Idea: Second vehicle for storage and/or emergency shelter.

[One Awesome Inch]

Just thought of something today that may be helpful to people who urban stealth camp in the same area. In my location to insure a van or car is about $60 a month, but to rent a storage locker etc is at least $100 maybe more. So perhaps buy a second vehicle, park it on a (busy) street where no one will mind or care, and use it as a storage place. Potentially you could buy an older Astro van or similar and IF your main van got stolen or damaged in an accident or needed repair work where it would be at the mechanic shop for days on end, you could stay in the second vehicle/van. This could save your butt in a dire situation and prevent you from being homeless if something happened to your main van.

 

[Theadyn]

Another thought would be, leave a backup vehicle with a trusted relative. Could keep any of your wanted stored items in it. Always have enough $ to get there with you (enough for a bus ticket for example), and enough $ to insure it when needed.

Just throwing that out there. I've got quite a few relatives that live out of town with plenty of space to park something. Trying to think outside the box here.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Vehicles can deteriorate just sitting there. Fuel goes bad, rubber tires, hoses and belts deteriorate, batteries go dead, mice and other critters nest in it and sometimes chew on wires.

Ideally, in a two vehicle solution, you would alternate using the two vehicles.

And obviously, this would only work if you were staying in one area rather than travelling.

I'm not sure that the added expense would be worth it.

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

Theft and break-in would be a constant danger, especially just sitting on the street.
Besides insurance, you'd also have twice the expenditure for registration, upkeep, etc. You'd need to drive it occasionally to keep it in working order. You'd eventually be buying tires, battery, servicing as things wear.
Having two running vans myself, this is my world.

 

[Patrick46]

I'd have a minivan for my daily runner, and a box truck for my backup storage barn rig.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

So I did some rather rough calculations and this is what I came up with in terms of gas costs. I assumed the van would get 12mpg and car 18mpg... both averaged on the expensive side.

Up here in Canada we often have a real hodgepodge mix of metric and SAE thus the "weird" measurement units...

12mpg at $1.35 per litre = $53 for 200km (x 4 weeks = $212)

18mpg at $1.35 per litre = $35 for 200km (x 4 weeks = $140 per month) 212 - 140 = 72

So essentially by this driving a car will save about $72 in gas. When you consider insurance at $60 and whatever maintenance costs there will be (plenty I am sure!), having the second car isnt really worth it. Naturally if it did much better than 18mpg that might change the outcome. Moreover, I think owning the second vehicle with the added stress that entails makes it even less appealing.

Food for thought?

 

[LeeRevell]

I do find having two good running vehicles to be a good thing. If/when one is down for repair, I still have one to drive. This has happened several times. The added costs of the second vehicle is worth it.
My third van, Dad's old '86 E150, is a parts hulk, and has some stuff stored in it on Mom's property, but it is not registered and will never run again. In time it will be junked.

 

[Patrick46]

I had a backup stepvan for awhile too. An old International Metro...cool old rig.

but it got like 5 mpg's and the old bias-ply tires were iffy at best, so I sold it to a buddy and he uses it as a storage building on his property. 30 years later and he's still using it.

 

[akrvbob]

At one time as I transitioned into vandwelling I had an old Ford Courier pickup and then I bought my box van to live in. I worked at a very busy 24 hour Safeway grocery store so I left the Courier in it's parking lot and moved it pretty often so it didn't just stay in one place. I thought t was safe in a busy lot and moving it often. It wasn't!

It was stolen, gone for a couple month and when they found it was worthless.

That isn't something I'd do again!

I haven' had any problem finding outside storage that is 10x25 for $35 a month. If you want to have a second vehicle, that is the only way I would do it.
Bob

 

[masterplumber]

I've had two vehicles before, and now I'm back to one. My situation is a bit different than many of you as I'm still working, and have a house, but I travel as much as I can. I work in construction and building management so I need a truck and my tools with me most work days. When I had another truck with a camper it was nice because I could come home, jump in the other truck, and be on the road in a matter of minutes. I didn't have to spend an hour unloading tools and then another hour loading them back in when I returned. The downside is I had to maintain 2 vehicles and since I put many miles on both that added up, not to mention the time as I do most of my own work. I've been doing this work from home and travel a bunch thing for many years now, and have gone through a lot of different rigs. What I have now seems to be the best compromise for me - I have a truck set up to be as efficient as possible for work, and a 6 x 12 cargo trailer I've converted to live/camp in. I built the trailer with fold up bunks so I can haul/store quite a bit in it as needed, including my KLR so I can bring it along when I want. I've found even when you put quite a few miles on it, a trailer doesn't need near the maintenance of a motor vehicle, and it also doesn't suffer as much from sitting. I can also hit the road at a moments notice still as I don't have to unload the truck, just hook up the trailer which takes less than 5 minutes and I keep it "ready to go" all the time. The trailer is also less to register and the truck's insurance covers it for liability.