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What to do with a car on extended absence?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:17 pm
by avriette
It's not confirmed yet, but Sandy and I may be moving to Taiwan. Right now, we're in the stage of figuring out how much things will cost, the technical details (it is shockingly complicated), and stuff like this. The company that wants me over there will relo me, but they don't ship cars. I've also heard some bad things about cars over there (like vandalism is very common on "nice" cars), and horror stories about traffic conditions and fatalities.

This has me thinking that it might be best to either sell the car or store it here. This bothers me because storage is always bad for a car (my Z just went into the shop after seven years of storage, so I'm dealing with it firsthand right now), and they can get stolen or damaged right from storage.

I can't sell the car because we're both totally in love with it and also because I think we're right about break-even on it right now.

Ideally, the way to "store" the car here would be for somebody to take possession of it (or responsibility for it) while we're gone (which could be as long as 2-3 years), and just drive it enough that it goes through a tank of gas every couple months. This way it gets its oil changed, the gas doesn't go bad, the rubber stays good, etc. But, it's kind of a big "favor" to ask of a friend.

I've never heard of anyone doing that. Its almost like I want to lease the car to somebody I know, so that they can drive it and enjoy it while we're gone.

Also, the way the 08's look makes me really not want to buy a new one. I figure (like a couple others did) that I got in right before they got hit with the ugly stick.

So, thoughts? Are there services that do this sort of thing?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:22 pm
by chicken n waffles
i'll gladly drive another sti around from time to time :eek: :wiggle:

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:36 pm
by Sabre
I've never heard of a service... and unfortunately, I don't have a garage :( I totally agree though, you can't store a car and expect it to be in good condition after a few years.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:57 pm
by thermobox
chicken n waffles wrote:i'll gladly drive another sti around from time to time :eek: :wiggle:
i'm with ben. i don't have a two car garage but my neighborhood is safe.
parking is adequate also. there are always open spots in visibility from my house. i've had my sti for almost 4 yrs. now so i know quite a bit about them. i think i can speak for most people in this group when i say that we are always willing to help a buddy out.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:03 pm
by Sabre
lol, how about we just start rotating it between people? hahaha...

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:24 pm
by Mr Kleen
I might be able to store it at my Dad's place in Kentucky. he'd start her up once a month and it's safe.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:53 pm
by avriette
Sabre wrote:lol, how about we just start rotating it between people? hahaha...
I wonder what my car insurance would think of that, or if I'd have to keep it covered. This move is turning out to be really interesting.

btw, thank you everyone for offering. as I said, it's not confirmed yet, but it's so cool that everyone's offering to help.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:55 pm
by Sabre
^^^ Well, in order to be registered in DC/MD/VA, you have to have some sort of insurance on it. If you told your ins. company that it would be garaged and driven under 1k/yr, I think your rates would be ok :)