Lancia Motor Club

I live in west London where lockups start from £120/month. Does anyone know of a more reasonabaly priced storage facility and/or unused garage space to rent in the area?

I'm not sure about West London, but I applied to rent a garage from our local council, and they came back with one for ~£60pcm.  ;D

Maidstone Housing Association has very good condition garages at 43 quid a month.

Lewisham council it's about a tenner a week.

Dudridge Holdings are worth a look.  They have lots of sites certainly in SE London and I think all over.  Rents depend on the quality of the site and garage.  From experience you want a terrible garage on a busy site.  "Terrible" in that a ply door half hanging off and some daylight between the walls and roof promotes air circulation which is the absolute key.  If you end up in a "decent" brick built garage with a concrete floor do try and find a way to drill some holes or saw a bit off the bottom of the door or ANYTHING to get some air moving.

http://www.lockupgarages.co.uk/sites.php

Happy hunting...

Oh - and my own conclusion is that a good cover beats 90pct of garages.  Current favourite is the  Classic Additions "Ultimate".

http://www.classicadditions.com/car-covers.html

For security hide a battery cut off (good idea anyway to stop the battery going flat...) and a fuel pump switch or an extra switch in the ignition circuit.

http://www.s-v-c.co.uk/product/fia-battery-master-switch-/

David

David, we who live or have lived in SE London have a very definite view on the need to secure property. Let us just say that we do not ever relax!!!!!

I have yet to contact Classic Additions as my requirements will hope fully increase in the next couple of weeks!!!!!! However, I have not identified anything that beats their Ultimate range in terms of spec and price, so I think I may well be shopping there soon!!!!!!

                               Andy

Ooh , do tell !

Simon,


I think its just the sense that leaving a country cousin to lock up on his way out we might return to see an upstairs bathroom fan light window still open and expect the worst.  Living in SE London that's "an invitation".

One might walk past a bike and instead of a comment as to how it has an ugly straight front fork or a novel routing of the gear lever cable one might say "call that a lock?"

Touch wood and fingers crossed and all else I've never had any problems in 25 years "south of the river", but one takes precautions as a matter of habit.

Driving past the maisonette in Earlesfield where we used to live we pointed out where you would only park if desperate as with no overlooking property it was about a 1 in 5 your car would be broken into.  "Broken in two?" said the kids, that's the problem I have NOW...  Parked somewhere like that I'd NOT lock the car as if to say "come in, have a look about, nothing to see" and in the hope that they'd do just that and not smash a window.

So - parked up - battery isolator and a fuel pump switch.  If its laid up rotor arm out, ideally battery out, better still on blocks.

Its just the same as crossing the road or anything else.  Understand the risks and keep to the rules.  Where I grew up in a Fenland village security was, and still is, an even greater problem than here.  Go away for the weekend and chances are your roof has been stolen, or your hedge.  "Escape to the country" - no thank you very much...  At least not that bit :)

David