Storing a car for a year

Sauce

I am going to australia for a year soon and I was wondering what advice you could give me for storing my car for the year. I dont have a shed/garage I can put it into so I was thinking of getting a car cover for it.

The car will not be insured for the year so is there and precautions I can take to prevent theft? Will the car be okay sitting idol for a year?

Cerdito

Why not sell it? You would lose a year's value through depreciation with it just sitting there.

For instance, if your car is three years old and you sell it, with the money you will be able to buy a three year old car when you come back.

mike65

Outdoors for a year! What about leaving it with family or friends? I would not use a cover - you are advertsing its been abandoned (unless its out of public view) and condensation can be an issue. Don't leave the handbrake on, just stick it in first gear. Make sure the tyres are well inflated. Remove the HT lead from the coil to the distributor (if its got one) that way it proberly won't get nicked.

I'd be tempted to sell it frankly.

Mike.

Sauce

Cerdito wrote:

Why not sell it? You would lose a year's value through depreciation with it just sitting there.

For instance, if your car is three years old and you sell it, with the money you will be able to buy a three year old car when you come back.

I have a car loan, so if I sold it I would be starting from scratch again with an empty bank account making it harder to get a loan big enough.

mike65 wrote:

Make sure the tyres are well inflated.

Do you mean deflated. Whats the advatage of having the tyres well inflated

peasant

If you can't store it somewhere dry, sell it.

Whe had an old but working car sitting outside ...after a year it was only worth scrap, nothing worked anymore, it looked awful and the inside was all smelly and damp.

Kimbot

Why not "rent" it to a family member for the year?? The pay their insurance etc on it and keep it in running order for you for when you get back!!

netwhizkid

You could garage it for a year, another option would be give to family or friends to drive. A person I know who went to Australia like yourself gave his car to his younger brother so he could learn to drive, brother learnt to drive and bought said car of the returned brother a year later.

If you were moving there permanently you could have it shipped over as they drive on the left like ourselves here with right-hand drive cars. Takes 40 days to ship from Rotterdam I think though.

tc20

Do you mean deflated. Whats the advatage of having the tyres well inflated[/QUOTE]


I would have thought that leaving the car on any tyres for that kinda time would result in 'squared' tyres, as inflated, even overinflated the tyres will suffer leakage. Im thinking even totally deflated tyres would be punished unneccessarily with the weight of the car and exposure to the elements.
Is removing the wheels completely and sitting the car on blocks not a better solution? It may attract attention, or be unsightly for neighbours depending on where you're living tho'.

If its an option, why not approach someone with dry storage facilities, long term car park perhaps?

On return, it would be wise to drain all fluids, as these will deteriorate over time too.

mike65

Thats why I said inflated, the best thing is to remove wheels but that means its likely to attract vandalism.

Mike.

Anan1

What kind of car is it, how old is it, how much is it worth? I'm thinking it may make more sense to sell it too.

colm_mcm

If you have HP on the car then you have to insure it.

Sauce

Its a Peugeot 307. Its 4 years old.

The car isnt HP. Its a loan with the credit union

KeRbDoG

I'm looking to storing a car for a long period too. Its nothing to do with car loans etc its that I love this car and I don't want it to be left outside with a cover.
Is there anywhere in Ireland you can store a car?

want2play

Remember if its on the street you have to tax and NCT it, officially put it at off the road status.
I left a car for nearly 2 years (Peugeot as well) got parents to do the school run in it once a week and it was perfect when i got home, having to back NCT it was a pain though.

Back NCT still dont get it? Surly if its road worthy when tested who cares if it was road worthy a month before, just another NCT rip off.

Mc-BigE

Sell it for less than what its worth now for a quick sale, keep paying the loan in Ireland through a family member, then with the money buy a European style car when you get there (BMW/Audi/Merc, something you can sell over here) in Australia, drive around in it over there, then ship it back to Ireland and get it registered VRT free! If you keep it for a year when you come back. you'll have a cheap car in Ireland and could always sell it probably for a profit

P.S. forget to add that you'll have to pay Irish 21%VAT and custom clearance tax (i think thats 10%) of the price of the car in Australia converted to Euro's, when the car lands In ireland. Might be a very small profit if none at all.

Do your homework if your interested.

J_R

Hi,

Many, many years ago I queried the AA on laying up a car for a 2 year period.

They sent me a very detailed reply.

Main points, that I remember. Should be put up on blocks to save the tyres and suspension.

Also advised that condensation could build up in the cylinders. If I started the car with this water present it could score a line around the cylinder wall. They therefore recommended that I dry out the cylinders before firing the engine.

They advised this could be done by turning the engine with ignition off, either by pushing the car a short distance whilst in gear or if car had a starting handle to use that - did say it was many years ago.

Do not remember what they wrote regarding the battery.

What I do remember doing before leaving, was to remove the spark plugs and squirt in some oil into the cylinders. (Those were the days when the spark plugs could be removed by a simple box spanner). On return disconnected HT lead and turned engine over on the battery.

Car was fine.

A short run every week would do as good or better.

Or have you considered taking the car out and selling it in Australia ??

Have a look Peugeot 307

Blitzkrieger

There's a place south of Dublin (Wicklow I think) that stores cars. They offer different prices based on just keeping it in their de-humidified shed to running the car once a week and keeping the fluids topped up. There's also one near Kilarney but I couldn't find them with a quick google. I suspect that their prices would be too high on top of the loan. TBH - you really should sell it or rent/loan it to someone for the year.

KeRbDoG

Ah, a link
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223475

oleras

J_R wrote:

Hi,

if car had a starting handle to use that -

Hmmmmm what was it, a model T ?:D

J_R

oleras wrote:

Hmmmmm what was it, a model T ?:D

Nope, mine did not have a starting handle.

But back in those days few farmers still driving around in Morris Minors, Ford Prefects - Populars which did have handles.

Did warn was a long time ago. No electronics those days. Flashing, self-cancelling indicators I think was as high-tech as you could get.

hobie

Have a look at what these guys do ..... (in particular every 30/60 day options) ....

http://www.autovault.co.uk/tariff.htm