Hello everybody…
I may travel abroad for few years and I was thinking about buying a new car and storing it
I may need to store it for up to 5 years
I really would appreciate opinions on this idea with explanations
and reference guidelines to how to store a car for that long would be nice too
good day
Why would you buy it, then stick it in storage for 5 years? Pay to store it, have it depreciate, rubber parts dry out, etc. Go do what you gotta do, then come back and buy a new car then (or buy the same year/make/model at a substantial discount as a 5 y.o. used car).
Lets see, 5 year depreciation cost, insurance and registration fees, storage charges and new tires when you return. If you want to just throw money away I can sell you the Brooklyn bridge.
thanks a lot man …
the reason is that cars prices get extremely higher everyday in my stupid country 
and I won’t make much money later … I’ll be spending money instead
VOLVO V70 … i really have no experience in that field so um asking for advice
although i think i can skip registrations and no insurance either
You do not say where you are located but I seriously doubt you can skip registration for each year or have a really large penalty for doing so. Take the money you would spend for a storage unit and send it to a savings account each month and you will most likely beat inflation.
Also if the unit fees are tied to a credit card while you are gone and it expires your unit can be sold at auction for non payment no matter what is in it. You really need to just forget this whole idea.
When I ran a storage facility we sold a unit that a person had forgot to send his monthly fee for 3 months that had a bass boat in it. For $500.00
Another consideration is that you’ll essentially be throwing away your warranty.
I’m afraid I see no good reason to do what you’re considering.
It wouldn’t be a good investment. It would be better to pay yourself and save up for a new car that you can buy new in 5 years.
As the others all say, stupid idea.
Doing this is a total mistake for many reasons which others have mentioned. As to skipping registration, that may not be adviseable either.
Here in OK for instance you could skip 5 years but when you go to bring the registration up to date they’re going to charge you for those skipped 5 years along with penalties for doing so.
The only way you can get a partial out is if you have a receipt from a verified shop stating the car has been down for a major problem related to the engine, transmission, or major body work.
That will be hard to swallow on a brand new car.
I’m sure other states have similar laws.
Take the money you’ll spend today on a new car and put it into a Vangard mutual fund. When you return, use the money to buy a new car. With the extra money, take a trip. In addition to the rubber parts, trying to keep gas from clogging everything up for that long will be hard and keeping rodents out regardless of where it is stored. Just not a good idea.
thanks guys
I don’t see what the problem would be with registration & insurance if the vehicle is stored on private property. Of course you’d be taking a chance if fire, flood, etc were to happen. If I were going to do something like this, I’d want it stored in an indoor, climate controlled place outside of the sun & elements. Personally, I wouldn’t want to deal with a vehicle that had been “sitting” for years. I have one now, although the one I have sat outside in the elements. 5 years is a long time, expect all kinds of problems with dry rot, and at least a few electrical gremlins.
To paraphrase Tom & Ray on a similar question. In 5 years that $20,000 car is still going to be a 5 year old car worth $9,000. Put that $20,000 in the stock market and in 5 years it could be worth as much as $14,000 or $15, 000. 
thanks a lot man ... the reason is that cars prices get extremely higher everyday in my stupid country :) and I won't make much money later .. I'll be spending money insteadWell, then I don't know how you're going to get decent answers from a forum of (mostly) North Americans, who are unfamiliar with your (unstated) country and its intricacies.
All I know is where I live, to store a car, I’d need to pay a monthly garage rental…or store it out in the sticks and worry about 2- and 4-legged vandals; it would age even not being driven, and it would be worth a lot less than it was when parked.
$20,000 would buy a nice lot in a middle class neighborhood in many cities in this country and the taxes and upkeep would be minimal. In 5 years the value of that lot would be reflective of the economy, likely significantly higher your cost. But then at the current price of gold 18 Krugerrands might be a worthwhile investment. A bank safety deposit box is quite cheap.
Buying a new car and leaving it to rust and deteriorate and depreciate for 5 years seems to be a very poor investment unless you have an uncannilly good sense of car values.
Maybe if we knew what country we were talking about? Greece vs. Poland? At any rate, there are a number of ways to maintain the buying power of currency so that a car can be bought in 5 years. Sorry but gold, silver, copper etc. are on their way down for a while and not a good way to go. Real estate maybe but very illiquid and can be risky depending. You want something liquid with reasonable certainty that it will gain in value. Euros are cheap right now but who knows where they are going? Don’t know how fast cars are appreciating in other parts of the world but the world has been in the economic dumps for a number of years and the price of cars should reflect that.
Well @Bing, I just can’t think of anything worse to invest money in than a new automobile… other than a mobile home.
Except for investors buying valuable classics, cars are not an investment, just a necessary expense. Buying a new car now allows depreciation, warranty expiration, and expiration of that “new car feeling”. It’s a 5 year old car before you even drive it. I would also argue that engines are designed to be run, and, depending on where and how it’s stored, the possibility exists of corrosion developing in places you don’t want it.
It sounds like the OP lives in a high inflation country. Top on that list is Venezuela, where inflation is running at 65% per year. In which case it absolutely makes sense to buy a car now and store it for later. In high inflation countries, people are exchanging cash that’s losing value at an alarming rate for consumer goods that get much costlier every month.
And in Greece people are buying everything they can get their hands on.
Well, that just means you need to put your wealth into something other than local currency. As mentioned, right now is a great time to “buy low” in scrap metal, with the hope of “selling high” at some later date. Plus, scrap doesn’t depreciate, though it may well “walk out the door” during a 5-year absence.