Saturday, February 27, 2010

Car Storage Tips

For some car owners, there comes a time when driving a certain vehicle just is not possible. This may be due to owning an expensive car that is not taken out in the winter weather, storing a vintage vehicle that only operates for a few months of the year, or when preparing a car to be worked on. Whatever the case may be, there are some necessary precautions that should be taken into consideration. There are several car storage tips available to help prepare a car for storage. There are some that are more in depth than others, but there are some general car storage tips that anyone can use.

Step 1: Choose the best place to store the vehicle. Remember, this is where the car will be sitting for a long period of time. Depending upon what will be done with the vehicle; there are different types of storage facilities. For some, a personal garage will be sufficient for keeping in a workable location. This is because it is conveniently located, and the owner’s tools are there as well. For others, a storage unit may be rented in order to provide sufficient space and security. One of the most important aspects of the location is the air quality. The air should be dry as to not cause the car to rust. There are climate controlled storage facilities that help with this.

Step 2: Be sure to fill the gas tank and add a stabilizer. There is a purpose for both of these actions. First, filling the gas tank with fuel prevents it from rusting on the inside. Second, whenever gasoline sits for long periods of time, it separates and can cause problems when the car is started again. Therefore, the stabilizer is very important to add.

Step 3: Get a set of tire jacks to place under the tires. This will help to take the pressure off of them and prevent them from developing flat spots. This can help to spare the owner from having to replace an expensive set of tires.

Step 4: Wash and wax the car. This helps to remove any grime that could eat away at a car’s finish as well as preventing general corrosion.

Step 5: Disconnect the battery. As batteries sit, they can leak battery acid that can corrode the inside of the car. It also helps to prevent the alarm from going off. This is a quick and simply procedure, and can help to save a lot of trouble in the long run

Step 6: Invest in a good car cover to place over the car during storage. Even though the car should be stored in a controlled environment, there are still chances that something may land on it.

These are the most basic car storage tips available. They are simple and easy to follow, yet they are effective for preparing a car to be kept away for a long period of time. Even though it may be slightly time consuming to store a car properly, it will be well worth following these car storage tips when driving season rolls around again and the car is in mint condition.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Self Storage for College Students

College students nowadays are much different than they used to be back in the roaring thirties or the explorative sixties, being an entirely different breed by intellect and responsibilities alone. In this day and age, college students go through the pain staking trouble of sometimes carrying their school work out of school premises and in many cases involving projects, they are forced to rent a building or space to use for that exact purpose. The lengths through which education takes our students nowadays bring us to a new venture of business targeting self Storage for college students.

Students would usually gather up their cash and rent for a place to keep their instruments or experimental apparatuses which they pay for on a monthly basis. These storage units or buildings are usually flats or apartments meant for big families or such and would need to be paid at a high rate, it is for this reason the students join their pay to cover their half of the rent per month while they have to use the place.

The other is in fact storage for the college student’s belongings. Students flock back to their respective states or homes during the summer vacation and have to secure a storage unit within school campus to place their belonging in until they return; the problem is that not many units would be very available if the students are too late. One tip for students to be prepared for during that hectic moment of looking for a storage unit is to book one in advance. The prices of the self storage units for college students during the school terms is much lower than those being sold off during the coming of summer since there would be more available units.

Booking a unit is quite tricky as most students would have booked reservations during the beginning of the year to have it ready by the month of April when there are nearly no more units left available to rent. Students have a choice between renting a temperature-controlled room or a non-temperature room. It’s best to choose the room most accommodating with your belongings as a television set will not function correctly if the summer heat had already melted internal parts of it, these things should factor into your decision to rent a temperature-controlled or non-temperature room. Self storage for college students has become quite a well invested business move for many people that it could rake to hundreds of thousands of dollars every summer when nearly all units are sold out.

Room sharing is permitted and is usually done with two students paying the rent cost jointly however there are consequences to have joint-controlled units; you are not the only person who can access it. It’s only recommended to keep simple items or items too big to take with you in such shared units. Take in consideration that you are storing things away for the summer so its common sense not to keep clothing in a container that could not air them out, when clothes do have ventilation in a very hot place; they somewhat perspire and start to smell unwashed which also goes for when you store refrigerators without leaving the fridge door open, they would stink up the unit and if you were sharing, that would’ve been a big problem leading to bad misunderstandings.

How to make money from PODS Auctions

What are PODS? They are a transportable form of storage that you can take with you anywhere you go that is in proper size to fit the back of a truck, stay in the garage of your home or even easy shipping as is a ship container. PODS stands for Portable-on-demand Storage and is a new innovation for those people who want to bring their business along with them at their own pace and not the pace of most shipping details. Understanding this growth in PODS usage is useful knowledge in understanding how to make money from PODS auctions.

A lot of profit can come from marketing PODS in service to many entrepreneurs. They rely on storage areas heavily and cannot help but know that safety, accessibility and flexibility to having the products move around is key essential to their business, with PODS you can easily help their business flourish and with that in tow, you can easily boost yours when PODS become a heavy reliance. Auctioning PODS is messy though, every entrepreneur out there would want to have their hands around one and if you were the manufacturer and auctioneer, you could easily rake in big money holding these out in front of them at arms length without assurance that it is theirs.

How to make money from PODS auction is to start the bid off good, pull the significance of the PODS right out of the manual and see who among them chases after it, bait a bidder with knowledge that their business can be much more efficient and actually travel alongside them if they owned one.

Business men and small time business owners would love to get their hands on your commodity and would gladly sit through an auctioning off of the PODS to try and be lucky enough to get one before your hot product runs dry and this is how to make money from PODS auctions. The key to this to target your buyers with consideration to what they sell and choose your clients well. You need to search for those business men who carry goods needing shipping containers and need speed over quantity when it comes to delivery. Shipping products takes at least a month for the items to reach their distribution areas and some businesses which aren’t so popular need to spread their products fast. It falls more in favor for you if they had bid for multiple PODS containers to ship their large number of items at once in a simple PODS convoy towards the distribution areas.

A smart way on how to make money from PODS auctions is to also invite home movers who wish to avail at least one of your PODS units, any sale is a good sale and to keep that in mind you can cater to the general populous as a helpful moving service aside from being a storage and delivery system already. PODS are the newest thing and to everyone, it beats calling a moving truck when you have a portable moving truck/storage unit that you can even attach to the back of your car or trailer.

Save money on your next Pods portable storage rental by using a Pods promo code when you reserve.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Other Uses for Self-Storage Units

Sometimes in life people find themselves almost buried in their own belongings and then find that it is prudent to rent a self storage unit in order to keep their excess stuff safe and to free up some space at the home front. However, there are actually other uses that a self storage space can be utilized for.

Self storage units can offer a cheap an effective way to pull off a multitude of actions provided you are allowed to do so in accordance with the self storage unit facility. Here are some alternative uses for a self storage unit besides just storing your stuff:

• Store Inventory for Your Home Based Business:
If you have a home based business in which you buy and sell things for a living then you know how difficult it can be at times to find space for your entire inventory. This will usually create a cluttered home and a frustrated spouse. The perfect remedy is to rent a self storage unit and store your business’ entire inventory in it. Many self storage units will even allow you to install shelving in the unit itself so you can organize and put away your inventory as you see fit. Then when you have a handful of sales you can go to your storage unit and retrieve the items needed for packing at home or if you have enough space within the unit you can set up a packing station there and prepare the packages right where the inventory is.
• Affordable Work Space: If your storage unit offers electricity then it can be utilized as a perfect work place that will be both effective and affordable. While storage units that have electricity are generally more expensive than those that do not, they will still be a lot cheaper than renting office space somewhere. Inside of your storage unit you can set up a desk, a chair, some file cabinets, and by adding a lap-top with mobile broadband you are in business. This gives you the space you need without having to claim the spare room or the living room of your home and will still be cost effective as well.
• Band Practice: So many times with ‘garage bands,’ the problem is that nobody’s garage in the band is available for band practice. A storage unit is the perfect solution. You will need to be sure that it is alright with the facility itself and be sure that you are staying within the sound ordinances of your area, but a nice storage unit will not only allow you and your band mates to jam away, but you will also leave you a place to store all of your band’s equipment afterwards.

Once again, to pull any of these ideas off you must first check with the management of the facility to be sure that it is alright. However, if the first pace won’t let you, try another. There are many self storage unit facilities that will not mind if you use your storage unit for something other than storing your stuff. Just be courteous and stay within the rules and you should be all set to utilize your self storage unit to your advantage.

How Self Storage Auctions Work

When someone has their items in a self storage unit and they neglect to pay their rent for a certain amount of time, many times the self storage facility will have the right to auction off their belongings in a self storage auction in order to recoup their lost rent money. This can represent a great opportunity for you if you are looking to pick up some items at a rock bottom price. But how exactly do self storage auctions work?

There are different ways that self storage auctions are conducted and the process is strictly up to the self storage facility that is conducting the auction. Here are the different ways that self storage units are auctioned off:

• Sealed Bid: This is the most common way that self storage auctions are conducted. In a sealed bid auction the facility manager will open up the self storage unit that is having its contents auctioned off and let people look to see what is inside. Once everyone gets an opportunity to see the contents the manager will accept everyone’s bids in a sealed envelope usually accompanied by their name and phone number. The highest bid gets the contents of the self storage unit and will then typically have 48 hours to pay for and remove all the contents from the self storage unit. In the event that the highest bid falls through, the next highest will be taken.
• Live Auction: A live auction of a self storage unit is rarer to find, but a lot more fun to attend. As with the sealed bid auction the unit is opened up so it can be inspected for contents and at a certain time the auctioneer will begin his rant. The highest bid will win and usually will have 48 hours to pay and then clear out the unit.
• Blind Auction: This is not a popular type of auction but it does occur. This is where the manager will simply post that there is a blind auction happening for a self storage unit’s contents and the unit will not be opened up, hence the term ‘blind.’ The only person who will see the contents of the unit is the one who wins the blind auction. Other than the size of the unit there is little information that can be obtained. Some places will list, ‘general items’ or ‘tools’ as an example, but most will not say anything about the contents. The manager will usually take sealed bids for a certain amount of days and the highest bid will win. Sometimes they will have a live auctioneer insteadl, but not likely as a blind auction will bring in much less than one where everyone knows what they are getting into. The same rules usually apply as to 48 hours to pay and clear out the items.

To find out where these auctions are you only have to call the self storage facilities in your area and ask them when they conduct theirs. Some will do it once a month and others will do it twice, but it is all up to each facility. While you are finding out when the auctions are you will also want to find out the format so that you can be sure it is the type of self storage auction that you will want to attend.

Most Expensive RVs

Is there anything better than loading up the family in your RV and taking off for some fun adventures somewhere across the country? The answer is yes, but only if you have half a million to $2.5 million to spare.

If you do have that kind of ‘spare change’ lying around then you too can enjoy one of the top three most expensive RVs. While these may look like other RVs in the traditional sense, the amenities and features offered are anything but typical. Whoever built these super RVs certainly subscribed to the ‘spare no expense’ theory. When it comes to comfort and extras, these three offer them all:

1. Vantare Platinum Plus: Coming in at number one, the Vantare Platinum Plus will set you back $2.5 million. It is by far the most expensive RV in the world. This rolling mansion features Swarovski crystal to compliment custom sculptures up top on the ceiling, steps that are made out of marble that lead into the cabin, leather sofas and chairs, and interior room galore. The gas tank can hold 235 gallons which makes for a hefty fill-up, though if you can afford this beauty then the price of gas is probably the last thing on your mind. Best of all the Vantare Platinum Plus has a sports car carrier that is hidden underneath the RV itself. That’s right; you can be in tow without having to show it.
2. Country Coach Prevost RV: The silver medal for the most expensive RVs goes to the Country Coach Prevost RV. At $1 million plus, this luxury RV has it all. These are the same bus conversions that you see many of the rock stars and NASCAR starts travelling around in. With room for up to ten people this RV has tons of space and comes with flat screen televisions that are bigger than the ones you would find in a typical American household.
3. Unicat Amerigo Series: Rounding out the top three is the Unicat Amerigo Series. This RV is for all you that want to be able to take your RV off road; seriously. From the outside it looks like an armored truck that is filled with money and on its way to the bank, but on the inside you would be hard pressed to find such luxury elsewhere. At half a million dollars this on and off road RV is not as spacious as the top two but it does have a full kitchen and lots of leg room. This RV can be taken down some pretty rough terrain and allows for its owner to camp in luxury at places where the standard RV would get stuck in a heartbeat. No more hiking necessary.

While there are many RVs that you can choose from if you are in the market, none will offer the comforts, the looks, or the price of these top three most expensive. However, if you can afford one of these ultimate RVs then you will certainly get to enjoy plenty of looks both while at the campground and while on the road to the campground as well.

Find RV storage facilities across the US and Canada.