Top car care tips for street parking

There are numerous reasons why your much-loved car could be out on the street. Maybe you still live with your parents and the garage is already taken. Or you share a flat with someone and their car is the one that occupies the sole under-cover parking spot.

It could be that you live in an older, inner urban area, with no off-street parking or right of way at the rear of the property. Whatever the reason, the result is the same: you’re stuck with owning a car that is vulnerable to the elements or careless drivers, or criminals.

What can you do to minimise the risk?

Don’t park under trees, if possible. It goes without saying that trees are where birds, bats, possums and cats take up residence, and it’s a well known fact that animal faeces and tree sap can be detrimental to a car’s paintwork. It’s also a known fact that droppings do drop... out of trees, onto your car if it’s parked underneath.

Park where direct sunlight won’t be a major factor during the day. Unless you live on the equator, the sun doesn’t shine down on your car from directly overhead. Parking your car across the street may afford more shade during the earlier and later times of day than when the car is parked on the same side of the street where you live.

And although parking under trees is not recommended (see above), trees may provide more shade if you can just park the car in a regular spot to take advantage of their position without the car being parked right underneath them.

Working out the best spot for your car could reduce the time it spends out in the sun to as little as three or four hours a day, which is a vast improvement on 12 or more during the height of summer.

Buy a cheap car cover. If you live in the inner suburbs and work from home or take public transport to work, it could be that your car sits in the street from Monday to Friday, only taken out for a drive on the weekend.

If that’s the case, you can keep it cocooned under a light car cover that can be purchased from an aftermarket accessories store for less than $100. It’s easily removed and folded up for transport in the boot.

Over time, a car cover is money well spent, because you won’t have to spend thousands having the car resprayed when it comes time to sell, or be forced to accept a much lower price for faded paintwork.

Make the effort to keep the car cleaned and polished. Many companies claim their brand of polish affords protection from ultra-violet rays, so if your car spends more time outdoors, spend more time keeping it polished as well. It will pay dividends in the longer term.

Find appropriate fabric, vinyl and leather treatments to protect upholstery. Apply these solutions regularly and more often than in the case of a car that is garaged.

Park for protection. Hopefully, your suburb is not the sort of locality where the residents get on the juice and attempt driving home, side-swiping three or four cars in the process... yours among them.

You can reduce the statistical likelihood of your car being damaged by a passing vehicle if you can park away from corners and in front of larger vehicles, leaving a respectable gap so that any vehicle driven by a drunk will hopefully bounce off the ute or SUV behind your car without either the moving vehicle or the stationary vehicle connecting with your own vehicle.

There’s no easy way to minimise the chance of a 20-cent pinstripe, if you own a nice car and some miscreant reckons that it should be damaged because they can’t afford to own it themselves.

A car cover (see above), makes it harder to inflict panel damage with a key or a coin, and since most vandals are lazy as well as brainless, they’ll probably move on to some other vehicle that’s a softer target.

Most modern cars are equipped with engine immobilisers, so they’re not as easily stolen as older cars, but it’s not unknown for cars to be nicked by dragging them up on the back of a tilt-tray truck. You can make it harder for that to happen by parking your car between two others.

Professional thieves would have to move one or the other car first before getting to yours. Turn the wheel left, when parking the car, making sure the left-side front wheel is hard up against the kerb. With the steering locked when you remove the ignition key, the car will be harder to steal, as it won’t tow in a straight line.

If your car is even a little bit special (the VE Holden Commodore SS with Pontiac G8 front-end is one example of a car that has been a target for thieves over the years), do take care that you watch who is around when you walk out to the car to drive away.

Make sure they’re not in easy striking range if you could be assaulted and your car key snatched off you. The next thing you know, you’re lying battered and bruised on the nature strip, watching as your car drives off down the street.

Is your car fitted with nice alloy wheels? Buy lock nuts for each of them, if they don’t have them already.

Anything else fitted to the car that might be attractive to thieves or offensive to vandals? Anything that is a bolt-on accessory, such as driving lights or a light bar, for example, should be removed from any car that’s going to be left outside overnight. That presumes the accessories are easy to remove.

Obviously prestige cars are often targeted by thieves for high-end audio systems and logbooks. There’s not much you can do to prevent the theft of an audio system if the thief is experienced and committed and your car is parked in an easily accessible location, but keeping the logbook in the house is a good idea.

Also, make sure that nothing of value is left in the car or, failing that, is easily visible from outside the car. If your car is worth something more than just its value as a going concern, consider having an alarm fitted.

Finally, if you know in advance that the car you’re planning to purchase is going to spend most of its life parked out in the street, and you plan to keep it for many years, that should be factored into your purchasing criteria. Reconsider buying a car in a dark colour – the paint will fade faster.

If the car is upholstered in leather, think about a cheap, lightweight reflective protector to keep the sun off the dash and perhaps drape old blankets over the seats.

Beware of buying a car that could be a target for theft or vandalism too. All of that could save you a bit of heartbreak down the track.

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