Security of rented council garages

[bungle]

Been looking into council garages recently (£7/wk). But it's just nagging me that they're not going to be the most secure places in the world to store a car. If I was looking to nick a car, I'd probably hang around council lock-ups, look at cars going in and out, and if I wanted to nick one I’d know that I probably wouldn't disturb anyone as the garages aren't attached to houses so no-one's likely to see / hear. I can't imagine the council are likely to have CCTV watching over the garages...

So are they cheap for a reason (ie. they're not secure)? Am I better off just leaving a car on the street, or am I just being overly pessimistic about the state of today's society and the likelihood of my car being stolen from a council garage? I'd prefer to be able to lock it up, but not if I'm paying money out to make it more likely to be stolen!

Getting a garage means I can probably get away with buying another car though...

[aka_kerrly]

I have a few council garages in a block of around 20 units and from my experience it pays to get to know the neighbours and who comes/goes on a regular basis.

You would be surprised what gets kept in a council garage, some of my neighbours have garages full of rubbish, others Porsches. The thing is the garages that have the most padlocks and additional security are often the ones that get targeted!

Touch wood - In 5 years of using rented garages I have not had any problems even though potentially hundreds of people have now walked past and had an opportunity to see what is being stored.

[welshjohn]

we rent 2 and had permission to put more secure locks on them and ground anchors inside for the bikes

[falkster]

Unless you can get some sort of secure lockup where your cars, tools will be safe I'd never want anything else other than my garage at home.
I'm lucky as I have my garage at home with space for my 968 and tools plus man den but I've also got a good friend that has a huge warehouse that allows me to do stupid eBay purchases after a few drinks and keep my cars there so the wife doesn't get to know.
I wouldn't be happy having a council garage because they're never I'm great locations, they're always a magnet for kids messing around and it only takes a little bit of nosing by the kids to see its your P&J then the garage gets broken into and it either gets stolen or vandalised!!
Not worth it!

[aka_kerrly]

Not all council garages are on in the rough end of the ghetto.

[EDLT]

The council run garages seem to be the secure ones around here. There was a privately owned block and all they had were rotting wooden doors and pound shop padlocks.

[matchmaker]

Mine is overlooked by the backs and back gardens of a number of houses. Not a bad area as well, and me and my son are a familiar sight there. No worries.

[ovlov60]

I had a council garage for about fours years which I used to store my Westfield. The only thing I had happen was some kids sprayed some paint on the door. The locals were a lot friendlier than the snobs on the housing estate where I used to live.

[falkster]

aka_kerrly said:

Not all council garages are on in the rough end of the ghetto.

Im sure there are exceptions but every council garage I've seen, in the three towns I've experienced, have always been close to ghettos - always had evidence of break ins and not very secure or covered by any sort of security.

[PumpkinSteve]

I got one about five months ago, in a block of six or so. My Dad and me have two of the garages and ours have been fine (my Dad has had his for over 10 years) but the others are regularly broken into, sometimes numerous times per week. The others are used for storing household ste, which is against our council rules and probably the reason why they are broken into every few days. I admit to being really worried when I first got mine but it seems to be going okay, my Dad said once the neighbours had seen me in and out with my car they would leave it and they have up until now.

[EDLT]

Why would you break into the garages full of household st, but not the one with a car?

Is there a black market for broken washing machines and tins of paint?

[PumpkinSteve]

EDLT said:

Why would you break into the garages full of household st, but not the one with a car?

Is there a black market for broken washing machines and tins of paint?

I don't think our cars are particularly desirable to anyone TBH, mine is brand new but only a lowly Polo, not exactly the kind of car a young chav would aspire to steal. I think they just break into the others because they are breaking the rules more than anything else, the council used to hand them out to anyone but when I got mine I had to provide insurance details, my driving licence and V5.

[essayer]

EDLT said:

Why would you break into the garages full of household st, but not the one with a car?

Is there a black market for broken washing machines and tins of paint?

Bit hard* to nick a car, while old washing machines (scrap metal), tools, paint etc all easy to move on and get cash for.

• unless it's a E90 3-series

[nagsheadwarrior]

Its worth checking out caravan storage places,many are outdoors but some will have under cover and they tend to be very secure.
I rent two slots in an under cover but open fronted building on a caravan storage site for only £5.00pw per car, currenty have a cobra rep one side of me and a DB9 the other,dunno what they think of my dust covered brown Suzuki Alto when its in residence!