Storage Information

Absolutely not – we store all manner of cars, for all sorts of reasons. 

Transportation can be arranged. Please call to discuss. 

If you are driving the car to us then we will happily drop you at a local railway station (it’s around two hours and twenty minutes to London).

We can arrange to get a local garage to service and MOT the car prior to collection. 

An alternative is to have the car transported to your usual garage shortly before you want it back, and have them carry out the work. You can then collect direct from them. We will work with you to find a solution that is easiest for you.

If travelling abroad, consider taking details from your registration document (V5C) with you, as it may be useful to be able to tax the car online immediately prior to your return.

We offer a basic parked storage or a storage with a regular run up to working temperature. We have found there is a limit to how long the regular run up service is effective. There are components on a car that are time limited that are changed at a service, in particular cam belts.

It would be unwise to keep running a car over the long term without getting things like this changed. Taking the cam belt as an example, manufacturers recommend changing them every 4 to 6 years. We have cars here that have been in storage for 8 years, so in effect would have need this doing twice.

If you are considering long term storage, it may be more cost effective to not run the car regularly and then have a larger recommissioning service done at the end of the storage period.

There are some cars where the manufacturers recommend that they are connected to a battery conditioner (new Aston Martins and Bentleys, for example). Other cars like MGBs which have two expensive 6-volt batteries are also worth fitting conditioners to.

For most other cars we suggest you save the £1/week charge and put that towards a new battery if it is needed at the end of the storage period. In most cases, in 18 months you would have saved enough to buy a new battery, and in many cases the battery is fine after this length of time.

Advising on the insurance of cars in storage is a slightly tricky issue. This is because the Finance Services Act states you have to be qualified and independent to advice on insurance matters. We are therefore unable to advise customers as to what to do. We can, however, say the following:

Unlike some storage companies, ALL CARS ARE FULLY INSURED WHILE IN OUR CARE. THIS MEANS WHEN THEY ARE STORED, TRANSPORTED AND DRIVEN BY US. They are insured against fire, theft and accidental damage. 

Many customers chose not to continue with their own insurance. Customers should discuss their insurance with their brokers and always inform their insurers that their car is being stored at The Automobile Storage Co.

We believe we offer the most affordable storage in the UK. We do, however, have to add a premium for storing cars over £20,000 in value – this reflects the increase in insurance premium we have to pay.

There is no need to keep your taxed while in storage. You will need to declare the car off-road and complete what the DVLA call a SORN declaration. You get a refund on any paid tax as well – you can do this online here, or the form can be downloaded here.

It is always better to store the car full of fuel, so please try and fill up before you arrive.  Petrol goes off when exposed to air. The less air there is in the tank, the better it lasts. Also, try and fill up with quality fuel from a premium site rather than supermarket fuel. For petrol cars, we always suggest filling up with Superplus Unleaded rather than regular.

Make sure you take out anything you might need from the car (favourite CDs, sunglasses, passport, etc).

Please ensure you don’t leave anything edible in the car (sweets etc). We have never had an issue with rodents but we can’t be too careful!