How Much Does Car Storage Cost in the UK?

Car storage in the UK runs from about £35 a month for an outdoor compound to £400 or more for a humidity-controlled indoor bay. Most owners who want the car indoors and properly looked after pay between £150 and £250.

At Pitstop 66 in Stalybridge, secure indoor storage is £150 a month for the first three months, then £165. Humidity-controlled storage is £200, then £225. Both include VAT. The minimum stay is one month, and we collect within 65 miles by arrangement.

That is the short answer. The rest of this page covers what each tier actually buys, which costs tend not to appear until you ask, and how to tell a £150 facility that is worth it from one that is not.

What car storage costs across the UK

Those are national averages. London and the South East sit noticeably higher. The North West is among the better-value parts of the country for indoor storage at this standard, which is worth knowing if you are willing to drive an hour.

What actually drives the price

Whether the air is managed, not just the roof

This is the biggest single jump in the table. An unheated barn keeps rain off a car and does very little else. Damp air still moves through it, and damp air is what does the damage.

Above roughly 60% relative humidity, moisture starts to work on steel, inside sills, on brake discs, along chassis rails where nobody looks. Below about 45%, the opposite problem: leather dries and cracks, rubber seals harden, dashboards split. A managed environment sits between the two. Ours is held at 55% and measured rather than assumed.

If a facility describes itself as climate controlled, ask what the actual number is and how it is monitored. A heater on a thermostat is not humidity control.

What is in the price, and what is billed on top

A low headline figure can hide a good deal. Things commonly charged separately:

• Battery conditioning or a trickle charger
• A breathable indoor cover
• Periodic condition checks
• Tyre pressure management
• Collection and delivery
• Getting the car out at short notice

Ask for the monthly figure with everything you actually want added in. That is the only number worth comparing between facilities.

What “secure” means in practice

Almost every facility says CCTV. Fewer will tell you whether anyone watches it, whether the building is alarmed and monitored, who holds keys, and whether the site is gated to the public. Those are the questions that separate a real answer from a sticker on a door.

Where the facility is

Geography moves the price more than anything except the building itself. The same standard of storage costs materially less in the North West than inside the M25. If the facility collects, its distance from you matters a good deal less than its price does.

What we charge, in full

All figures include VAT. A breathable cover and an automatic battery conditioner are available as add-ons and come with the premium package. Valeting, detailing and transport are quoted separately because what people want varies enormously.

Every car, on both tiers, goes through the same eight-stage intake when it arrives: condition photographed, keys and ID tagged, interior protected, washed, tyre pressures raised, air dried, battery and fluids checked, brake discs cleaned.

Classic car storage: £150 to £300

Classics need the humidity managed more than modern cars do. Older paint, chrome brightwork, leather, wood and cloth all suffer faster in damp air, and a car that has survived fifty years can lose ground quickly in one bad winter indoors.

Specialist classic storage generally runs £150 to £300 a month. Where it goes above that you are usually paying for ongoing recommissioning, periodic running, fluid changes, MOT arrangement, rather than for the bay itself.

Supercar and luxury storage: £250 to £500+

Wider bays, more careful handling, and usually more frequent movement in and out. Owners of Bentleys, Aston Martins, McLarens and the like tend to want the car available at short notice rather than mothballed, and that access is part of what the higher price buys.

The dearest option is not automatically the best one. What matters is the combination of a managed environment, someone actually looking at the car, and a facility that answers the phone.

Eight questions to ask before you book anywhere

• Is it fully indoors, and is humidity actively managed? What number, and how is it measured?
• Are battery conditioning and a cover included, or charged on top?
• What is the minimum stay, and what notice do you need to get the car out?
• Is the price quoted including VAT?
• Is anyone physically looking at the car, and how often?
• Is the site gated and alarmed, or just fenced with a camera on it?
• Do you collect and deliver, and what does that cost?
• Can I come and see the building before I decide?

A facility that includes most of that in the monthly fee can look more expensive at first glance and work out cheaper once the extras are added to the cheaper quote.

Why the cheapest option often costs the most

Six months in an unheated garage or a self-storage container is where the following tend to come from:

• Flat-spotted tyres from standing on cold concrete
• A battery too far gone to recover
• Brake disc corrosion needing machining or replacement
• Mould on leather and carpet from uncontrolled damp
• Paint marked by condensation running off a non-breathable cover

Any one of those can cost more to put right than a year of the difference between cheap storage and good storage. The saving is usually borrowed from the car.

Frequently asked questions

The short version

Expect £150 to £250 a month for indoor storage worth having, and check what sits outside that figure before you compare it with anything. If the air is not managed and nobody looks at the car, you are paying for a locked door.

We are in Stalybridge, twenty minutes from Manchester, and we collect within 65 miles by arrangement. Call 0161 464 7494 or send us a note and we will tell you what your car would cost to store, without a sales process attached to it.