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Jagman

Just got a storage place on a farm 5 minutes walk from home after 15 months on waiting list. Hurrah!! Drive seems a lot bigger now!

How do members manage storage - (naive) questions I can think of at this stage: blinds/curtains closed?; extra security (eg wheel clamps)?; Thetford cassette and/or gas cylinders removed?; tanks drained?; minimal fuel left in? how often do you visit/run engine/run vehicle/move it slightly to reduce tyre deformation/ventilate it to control smells building up? Silver Screens on? plus anything I've not thought of.

Site seems good, flat gravel surface, 30 vans/mhs parked neatly in two rows - access easy, locked gate, alarmed, farmer lives on site, busy farm up unadopted farm road which goes nowhere. Insurance company OK with it. Is £200 p.a. reasonable?

Thanks in anticipation of usual MHF response!

RichardnGill · Last edited by RichardnGill on Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:33 pm; edited 1 time in total

Our van is in Storage at a Cassoa gold site which is £395 so judge the value for your self, but if you are happy with the place it must be a bargain at £200.

We don't shut curtains of blinds as I always think people will think you are hiding something worh nicking.

We do put a blanket over the front seats as the sun shines on them and might fade them.

We leave the gas on the van but make sure they are turned off at the bottle.

We empty the toilet, unless we forget Sad

. Only dont this once an no harm done.

I don't bother draining the water off in the summer but do in the winter as yopu can not just pop outside and do it if a frost is forcast.

We normally use the van at least one a month so never call up to just run the van. But I would not want to leave it for more than month. Mabey a small solar pannel might help?

As for security we have a Cat 1 alarm as the site it is on has CCTV and 24H security as well as a high fence and locked gate we dont feel the need for anythink else. But you really need to judge the situation your van is left in and take what precautions you feel as required.

Hope that is of some help.

Richard...

bandaid

I have just had an insurance theft claim refused and declined....£10,000 by my previous insurer.

The reason for this was that:

(i) the storage wasn't Cassoa.
(ii) the motorhome had no physical security device fitted. They meant a wheelclamp, Steering lock, handbrake clampy thing.
(iii) the insurance company are baskits.

Anyway for peace of mind, I'd invest the relatively small sum in a Wheelclamp, and a steering clamp. Also, I'd make sure that I left the curtains, blinds opened, dunno why, I just always do. Also, I'd think of a deadlock perhaps on the doors, including the gas locker.

Maybe I am paranoid, and I'm suggesting things that are way over the top, but having been stuffed of 10 graand, I take no chances.

I'm now in a Gold Cassoa site with more security than you can shake a big stick at, but I still have a steering lock fitted, and deadlocks on the entry doors.

Grizzly

Ours is kept at a local farm. The insurance company know but have not demanded any extra insurance. At long last the owner has just added a strong steel swinging girder to the yard where we keep it.

We have a wheel clamp and the usual alarms and engine immobilisers, leave all the blinds drawn so that the upholstery doesn't fade and we drain the tanks and empty the loo each time we leave it. I make sure all the food is in polythene boxes to deter mice but we leave everything else in it.
We did leave mouse traps one year but have not done so since.

The gas is switched off at the bottle

We covered the tyres with pieces of plywood last year in summer to keep the sun off them but there doesn't seem to have been any sun this year.

Recently we paid extra for an EHU as we were having problems on the new van with the battery discharging within a couple of weeks. This seems to have cured that problem. We did not find the small solar panel was the slightest use.

We leave cupboard, locker and fridge doors open and try to use it as much as we can.

We leave a piece of silicone oven liner under each of the windscreen wipers to stop them sticking to the windscreen if /when the sun is hot.

G

carolsrig

we pay £520 p,a for a corner plot with very little security, gates never locked !! owner never in, always on holiday, security is a sham , no camera's , we once drove in there at 2 in the morning and not a soul in sight, i could of easly be a thief !! and drove someone van out , cant wait to find somewhere else , so for £200 you got a bargain!!!

stewartwebr

I now store mine in a gold COSOA site. Been their for about 5 years. It's located about 10 miles from Edinburgh in the country. The only problem I have ever had has been with mice.

Just thinking mice might be an even bigger problem on a farm. Remember and set the traps when it starts to get colder.

Oh...I pay 365pounds a year so you have a bargain

Stewart

bandaid

Oh, BTW

Mines in Handcross near Gatwick....

£928.00 per year.

Jagman

MHF lives up to expectations!!!!!!

Thanks Richard, Adrian Bandaid, Grizzly, carolsrig, and Stewart. 'Replies already!' (typed in Neil Diamond's Jazz singer voice) and great comfort and ideas from you guys - I'm only just becoming aware of COSOA and never thought about: wipers sticking, mice, leaving cupboards and fridge open, covering tyres, bagging things in polythene, or leaving blinds open but covering upholstery to avoid fading. Will take your advice Bandaid to add security to cover insurance company scrutiny if any bad things happen. Nice to know vfm seems Ok.

Thanks again folks - great site this!

Superk