Car Storage in Naas

[Mr Browne]

Hello,

I have an opportunity to acquire a premises in Naas where I am thinking of providing car storage. It has the following features...

• Large warehouse with natural light, 3 phase power, compressed air, electric steel roller access
• 24/7 monitored security with beam activated CCTV outside the premises
• Bone dry modern warehouse with painted concrete floor
• Free parking outside of warehouse (so you can leave your modern car when off in the classic car)
• W/C facilities
• Storage area for spare parts
• 25 mins Red Cow, 35 mins Portlaoise, just off dual carriageway (no dirty back roads or farmyards).

and it will have the following features

• Battery charging/maintenance shelf
• Cars parked in such a manner that the drivers door can be opened fully
• Internet CCTV inside the premises so you can look at your car online live anytime 24/7
• No side to side parking (all bumper to bumper) so no dints
• 9 to 5 weekday access at all times and weekend access by appointment only
• Tire, mechanical, and valeting services all available within 200 meters of the facility
• Free WiFi

I'd be happy to offer a car starting/warming service

I'm kinda going for the top end of the market here. Would anyone be interested and what would you expect to pay? If I threw out a figure of €100 a month or €1000 a year how would that sound? More/Less? Please PM me or reply here.

Ruairi

[knk]

Sounds like an ideal car storage set-up. The kind of place where I would feel happy to leave my car knowing it was safely stored.

I know lots of people who paid about €100-€150 per month for high-end car storage with good facilities but most have resorted to storing the car at home undercover as money is tight. I would try aim your prices in around the €50-€75 mark just for storage. If you were willing to give people a dedicated Car Bay were they could work on their project then maybe €100-€150 would be a good price. If someone was restoring a car they could budget €600 into the restoration to cover 6 months at your place.

Seeing as you will have 3 phase power you could always pick up some cheap garage equipment like, lifts, wheel balancers, compressors etc. and charge people a small extra fee for their use.

You could have a small spare parts section with all the usual VW service items, so if someone is doing work and has booked the car lift for an hour and doesn;t want to run out an get more oil then they could buy directly from you, saves time.

A vending machine in the corner with the usual drinks-n-snacks would be good idea!

Can you get where I'm going with this??? DIY Garage!!!

The main problem with any venture like this Insurance! Have you thought about that?

Best of luck, I think more places like this should try and set-up around the country and work on a more club based spirit.

[knk]

Here's one I came across a while ago. Food for thought!

http://www.pitstartgarage.com

[Gritz]

best of luck Ruari, I'd avoid getting into any thing other than basic storage, beacuse of the expense in provding and maintaining these facilities like lifts etc. and the insurance side of things. never mind the potenial for damage to other vehicles.
once you allow people to start working on the car in the premises it will snowball and you'll have half finished cars sitting on axlestands with parts lying around everywhere.

keep it simple, the more you do for people the more they'll want...for free

[JustinOval]

Out of my range now, but I was paying €100pm for a single garage during the good times.

Sounds reasonable to me, but you do need to find good tenants.

[Horizontal]

There is definitely a market - there's a guy near Kilcullen called Harry Cole who charges 150 euro for less facilities and is always full. Mind you, he has close connections to the Blessington club among others so his clients tend to own higher end metal.

Depends on your attitude to risk but there's a market for classic car storage - how its pitched and priced may require some experimentation.

[Mr Browne]

I'm thinking of only doing Beetles or smaller - can fit more in :-)

I definitely don't want people fixing their cars - it will end up somewhere when guys go to get away from their wives! I want a nice residual income for almost no effort!!!

[jdman]

ill put my bus in there for the winter if you open it.

[Mr Browne]

Deadly - here is a layout

The 4 cars/buses trapped in the back would have to be long termers at a lower rate. The big thing is my caravan which I can roll in and out as needs be. The other 12 spots should be easy to get in and out of.

The cars in the image are a mixture of small (Beetle) and medium (Stag) sized. No Mustangs! I'll make a decision soon.

[trev]

they're well sandwiched in!! I presume gojacks would be used to get them out? you couldn't let owner #1 manouever by "feel" out of a spot, could you?

[RattyOval]

Is this the garage in your house?

[JustinOval]

Blimey! Is this in a house?

[p0x]

That is pretty cool. Prices & quality vary wildly. I was in the same place as Justins a while back. €100 per month for a space in a big ol barn out in the middle of nowhere with severely limited access & plenty of muck about too. Extremely annoying to have to give 48hours notice to get at yer vehicle. Place where I have my bus stored now has open storage space similar idea to this - not as clean/modern, pretty basic, but it is secure and dry with 7day 8am to 8pm access, 15min from city. Very quiet ex-farm property. 3 adjoining barns fully enclosed with solid floors. Floodlit, guard (barks a lot!) dog & 2 locked gates to go thru before getting at vehicles. Owner lives nearby too. Mainly campers, caravans & boats. But there are a few classics in there including 2 t25s. No maintenance or messing around allowed, but there is facilities to wash your vehicle before or after storage. He can get in about 20-30 vehicles depending on size so he charges €300per annum for a space, whether you have a modern camper or morris minor. Theres a pretty big waiting list too.

[JustinOval]

Oh yeah, forgot about Liam's place - I was talking about the garage I had out here.



(BTW my 's' key has just started working again, after a restart. Odd...)

[kvinyl]

Looks great Ruairi, fairly well packed in there! Would you gain any extra comfort of they were parked along one wall at angle?

[alanfitz]

I would keep my bus in there over the winter too

[vwbeetle1500]

Ruari - it's a really good idea & certainly something that is in demand.

I'd echo Gritzs comments about keeping it simple, no fancy stuff.

I'll have to find something to store .

[Mr Browne]

Ok! Bare in mind this is in Naas in a commercial estate and it is not a barn and it is not a house down the bog where ye have garages the size of aircraft hangars!!! Prices for storage are not cheap 20 miles from Dublin and just off the M7 so it is never going to be spacious. However if I space the cars out a bit better and have less big Stags and more small Beetles and if I stick the two boys vans in the back for the winter (and take out the caravan temporarily) it looks like attached.

What I am trying to achieve here is to get the small office (under the storage area shown) for free by covering the rates and rent by storing vehicles. I am not a chancer though - I know how much people care about their cars so I want to do it properly if I am doing it.

I can't compete on price with barns, but I can compete on moisture levels, facilities, comfort, security, and location. I'm liking the feedback so far.

[Mr Browne]

Looks great Ruairi, fairly well packed in there! Would you gain any extra comfort of they were parked along one wall at angle?

I modeled that scenario too (you know what a nerd I am). They fit nicely and look cooler but you have issues with doors and paintwork and also if any of the cars have a small turning circle the wall gets awful close.

[Mr Browne]

Ok! Bare in mind this is in Naas in a commercial estate and it is not a barn and it is not a house down the bog where ye have garages the size of aircraft hangars!!! .

I just realised that Justin and Deckie might have genuinely thought it was a house rather than slagging the small size of it!! Twould be big for a house, but it is actually a small warehouse with a retail/office unit out front.