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car storage question

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Kirk_Fisher

Kirk_Fisher

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Several of my friends, myself included, have more cars than we have garage space. We were discussing buying some land and building a hanger type building to store and work on our cars. We would share the cost, and each person get ___ number of spaces.

If someone did this on a large scale with enclosed secure bays for each car (kinda like a mini storage) that was climate controlled with a sprinkler system and alarm, would you be willing to rent space for your car(s) and how much would you be willing to pay monthly?
 
sounds like a novel idea ... iope to build a detached garage next year to store mine, but your idea certainly has merit.
 
I have a 2 bay detached garage. I put a wall between the 2 and insulated the bay that holds my TR6. Its heated so I can work out there all winter. That is when I'm not working on my honey-do list. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Storage charges vary from $1.50 per square foot cold storage to heated storage of $9.50 per square foot in this area. Then there is a general utility (heating fuel, water, and electrical) adjustment charge tacked on to that.
Thankfully, I have a garage.

Forgot to add that's the sq. ft. per month cost. Insurance is covered by the owner of the vehicle or boat.
 
I think the real determining factor might be that ugly word... Insurance. If all the participants were owners it probably wouldn't be too bad but if you rented space out as a commercial venture where people worked on their own cars in rented space... These used to exist and I think Insurance was partly responsible for the extinction. Just some thoughts...
 
You might also want to look into renting a building. Several of the LBC guys in the DC area do that in a local industral park. It gives them flexibility for each person to come and go with the hobby, they can use heavy equipment, and the insurance is covered by the landlord as part of the rent. They do sometimes scramble for people to fill up the spaces.

I guess you could buy a pre-existing building, too, and do the same thing.

Good luck.
 
I was kind of thinking of doing it as a business venture. Build a 100 stall building. Each stall would have a garage door for security; the building would be climate controlled; it would have fire suppression and 24 hr. access by individual code so you know who comes and goes in case of mischief. Every car would have to be invidually insured by the owner. I probably would not offer facilities to work on the cars as some guy would drop his Healey on his head off the lift.

Would you pay $150 a month? What does boat storage or boat slips run? $150-$200 month?
 
I live in Chicago and garage parking space let alone LBC workspace is at a premium. I store my car in a public storage facility and pay $140/month. If I could store the car in a facility along with like minded LBC owners and if that facility had work space I would pay more. I would suggest incorporating a business to own the facility then charge the members a monthly rent. This will seperate personal assets from business risk.
 
Hi,

I've spoken to my local self-storage about just this sort of thing and they do allow cars to be stored there. However, they have some serious restrictions that largely discourage it. Many other storage facilites in this area simply won't allow any vehicles at all, for the reasons below and also because of the added fire risk - due to fuel and oil in the vehicle - and the resulting insurance costs.

This might or might not be a concern in your area, depending upon how your state licenses cars and transfers titles on abandoned vehicles. But, here in Calif. it's very expensive and time consuming to acquire an abandoned vehicle without a bill of sale and a current title. It costs around $500 to establish a new title alone, and usually takes many months. That has to be done before a self-storage business can dispose of or sell any vehicle abandoned at their facility.

So, while the local facility I use does allow vehicles, they require them to be in running condition, with current title and license, and with proof of insurance covearage.

Unfortunately, you really have to anticipate that people will sometimes just walk away from their cars and that you will have to sieze the property and auction it off to recover some of the debt owed you. My local self-storage, with about 300 units, has an auction shceduled to the last Thursday of every single month. This is typically to clear out one or two (sometimes more) abandoned units. It's a rare month that they don't have an auction.

And you might be very surprised just how large-ticket items people walk away from. The manager told me about an entire house-full of brand new, high-end furniture that got sold off in one of their auctions. It was put in storage while a multi-million $ house was being built, but something happened, the rent wasn't paid and some bidder at the auction got a great deal!

So I'd say your plan sounds like a great concept, but you will probably want to look very carefully into any hidden pitfalls. Talk to the managers of some self-storage facilities in your area for an "inside line" on possible problems that might not occur to you or us.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

p.s. Oh, and $150 a month would be a bargain, as far as I'm concerned! Here in Silicon Valley it costs about double that for a space large enough to accomodate a single car. Rents vary hugely from area to area, though. A friend of mine has a similar storage space in Medford, Oregon that costs him $80 a month.
 
I am a lawyer, so I can sort out the liability issues and non-payment issues. I think it could be a good thing. Thanks for the feedback.

So, to summarize. You guys would probably take advantage of it if the price were right. A storage facility with work bays and lifts, bathroom, cleanup/detail area and beer vending machine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif is even better?
 
Hey Kirk,... I don't want to be too cynical, but be careful with co-op situations such as this. Life happens, and priorities change. When somebody can't make the rent, or wants out,or...
Good luck, Bob
 
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