langwot

Going abroad for two years. Better to store Fit, or just let a friend drive it occasionally? If not stored, how often should it be driven, and for how many miles, in town or highway or both? Long-range storage of a car involves lots of extra steps and it's not foolproof.... Would really appreciate input from the forum. Langwot

TunerN00b

I'd sell it, but that's me.

There are a few different procedures for storing a car. The important ones include getting oil into the cylinders for protection, getting car off the tires, and disconnecting the electrical (at least the battery) or using a battery tender.

If you can't store it on jackstands, inflate the tires to max pressure before parking. they still might suffer from being parked in one spot for 2 years though.

Don't set the parking brake. Chock a tire to prevent rolling if on the wheels.

Google provides many sites listing steps to store a car. First result for me:
http://www.wikihow.com/Store-a-Car

langwot

Thank you, TunerN00b. Storing a car is so much trouble, you've practically persuaded me to sell the car, put the proceeds in the stock market and see what I can afford in two years. Lots less trouble.

jrzy2nR

just gamble the money away at a casino....at least you will have fun saying bye to it or maybe you could win some

langwot

I'm an optomist, and I'm lazy. What if I didn't sell the car but just had a friend drive it 30 miles once a month - would that be enough to keep it in good working order?

jrzy2nR

all depends man...what if they get in an accident

TunerN00b

I don't know about the stock market, but a 2 year CD would be tempting to me.

Keep the car and it depreciates over time. Having it depreciate without even driving/using it = waste of money.

Of course, this is being written by someone with a car that hasn't been moved in nearly 2 years. The tires have flat spots, even inflated to max pressure, but I have turned the engine over every couple of months to keep it from rusting internally. What I really hate is having to prime the mechanical fuel pump first, and since I lack proper equipment means disconnecting the fuel hose from the carb and sucking the gas from the tank through the pump...

Well, you can see why my opinion of storing a car is tainted by personal experience.

screaminj

Sell it. If you love the Fit, you can always buy another when you come back, by which time there will be the newer Fit, perhaps even a hybrid version of it.

Storing the vehicle not only is costly, it is also bad for the engine if not started and driven in a long period of time.

I was in the military, left my truck in storage for 2 years, though it was fine, but wish i had sold it before leaving. Two years of depreciation can be a small fortunate too.

I'd say: sell it.

screaminj

Another thing inevitable is insurance payment and the risks. Who's gonna pay for insurance with your friend driving your car once now and then? What if an accident occurs? If you sell it, you are free of care, nothing to worry about for two whole years.

jamaicantourist

sell

imzjustplayin

If you've got a garage to store it in, just store it. It's too much hassle to buy a car and if you really like the car you bought with all the features and things you wanted, then getting that car two years from now in really good condition and maybe relatively low mileage is going to be next to impossible. I've got two cars I keep parked 99% of the time with one that was parked for nearly 2 years. Bad stuff can and does happen to these cars when they're parked a long time but for the most part, if you change the oil before starting up the car after having it parked for two years, it'll be fine. I found that when my FJ was parked for a long while before getting its oil change, it idled kinda high and a little rough, got it its "free" oil change and it ran smooth from there. As for the other vehicle which I kept parked for a long time, I found the tires to NOT have flat spots.

Are you sure you can't just get a friend to drive the car once every 6 months? Once every 6 months is enough to prevent the car from getting "too weird" so to speak. Just make sure your friend drives the car all the way till it's warmed up, like driving on the highway for 10 miles, then go back and park the thing.

I think the hassle of dealing with a car that is in storage is a lot easier than buying and selling a car unless you couldn't give two ***** whether or not you get the exact same car again and get a good price on both the selling and buying of the car.

97tegmike

sell the car

crvpimpin

I can't believe no one asked if the car was paid off.
If it's nt paid off then sell it, if it's paid off then think about keeping it.
And if you don't mind me asking where your going and if u just can't take it with u when u go. If your in the millitary going to europe take it with you you'll love it and you can't get sweet parts there. Just my $0.02 jl