Long Term Car Storage???

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Author Message   AlleyGater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1266 Registered: 10-2004 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 12:45 pm:        My mother is leaving the country for at least a year and we are looking for a place to put her car. Storing it in my garage is not a feasible solution. We do NOT have a lot of money to spend. Does anyone have any ideas? Someone with a farm in the country would be great. Pay them a lump sum of cash for a year storage and it's out of everyone's way. I suppose I would need to have the car turned on a few times over the year (either by myself or the storer) to keep the engine running. I don't think the car needs to be stored indoors necessarily, but covered and sheltered is clearly a better solution if we can afford it. Ideas?   Wendyn Supporter Username: Wendyn Post Number: 2776 Registered: 9-2002 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:02 pm:        Best solution...sell the car and buy a new (or used) one when she needs it. Seriously. My brother lost his license years ago and his Civic spent 1.5 years in a garage with occasional turn overs. It was never the same. He said if he had to do it over again he would have sold it and put the money aside to buy a new one when he got his license back.   Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 12792 Registered: 1-2003 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:07 pm:        How to Prepare Your Car for Long-Term Storage I heard Click and Clack say that starting it and running it for a couple of minutes is worse than not starting it at all. If you're going to start it, drive it -- don't just idle it -- for at least 20 minutes. Good luck with finding someone willing to store your car. What about selling it, though? She could buy another car when she gets back. Out of curiosity, what kind of car is it, and what year?   amandacat Citizen Username: Amandacat Post Number: 1033 Registered: 8-2001 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:09 pm:        I have friends out in Netcong that might be able to help you out. What were you looking to spend?   Kent Citizen Username: Kentgib Post Number: 13 Registered: 2-2006 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:17 pm:        I parked my car in a freinds drive way in MA. for over a year. The battery died and it wasn't started for several months. All I had to do was have it jump started and it runs the same as before. I even took it to a dealer to have it serviced to make sure there would be no lingering issues. They changed the oil and the fluids. That was it. Not that everyone will have the experience, but not always a bad idea.   AlleyGater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1269 Registered: 10-2004 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:37 pm:        Kent, my mother did that to this same car a little less than a year ago. Ummmm. Tom, I'm not sure the make and model right now, but it's a relatively old Minivan. The mechanic said it's still in good shape though. Amanda, I haven't given it too much thought, but right now the cheapest we've found is like $35/mo which is a bit more than we would like to spend. My mom is on a VERY fixed income and she is already spending close to $200/mo. on storing her personal effects. We are trying to limit her monthly expenditures as much as possible. As for selling her car, that is a possibility but considering my mother wants to leave the country ASAP, and as you can see I am somehow responsible for helping her with this situation, I would have to do the selling. Also there is the issue of the buying a new car when she returns. She doesn't have good credit and I honestly won't know if she will have any substantial quantities of money after a year living abroad to buy one outright.   Wendyn Supporter Username: Wendyn Post Number: 2777 Registered: 9-2002 Posted on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - 1:53 pm:        Another negative about my suggestion of buying a new (used) car...my brother who is looking heard that many of the used cars on the market are from New Orleans and are fixed just enough to get you to buy them. He is for the first time in his life thinking of buying new for that reason. In any case sorry I don't have other suggestions. Maybe you can lease it to a Seton Hall student?