Car Storage Facility As An Events Venue…Good Or Bad?
Over the past couple of years, car storage has become a trendy business to start.
Much of the drive for this has come from the surge in popularity in classic or soon-to-be classic cars. The sudden value increase in Porsches (especially air cooled ones) is a notable example.
Another reason for this is in places like California, new housing (even luxury housing) is not coming with enough garage space for even two cars! Car magnates and celebrities like Matt Farah are starting their own high priced, high amenity facilities to accommodate their own needs as well as other customers.
Many of these car storage upstarts aren’t just storing cars or performing services directly related to car care as we do. They are offering up the same facility as event space, a meeting venue, and some even have a restaurant on site.
While we understand the crossover appeal and the parallels to other similar businesses (golf courses, horse stables, etc) we have some concerns we felt the need to pass onto anyone considering storing their car at a facility that also offers it up as an even space:
Event Guests May Damage YOUR Car – While many of these facilities will go out of their way to tell you that the event space is separate from vehicles stored, photos of said event space sometimes tell a different story. Tables are placed right up against the velvet rope between party guests and cars. Alcohol and kids, set against expensive cars and sensitive paint is a dangerous mix.
Facility Is Not Permitted to Have Events – We and many other car storage facilities own the property at which the vehicles are stored but many of these other facilities lease their locations. Many of these leases for warehouse space forbid them from being used as an event venue. This may not seem like a direct concern for a customer whose car is stored there, but at second look, it could be.
A business whose owners do not follow a lease will be fined. Fines may eat into a business’s operating cash forcing them to become insolvent. Additionally after enough violations, the landlord may force their tenant out, leaving the safety of your vehicle in flux. Finally, if the business owners are not honoring their agreement with the landlord, what are the chances they try to pull a fast one with your storage contract?
What Are the Owners REALLY Focused On – AAAA Auto Storage & Park is dedicated to the care of a customer’s vehicle. That’s it. We choose not to focus on other ‘verticals’ because we believe it detracts from the core of what our customer base really wants.
Those who start a business such as ours, but also want revenue from the facility as an event space may have other priorities in mind. Plainly, they just see the place as a vehicle by which to squeeze every dollar of revenue out. It could also be that this is a lifestyle business for someone who has made their money elsewhere and just wants to do something ‘cool’ or ego driven. If possible, try to do research on the ownership before storing your car at its facility.
We know this post was kind of ‘in the weeds’ but we feel that if you have an expensive car you want to store somewhere, you should understand all of the angles within the industry so you can make the best decision possible. Happy storing and driving!