yards.  It appeared to have several different colors in the doors and body panels and rusted spots.  The owner comes to his car and pulls off a perfectly fitted cover to reveal a beautiful and sparkling new car beneath the camouflage. The custom made cover was most likely more expensive than car storage. He would certainly have more peace of mind in a car storage facility.

You might think that car storage would be a perfect haven for car thieves to rent car storage and hide the loot.  However, every reputable storage facility that I know requires a current registration in the name of the renter to purchase car storage.  Sometimes this creates a difficulty for people who have just purchased the vehicle but it does go a long way to insure that vehicles in car storage are not stolen.

I used car storage many years ago.  My son, who is now a Federal Marshall, was not being responsible about the car he had to drive to school or about his conduct.  When I threatened to take the wheels off the car he became agitated and informed me that he could get the wheels back on.  I called a storage facility and found that I could put it into car storage.  I put it in car storage for 3 months until he was repentant and had earned it back out of car storage by good conduct.

Car storage is not only for commuters and those who will be out of the country.  There are contractors who also need car storage outside parking spots for utility trailers, vans, and lights trucks that could not be parked at a private residence due to rules and ordinances.  Even though this is outside parking car storage it is within the access controlled gated area and the same rules apply.  The vehicles must have a current registration in the name of the renter to put it in car storage, it must be in running condition and there can be no work done on it while it is in car storage.  The only difference between car storage parking outside or inside car storage is that vehicles stored inside should have very little gasoline in the tank.

In Las Vegas, NV car storage takes the form only of outside parking as it is against the law there to park a car inside the storage buildings.

Another facet of car storage is RV, camper trailer and boat parking.  There are many facilities across the country with facility for both car storage and for recreational vehicles.  In many states such as California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Florida there is a marked shortage of car storage that can be utilized for larger recreational vehicles.  Many people who are considering the purchase of such a vehicle become very discouraged when they try to determine the price and availability of car storage spaces for them at storage facilities offering car storage. 

As the value and price of real estate climbs even car storage facilities in ”fly over country“ have considered using available space for middle size self storage units as 10 x 10 and covering over available car storage parking spaces to build inside storage. 

In areas where RV and other recreational vehicle and car storage is in great demand entire facilities are being constructed for car storage and RV and others to house and park large vehicles with no passenger car storage at all.

We may see a time when the need for car storage becomes so great that larger storage companies may be building facilities for car storage only.  This could alleviate problems such as the situation in Columbia, Missouri where parking for downtown workers is a struggle.  The downtown association wishes to have only parking for potential shoppers and lower wage workers are forced to either work for companies that will provide private parking or pay to park in church parking lots.  City government in Columbia made an effort to outlaw the churches from renting out their parking lots for car storage during the week to workers but was not successful in doing so.  Many workers downtown who cannot get into such a parking lot have to park in a dwindling number of over priced designated parking lots several blocks from the work locations.  Workers must trudge through rain, sleet snow, blazing sun and freezing temperatures. What blessing affordable car storage would be for them!  It would seem that a profitable solution would be to have a self storage company establish vehicle parking car storage outside the downtown area with a shuttle service to get workers to the downtown area.It would need to be car storage out of the downtown area as people owning derelict buildings in the downtown area re forbidden to raze the buildings and create parking lots.

The baby boomers are also attempting to relive youthful fantasies of riding with the ”wild“ bunch.  Retired baby boomers are taking to the highways on accessory laden motorcycles and often turn to car storage for security. There are competitions between biker clubs that feature prizes for the most chrome trim and accessories on the motorcycles including, matching trailers and side cars, stereo systems, TV, intercom communications, light strips as running lights and all manor of gizmos. The price tag for these dream machines makes it a requirement to have secure car storage for them There are even motorcycles now with 2 rear wheels in the tricycle configuration for those who may have difficulties balancing a two wheeler.  Silver haired ladies no longer are content to ride behind a spouse and have a bike for themselves. Two bikes in the family increases the need for car storage there is the same problem with storing the bikes between rides as boats and other recreational vehicles.  People are renting anything from 5 x 10 drive up units to larger sizes.  There are many who are even storing in hall units if the storage facility will allow it using inside units for car storage.  The motorcycles must comply with the same rules as passenger vehicles to be in car storage facilities.

It will be interesting to see how the car storage industry will change.  As gasoline prices rise there may be a stall in the extra vehicle market.  If the trend in automobiles changes to meet this challenge and cars become less dependant on internal combustion there may be more opportunities to use car storage.  Many storage facilities that offer car storage now have electrical outlets in each unit.  If cars become smaller and are not fueled by combustibles it may be possible to use smaller units for car storage.  Electrical powered cars would also be less dangerous to house in car storage.  Perhaps two people could sub let a car storage space and park 2 small individual vehicles in one.

Whatever the future of the automobile industry and alternative transportation it seems that there will always be a need for car storage.  There may be opportunities for self storage companies to make creative use of space and offer new services that complement car storage.  It might be feasible to have large car storage parking facilities out of town and commuters would drive to there and park the car.  Inside the storage building would be areas for electric scooters, mopeds, and the Segeway type personal transportation vehicles.  In the commercial districts there could be secure facilities serving as substitute car storage to safely park and store the individual transportation devices during the working day.  There could also be increased facility even in small cities for public transportation to move workers from the car storage areas to downtown and back to car storage again in the evening.

Whatever the solution it seems that car storage will soon be as important and plentiful as self storage.  The self storage industry is in a position to keep up with such trends and can offer ever changing and valuable car storage services to populations.  Workers and business owners as well will profit if there is more car storage that is in tune with the demands and trends of the day.  More and more the population centers will spread to the center of the nation and there will be more and more open land covered by concrete.  These new population centers will have great need for employment and support services including car storage.  Unless there are more tourist destinations such as Old Williamsburg, VA where cars are forbidden and more pedal power and electric power becomes practical the need for car storage in smaller cities and suburban areas will continue to increase.  It may be necessary and profitable to change self storage into car storage.