If you’re trying to live off the land, you probably plan to keep your vehicles running for years and years. Yet many times the need to stock up on supplies clashes with the need to shelter our cars.
Sheltering a car has been shown to decrease the frequency of maintenance and repairs, ultimately safeguarding your budget from unforeseen costs.
When your garage is stuffed to the brim with tools, supplies, and an assortment of left-overs from vacations and projects gone by, it leaves your car vulnerable to the elements. If this is true of your garage, it’s time to protect your vehicles (and your investment).
Why Shelter Is Critical to Maintaining Your Car Investment
Many people think a garage is just a convenience, not a necessity. Yet sheltering your car is beneficial in so many practical ways. It’s like the old adage: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If regularly sheltered, the lifespan of a car’s parts, performance, interior, and exterior are extended. The car should look better, run better, and last longer. Here’s why.
Balanced Temperatures
A sheltered car stays cooler in hot weather and warmer in cold weather. That reduces discomfort for people, but it also saves on costs related to the car HVAC system. You will stress the HVAC system less, and the heat, the air conditioning and the fan will last longer as a result.
Even more important, all of the delicate parts of a car stay at a more balanced temperature. This decreases shrinking during cold spells and swelling during hot spells. Shrinking and swelling are contributing factors to the decay and/or malfunction of many different parts.
Blocked Moisture
If accessible from the house, the garage keeps you dry in a rainstorm. This protects your interior as well. Also, day after day, a garage decreases rain’s impact on the car’s engine, transmission, and more. Moisture likes to seep into the different oils that lubricate your engine’s vital parts, your gear shaft, and your brakes. Sheltering also keeps water away from parts that can rust.
All-Weather Protection
A garage is protecting your paint job from sun damage. That same sunshine can fade upholstery and interior design elements. Presumably a garage will stop damage from wind, hail or snow. Exterior parts, such as light covers, and decorative elements, such as beltline molding, will last longer.
Security
Even the most experienced car thieves are unlikely to break into a garage. Plus it will stop petty thieves who target driveways, sneaking up to see if a car was left unlocked. A closed garage also discourages destructive rodents and insects.
Solving the Problem
If you have a garage, start by assessing its contents. What do you need? Where else can you store things? Then start sorting through the mess. Most garage organization tips suggest that you make piles for trash, recycling, and donations as you clean out the area.
While there are many organizational tools to buy, there are even more that you can make out of supplies you may already have. Arrange your garage to make the most important items accessible at the entrance and the least important items in the back or up high on shelves.
So, if your garage is storing everything but your car, go ahead and clean it out. Sheltering your vehicle is the best way to protect your investment in the long run.
