While I was up in Washington State visiting the future in-laws, I got a really nice surprise! I and the future father-in-law pulled up to a huge slug-like building in the middle of Tacoma Washington. I had no idea what this was. After spotting a decaled car carrier big rig I put to and two together…we were at a car museum! The Lemay car museum is 165,000 square feet of car exhibition glory. They average over 350 cars spanned over…
Read MoreBackground Since we partner with a local smog check station, we often run into issues with customer vehicles before they can be smog checked. For those of you outside of California, a smog test is basically the emissions portion of any state inspection that you have in your state. Rather than have a comprehensive inspection, California only requires that the car pass a legal standard set forth by C.A.R.B. for pollutants expelled by the vehicle. During storage, we disconnect your…
Read MoreI know this is a few days late but I wanted to make a post thanking the Men and Women of the armed forces for ensuring we have freedom here at home. Not only that but I have tremendous gratitude for our military customers. Approximately 70% of our business comes from service men and women who have trusted us with their vehicles during deployment. Their business is the reason we exist. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank…
Read MoreMany times customers opt to store their vehicles at self-storage facilities instead of with us. Some do it because it is less expensive. Others do it because they want an individual garage for the vehicle in question. While this may seem appealing, it can end up being a bad decision. Here are 3 reasons why: They Wont Maintain Your Vehicle Most self-storage companies will not go into the unit and maintain your vehicle. They will expect you to do that. This…
Read MoreWe just took in a very nice (for age) 1997 Toyota Celica convertible. These vehicles weren’t actually made from the factory like this but instead modified at a California Company called ASC after they were produced and then were sold at dealerships. Anyway, if someone wants to store a convertible with us, I ALWAYS recommend going indoors if the customer can afford it. Convertibles can be very fragile and high maintenance. Even when the car is always garaged and cleaned properly, it…
Read MoreSince the sun can be harsh on your car’s interior, it is always a good idea to consider tinting your rear windows. If you store your car with us, we can have the service done while you are away. We have been working with the folks at Solar Care for over 10 years. They do great work and they come to us! This means that we don’t have to transport your vehicle anywhere. There are all sorts of different options depending on…
Read MoreI am very happy to say that we just had our second longest stored car go out to its owner late last week. After 12 years, this 450 SL went back to its long time, military owners. We prepped, detailed, and towed this Merc to its new home in Poway just last week and its owners couldn’t be happier. Check out their yelp review here. Over the years, it was not an easy task to keep this modern-for-its-time Mercedes running like…
Read MoreWe’ve provided this service for a while but if you need a smog test for your vehicle while its in storage, let us know! We will run it up to our partner smog test station, have them perform the check, and put it back into storage. Seen here is a stunning 2014 C7 Corvette getting tested since it was purchased out of state. And don’t forget to follow us! Twitter: https://twitter.com/AAAACarStorage Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaaacarstorage
Read MoreToday marked the arrival of the USS America, the US Navy’s newest ship, into the San Diego Harbor. The sailors of this brand new ship will call San Diego their home port! The Navy performed its final assembly and safety checks for the America in the Gulf of Mexico. For the past 6 months it has been making its way around the tip of South America and North to San Diego. Also over the past 6 months, customers who were…
Read MoreThe water here in San Diego County is VERY hard. What I mean is that it contains a lot of sediment. When tap water dries on paint finish it leaves this sediment in the form of a white spot. Depending on how much water is used and how long this sediment is left to sit, it can cause serious, if not permanent paint damage. If left long enough in hot conditions, water spots will basically imbed into the paint finish….
Read MoreSeveral months ago, the US government awarded a new contract to a company for its handling of military member’s POV’s. The contract was taken away from American Auto Logistics (AAL) and awarded to International Auto Logistics (IAL). There are many details within this story. AAL initiated many appeals and fights claiming that IAL did not have the capacity to deal with the sheer volume of cars of which the military requires shipment and storage. Considering IAL was a small business with yearly…
Read MoreThe Camaro in the shot above belongs to a sailor on the Wayne E. Meyer. It came to us with less than 5,000 miles on the clock and is less than a year old. However, when we walked out to the end of our warehouse a few mornings ago we noticed a large puddle of oil originating from underneath the Camaro. It turns out that the car had its oil changed right before coming to us. The shop that performed…
Read MoreFuel Stabilizer is something we get a lot of questions about, so I’ve gathered answers for some of the most common questions I get: 1. Use fuel stabilizer when you store your vehicle for 6 months or longer Gas, depending on quality, will last for about 6 months before it goes bad. Therefore you will either need to replenish the fuel that is in the tank after that period OR use fuel stabilizer. 2. Fuel Stabilizer is good for about 1 year…
Read MoreAs we are making more and more reservations for July and August (for battle group deployments), we are getting many questions from military members on storing their vehicles on base. At $20-$30 per month, storing your POV on base seems like a sweet deal. However, we’ve heard many base storage horror stories over the 46+ years we’ve been in business. Here are the top 3 reasons we think you should reconsider storing your car, truck or motorcycle: 1. Vandalism We tend…
Read MoreFrom time to time we discover when we pop a vehicle’s hood, that its 12v battery is a little (or very) swollen. This seems to happen more frequently in older or modified vehicles…at least in our experience. So why does this happen? Well, first if you see that your battery is swollen, DO NOT DRIVE THE VEHICLE OR ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE BATTERY. Batteries contain acid and a swollen battery should be treated like a powder keg. If it explodes,…
Read MoreWhen buying a new car or tires for your current vehicle, the sales representative might try to upsell you on filling your tires with nitrogen gas instead of air. You can pick out the cars with nitrogen filled tires by their green valve stem caps. There are many debated benefits to using nitrogen instead of air and frankly there have been many articles written on the subject. I am not really here to throw my hat in the ring on that…
Read MoreWe do a lot for your vehicle while its in storage…follow the imbedded link to get the full list. However another service we just started offering, with the help of Tony The Dent Dude, is paintless dent removal Anyone who parks in a crowded, cramped parking structure knows the aggravation of door dings. They are just major enough to annoy you but just minor enough to not warrant a full body work fix. The solution? Paintless Dent Removal: As you can…
Read MoreJust last Saturday we took in a really nice, (almost) all original 1967 Chevy Camaro SS for storage. The current owner is the brother of the original owner and wanted a safe secure space while she is up in the bay area. I told her that the car was kind of a ‘survivor’…and that prompted her to ask ‘What’s a survivor’. It got me thinking that I probably use a lot of this car-nerd lingo around my customers and should…
Read MoreIf you own an older or classic car and are planning to store it, it needs to be started often. The reason for this is gas tank sediment. Older cars that do not have much rust protection in the gas tank can end up accumulating corrosion. These sediments will settle at the bottom of the gas tank. If the car sits long enough and is then started, the fuel pump will suck up this sediment. This could overload the fuel…
Read MoreI talk a lot about AAAA Auto Storage & Park being a full service house in regards to caring for your vehicle. While it is in our care we don’t just start it up and check your tire pressures, we have the ability to perform minor and major mechanical services, paint work, and customization. For Marines and Sailors, this is a great time to have modifications or mechanical work done to their vehicles because they aren’t depending on them for…
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