Need Car Space....What to do??

You have no exotic car storage places within a reasonable distance? A post in your regional forum may reveal more options than you think exist.

 

I went through this 2 years ago... Ended up going from 3.5 car garage to an 8. The process involved moving and building a new house .

I found that if a car didn't have an easy way to get it out of the garage, it never got driven. Even moving 1 car out of the way was a huge pain...

If I had it to do over, in hindsight, I would just own less cars...

What I am finding out is that as you collect more cars, even if they are easily accessible, you don't drive them. It becomes a chore (never thought I would say that)... Its a pain to maintain, insure, fix, etc...

Buy 1 car you really love, and drive it often...

Bo

 

I have 6 cars and a 3 car garage. The track car is in a storage unit all year, I get it out when needed and it sits in my driveway for a few days before and after each event. During the summer, my 3 "special" cars are in my garage and the 2 daily drivers sit in the driveway. During the winter, 2 of the "special" cars join the track car in off-site storage. one stays in the garage, and the 2 daily drivers get to be in the garage.

 

Why do you think barns were invented?

:^)

 

I have two houses with two cara garages, and two off site storage spaces.
One house has a 4 post lift so I can keep 3 cars there except winter when the ski boat uses one space.

The other house has my wifes daily and one fun car, with my daily parked outside. We have an underground space 2 miles away, and the Gt40 lives at a race shop.

It kinda all works because most of the fun road cars can live at one location when in use, but if say the BBi ends up at weekday house I have to have left a daily at the other hose so I cans swap back later.

As others have said taking care of 6 cars can become a pain, but if you plan well and love machines its ok. My wife takes care of her merc, and my chevy dealer is easy and great so those two are painless. The other 4, I either do oil changes at home as needed or since one car is always at at the nearby race shop, I just leave the one needing fettling there. There are also two mtorcycles I do myself, and 1 ski boat also taken care of at home.

Yes if a car is on a lift its not just key and go. But I like machines, so operating the lift is own fun liek your won crane, and being able to see and take care of the uderside of the car is a big big plus(ok I have mechanical OCD). Yes maybe on rare occasions I dont use the 1 car I would prefer because its on the lift, but then taking car off the lift after 3-8 weeks is like unwarpping a new gift all over again. Lately the weather is cool and ideal for the BBI, since i spent a lot of time in the lotus on road in spring and on track this summer I am happy to give it a break and drive the bBi more now that the weather is so ideal for it, so guess which one is on top.

The good part is I dont get car headache. As in there is always a car to drive to suit a mood and conditions, so its mostly always fun driving or relaxing driving, kinda like having shoes for all ocasions. Cleaning is the same, I do my own for the 4 fun cars, but whether you drive one car a lot or 4 more sparingly the cleaning is more or less the same. Well after the track cleaning is a pain, but if cars are your hobby its all part of the deal and cathartic in way..

Yep a barn would be nice, then i could get a few more bikes and a morgan and a bently and ...so limited space keeps the addiction in line.

Get two 4 post lifts which gives you space for two more cars, see how you liek haing that many cars at once..

 

I keep my cars in a secure location. I have put up to 16 cars in this storage area.

If you find a good location you may find your insurance company may want to inspect the area for security.

My area has 24/7 armed security. Most of the time they are off duty policeman who get free housing to provide security. They have to buss you in.

The insurance company also made me put in a automatic phone in alarm system with loop video cameras.

I have not had a problem but neither has any other person without all of that stuff

Best

Lee

 

If you've got the headroom for a lift, that's the best option short of selling the cars. For a few thousand dollars you double the capacity of a space _and_ acquire a handy service tool while you're at it.

I'd get a storage lift even if only to reclaim workspace for other projects.

 

I could "store" one for you?

Someone had to ask.

 

get the lifts - makes a 3 car go to a 6 car for the least amount of money

getting cars off lifts is a pain, but still better than driving to some off site storage to swap out cars

I just built a new free standing garage on my sedona house -- 2 car front, but big enough door to fit a sportsmobile 4x4 and double deep to accommodate 4 cars parked straight in (up to 8 with lifts) its a nice garage, but it was over 100k --- just get some lifts

 

I have to agree that lifts seem to be the best option for your situation. I had lifts in the garage of our previous home (made a 3 car garage into 6). The cars on the bottom did tend to get drivien more than the cars on the top. Changing the cars out was a bit of a chore, especially if you were doing it last minute. We now live on a small farm that came with nice barn. Renovated the barn. Could fit a bunch of cars in there now with easy access. Have thined the heard to 3.

 

Where I come from 'barns' allow critters as big as raccoons to have easy access, and of course mice. Are we talking the same kind of building?

 

Kind of, but it was heavily renovated and is essentally a big den that I can drive cars into.

 

This. Even having 3 cars felt like a chore.

Building an 8-car garage in southern California is an extremely expensive use of land.

I did the offsite thing and found it to be inconvenient. Very secure, but because of that I had to make arrangements in advance and the access wasn't as flexible as advertised.

 

Unless you can get to the rear, you'll have the same problem when installing lifts: having to move cars about before getting to the one you want.

Would go for the 5th space straight away.

Unless you have an exit at the rear when adding a garage, you would have the same problem, no? My solution would be to put the cars on rotate; for 2 weeks of the month drive the cars on the bottom, then swap them round and next 2 weeks only drive the others.

If you think you won't drive the ''lifted'' cars, imagine having to drive X miles to get to the place to get a car! For me the love would die quickly.

See answer to 4. Except it will almost certainly be even further drive away .


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I'd go with either lifts or the expansion to the side.

 

find a buddy and rent some warehouse space....

 

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You have a few options. You can expand. You can go lifts. Another, I'm also into boats, here most houses don't have room for a boat. I know people who have bought small storage units. They call them storage condo's. You own the unit. They are all over the place now. Its like owning a plane hangar.

Here is an example: West Lynden Storage Condos | RV, Boats & General Storage Units

 

Good solution. I was watching the HGTV show House Hunters. The couple had a $3million budget and they wanted in the Pacific Palisades area. The husband owned 8 cars and wanted space for the cars. Non of the houses had the space. He ended up cutting down on cars to five. One was a Carrera GT.

I watch a few real estate markets. Very few, even multi million dollar homes, have garage space, maybe 4 car garage, most are 2. The only market with homes with space are in around Phoenix. There most have multi car garages with RV space.

 

I've run into this as well. Even insisting on a 3-car garage limits your choices out here in southern CA. I'm currently looking in Orange County, and may just buy the right house with a 2-car garage and then maybe RV parking as well with the idea of adding a second, detached garage farther back on the property for the cars we don't drive daily.

Including the slab, I'm estimating it's around $30K or so to do this. Maybe more if the driveway needs to be extended back.

 

Lots of homes with RV parking in Yorba Linda.

 

There are. I made an offer on one last month but... no cigar. Still looking.