Who actually parks their car in the garage?

Well it's starting to get cold here in the deep South with overnight temps in the mid to high twenties. It's too bad that I can't park my car which is my primary mode of transport in the garage since both my bikes, kids toys, and lawn equipment take up all the space along with my wife's Honda Pilot. I don't have a basement and my homeowner's association won't allow us to build freestanding tool sheds so I am forced to jam everything I can into our two car garage. The result is that during the winter I have to park my SUV outside in the freezing cold and when I leave for work in the morning I have to run out and start the engine so it warms up real good and defrost all the windows. The rest of the year when the weather is warm the car sits under a tree that drips sticky pollen and sap all over the bodywork and windshield requiring frequent washing. Now I know I have it easy compared to some of you guys especially those in the North who don't have a garage at all. Anyways I was just wondering how many of you guys actually park your cars in garage. It's times like this when I miss my days of being single and irresponsbile but with a two-car garage all to myself! I used to swear I would never move far away from the city but I guess my preferences are changing as I get older. My new fantasy is to own a house on some land one day and build a giant big red barn which will double as my man cave. For now I'll just have to continue parking outside and hope things are a little easier especially that I bought two Harbor Freight motorcycle dollies to help move the Viffer's around the garage.


Rollin

 

I park my car in the driveway three out of the four seasons. In the winter i re-arange my garage and park both cars and bike in there.

I just don't like scraping windows or clearing 8-24" of snow off the car just to go to work. Call me crazy.

 

My truck wouldn't fit in my garage even if it was empty! But no, only motorcycles in the garage

 

I too have my daily driver outside year round. As the 2 car garage is packed with 4 bikes and a 260z that can't be outsied for rust reasons. If I play musical bikes I can get my truck in there if I have to work on it at night but you cant walk around it too easy its a tacoma double cab so takes up all the space. I did make some room when I sold the 71' Monte last year. I was 2 cars and 3 bikes and my old roommates R6. Now I have room to really work on something its so nice to have good clean uncluttered work space, but I am sure it won't last long with my habits.
It helps to have an Standard 2 car garage with 2 single doors thats deep and wide. Looks like Rollin has one of those Metric 2 car garages.

 

I have to park my truck outside but my wife's car goes in the garage. Garage doors went out (only 3yrs old!) so it's a pain in the ass coming and going but I agree about not leaving the car outside. How do you like the dolly?
I was thinking about getting one.
My other mistake, and one I will never make again, was buying a house without a basement.

 

I have a 1 1/2 car garage (bigger then a 1 car but smaller then a 2 car). I worked out a deal with my roommate. I park both my bikes in the garage and he gets the rest of the space for his GTI. But I do move his car outside if I'm working on a bike. And with the sv650 track bike I'm building this winter looks like his car is going to be seeing plenty of outdoors this winter.

 

My vehicle will not fit in my garage either. No snow here in Jacksonville but it does get chilly at night. The 4Runner stays outside, but when its cold my heated seats get hot in about 1 minute. That works until the heater kicks in.

 

All our cars/trucks stay outside in the elements. "MY" garage is for "MY" bike and "MY" woodworking tools for "ME" to work on in "MY" spare time. The garage here is definitely Randy's space. Several years ago, I was able to get my wife's 92 civic, and my 92 Jimmy in there with all the woodworking tools, but the volume of tools has grown, and so has the size of the vehicles. And of course, the white stallion gets parked in there

 

Haven't had room for a cage in my two-car garage in years. I don't mind keeping them out in the driveway, but we have a lot of trees so there's always birdshite, leaves, seeds, and small branches on them. One's a company car and the wife's is nothing special, so who cares?

 

Two car garage here Rollin. With two of my bikes parked end-to-end along the East wall and the other two parked end-to-end along the South wall two full size cars will actually fit in the garage quite easily.

There's plenty of room,and we get our fair share of snow and sub-zero temps in the wintertime here in the Frozen Wastelands of Wisconsin,so the car gets parked in the garage year-round.
No running out to start the car on cold winter mornings for me either Rollin. My car is equipped with remote start. Best freakin' invention ever!!!

I leave the heater on in the car when I park it at night. Just get up,hit the remote start,and then hit the shower. By the time I'm ready to leave for work the car is all nice and roasty toasty warm and ready to go. The coldest part of my morning commute is the walk from the back door to the garage.

 

I just wanted to follow up with my initial post to let you know how I like the motorcycle dollies from Harbor Freight. As everything with Harbor Freight they are very heavy duty and weigh a ton but work pretty well. They are made from solid components and can accomodate up to 1250 pounds. Assembly time was about 30 minutes each since there are many bolts and nuts to tighten. Getting the bike onto the dolly is very easy with the built-in stoppers at each end. Regular price was $99 but I found a coupon in the back of one of my current motorcycle magazine for $59 each. So far I am pretty happy with them since I can just roll the bike out of the way when I need to pull out the mower or leaf vac. Wifey is also pleased since I can easily position the bike so her car door does not touch it. If space is an issue for you I highly recommend picking one up.

Rollin

 

Glad to see most have the same problem. Both our cars are garaged all year. I was just saying to my other half this morning about not enough space in the gararge. Next house will hopefully be a big shed with a little house next to it.
I am lucky, I have a two car garage with one of the spaces being deeper than standard. I can get my bike between the two cars and park in front of them without having to move the cars. But as with today pulling fairings off, one car is out in the rain. Needs a bath anyway

 

Same here, My car sits in the driveway spring summer and fall but once winter arrives the Viffer gets shoe horned into the corner and then car moves in.

 

3 car garage, my car is usually in the driveway. In the garage, my bike, wife's car, kid's toys, tool collection. I can get everything in there at the same time, but it isn't very functional, you have to think about things, with my car in the driveway, you just grab whatever you want/need. Much easier.

 

I have drawn up plans in my head many times for a building the size of a hangar that would enclose every square inch of my property, with the house sitting in the corner inside , giant doors, and a retractable roof for those pretty days. This would address all the issues with dogs, wildlife, toys etc. Vehicles could just be parked anywhere.

 

Before I owned a motorcyle, I had a 1.5 car garage in the house I owned with the ex. Neither of us ever parked in it. It just housed lots of crap.

Now with my current wife we have a single car garage, that houses my bike and lots of stuff that isn't a car.

In the house we're moving to, we have another single car garage, the wife wants it clean for her car in the winter, theres a huge shed out back. So the bike will be put in the shed for the winter, while having the garage for the rest of the year. Now we already have plans to lay out a nice path between the garage / shed so that when I want to work on the bike (I don't believe the shed will be quite big enough to store all of the usual items in it + the bike AND work on it), I can just roll it to the garage and pull the wife's car out (yay for two car wide driveways).

 

hmm, good to see the different scenarios out there.

Our garage is a storage unit. Plain and simple.

We use our 20ft cargo trailer for bike storage while the back office and porch are for any bike repairs or tool storage. At least the tools are dry and warm. Working on the rides get slowed when there is cold weather but it is covered. The cars just continue to Tough it out without cover.

 

since we have just one car and one bike, they both live in the garage. fortunately, there is plenty of room to work on either one as well.

 

My attached garage is 2 separate doors, buts its a double wide garage with no lolly columns. I can fit both my cars (Acord and Civic), workbench, fridge, various shelves, ladders, and of course, the VFR in there with no problems. Although, just this weekend the VFR was put in the corner for the winter.

I could probably squeeze my Quad Cab in there and park the older car (2003 Civic) outside, but too much of a hassle. So the truck stays outside every day of the year. I keep it washed and waxed, so fortunately, paint still looks sharp.

About 3 years ago I added on a 12 X 14 shed. This was the best $2,000 I ever spent for storage. Tractor, snowblower, Go-Kart, push mower, a bunch of power tools and hand tools, pool equipment, lawn furniture, the list goes on. With a little bit of patience and ingenuity, its amazing how much crap I can get in there, yet still be able to walk around to get to everything I need.

The boat is too long to try and get into the garage - 26 feet from prop to tip of the trailer tongue. From March though November, it stays outside under a cover, as well as under one of those outdoor garage shelters. In the winter months I store it in a barn about 15 miles away.