# 2012 Volkswagen GTI - winter car storage tips wanted

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-volkswagen-gti-winter-car-storage-tips-wanted/129621>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** gti, volkswagen\
**Created:** [November 26, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-volkswagen-gti-winter-car-storage-tips-wanted/129621 "2018-11-26T16:52:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DakotaWeinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DakotaWeinman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/DakotaWeinman)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-volkswagen-gti-winter-car-storage-tips-wanted/129621/1 "2018-11-26T16:52:29Z")

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Hello, I am looking for some advice for storing my car in the winter. I am a college student in Cleveland and with the way my winter break travels worked out I will be leaving my car in a parking garages for about a month. I was wondering what steps I should take before leaving that will be best for the car. Some things I have read are disconnecting the negative terminal of the battery, and since it is a manual to leave the car in gear rather than use the parking break. Looking forward to hearing what sort of advice you guys have!

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**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2012-volkswagen-gti-winter-car-storage-tips-wanted/129621/2 "2018-11-26T17:31:49Z")

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Don’t do anything. Cars are designed to sit for a month and longer. This isn’t storage, this is just extended parking.

Putting the car into gear instead of using the parking brake is a good idea as long as there is no possibility of the car rolling away. Maybe a wheel chock depending on where you will be parking it. Or up against a parking block on the down-slope side. If none of that is possible, go ahead and set the parking brake. The car is a manual so I assume you use the parking brake regularly so there is little likelihood of freezing up.