I was thinking today about the pros and cons of parking in your garage. What do you think of my list below? Any comments or additions to the list? Pros 1. Keep the car cleaner 2. Help the paint job on your car last longer 3. Help to prevent the interior from fading due to sun exposure 4. Room to do various activities (ex: sports) on the driveway 5. Avoid bad weather when entering or exiting house (ex: rain or snow) 6. Easier to unload things like groceries, especially when it is raining or snowing outside 7. Don’t have to worry about scrapping snow off of your car 8. Safety (you don’t have to worry about someone hiding in your bushes waiting for you to enter your front door) 9. If the zombie apocalypse comes and your house is surrounded, it’ll be easier for you to escape if you can go into your garage & get into your car to drive away Cons 1. You can’t store as much stuff in your garage 2. If you’re a bad driver you can run into your house or storage items while parking into your garage 3. Safety- I saw a Criminal Minds episode where the bad guy crouched beside the car and followed it into the garage. It wasn’t until the homeowner closed their garage door that they realized they were then stuck in their house with a criminal. 4. If you have a pet that likes to sneak into your garage (like my cat does) then they can potentially escape or get run over
I'd have to drive down the ally get out of my car open the gate then open the garage then get back in the car park it then have to close the gate and garage.
I can think of two big advantages to parking in a garage: Protection from the weather and from thieves. Me, I hate the thought of parking out on the street. Anyone could come along and hit my car if I do that. Besides, I have a perfectly good garage, why not use it? I never store much stuff in it anyway, other than my car and assorted lawncare gear.
My apartment complex has a large parking garage. Pluses: Stays somewhat cleaner (the garage is extremely dusty) I don't have to clean snow off in the winter (this winter was a bitch, but it only snowed a few times while I was at work & the biggest snows were while I was home) Safer than it being outside My Jeep is black, so it stays cooler on summer days that I'm home Negatives: I can't see it (I can park outside with a direct line of sight...good for aiming) Extra flight of stairs to get groceries inside Cars in the garage have gotten keyed (unfortunately, you can't keep all the garbage out)
We apparently have some bored teenagers in our neighborhood. Last fall, they went around smashing car windows and keying cars just for fun. They got caught, the dumbasses, but hubby and I were the only ones on our block without damaged or scratched cars. Why? Because we're the only ones who park in our garage. And our car insurance gives us a discount because we park in a private garage and not on the street.
I definitely park my car in my garage. Last year I moved from a quiet little subdivision on the outskirts of town to a crowded city street. I never worried about leaving my car in my parent's driveway before I moved, but now I would worry too much if my car was parked in the street in front of my house.
Most of the houses in my suburb have carports rather than garages but we don't have to worry about snow. As I don't have a car I just use my carport to dry by washing under on a rainy day.
I know my insurance would cost a bit less if my car were parked in a locked garage overnight, but unfortunately I live in an older apartment building that has parking for its tenants in a roofed-over carport off the back alley. It's not secure but at least it's better than having to park on the street.
I wish I had a garage, and I hope to build one on at some point, but I can't do it just yet. Here's another pro to parking in a garage: You won't have to change your headlights so often. The UV light from the sun is a major cause of plastic headlights becoming foggy. If you park outside facing south, you will have to change headlights every few years. Mine typically only last about 3-4 years before needing to be changed, and at ~$300 and a couple hours of my time to change them, it's something I'd rather not do if I can help it.
^ Use oven cleaner. It won't get them absolutely perfect, but it may be enough to satisfy you and save you quite a bit of money.
The problem isn't that they're dirty, but that the UV radiation makes the plastic cloudy. They can be polished up and that helps some, but it's only a short-term fix.
I park in my garage every night. One Con that hasn't been mentioned yet: For automatic garage doors, when the power goes out in the house the garage door won't open automatically. Of course there is the manual opening with the cord that you can pull to lift the door, but this can be a pain when trying to do it in the early morning with only flashlights. (This happened to me one morning when I was leaving extremely early to head to Baltimore for a weekend concert. Not sure what had happened because the power was out throughout the entire town and half way through Fayetteville. Even the street lights weren't working).
I assume you mean the clear plastic headlight fairings, not the bulbs. I suppose I should always try to find a shady spot or a spot facing away from the sun when I park outdoors. That's one problem we didn't have back when American cars were required to have sealed-beam headlights.
I loved having a garage in the winter. Not having to scrape your car's windshield or brush it off in the morning is so nice. Of course now that I'm living in NYC I don't even have a car anymore. You can be sure I'll buy a house with a garage when I move back to Canada in a few years though!
I park my car in the garage for all of the pro reasons, but there is one con that hasn't been listed. In climates where is snows storing the car in the garage is actually worse for the car from a rust standpoint. Most garages maintain an above freezing temperature which means that the entire car goes through cycles of freezing and thawing every day. This exposes it to more water, with salt dissolved in it if your jurisdiction uses salt, than just leaving it out in the freezing weather all winter.
Another Pro: Your car won't be covered in bird poo every morning, when all the birds migrate to your area for the the spring.