I'm soon off to a sunny climate for 3+ months but can't take the car :'( , too expensive to take on the ferry from Cadiz to Tenerife.

It will be parked up in my garage until mid March and I was wondering if there was anything specific to my new Octavia vRs Cr Dsg that I need to do.

In the past I've left my cars unlocked with the handbrake off and the wheels chocked.

I've never disconnected the battery, just made sure it was fully charged before parking up and giving it an overnight charge on returning before starting the engine.

Didn't have any problems last year despite the freezing conditions and a 6 year old battery in the old Peugeot 307 which still had enough power to put on the interior light.

I started this thread some time ago, hope it helps. Hope you manage to get loads of sun

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/176231-off-road-storage/page__p__2125355entry2125355

Edited 9 November, 201015 yr by cavdad

One of these?...

Modern cars use a surprising about of juice to run alarms, memory settings, etc., add to this the damage that can be done by cold weather to static batteries, I'd look at fitting a trickle charging maintenance charger, such as CTEK ones - ctek link

Lidl and Aldi do cheap copies, so might be worth a hunt - this thread might be worth a read too

Don't suppose you'll get tyre "flatspots" after only 3 months?

I'd also make sure it's dry & clean before putting it to bed if possible.

Can you claim your road tax back for three months? Declare it off the road?

I hope your garage is very secure :-) I suspect leaving the car open is a pretty bad idea from an insurance point of view!

Andy

You shouldn't get flatspots after 3 months.

Make sure tyres are at correct pressure though, it'll help.

The UK has no system for holding tax or insurance, such as in Switzerland.

You could declare SORN for 3months, then re-tax ... Lots of paper work ...

Thanks for advice on battery chargers, had been wondering if it was a good idea to leave one on for so long...wasn't aware of these modern versions.

Doing a SORN is not worth the trouble of all the paperwork...tried it once before.

Regarding leaving the car unlocked in the garage, the insurance co said it was ok as long as the garage was secure..which it is. Neighbour parks his other car up against garage door as well. With one of these new chargers I would probably lock the car anyway but disable the interior sensor for the alarm as one year a spider made a web over one of the sensors and kept setting it off while I was away.

erm....

I would be interested to read the Terms and Conditions of your insurance. They might say over the phone it's okay to be unlocked but in the event of a claim I am pretty sure there will be a clause about forced entry?

Andy

Since the reason for leaving the car unlocked, would be to enable access if the battery is dead (and you also have keyless entry), using a maintenance charger would bypass this issue.

This is what I do with my Subaru Forestor, which spends about 8 months a years in a garage. Car is locked, battery connected to a CTEK unit. Never had a problem (6yrs+)

• Unlock car (if some scroat breaks in to the storage garage, don't want them doing damage and forcing the door on the car)
  
• Disconnect battery & store indoors
  
• Handbrake off, in gear
  
• Tyres pumped up +5 psi all round
  
• Valuables & documentation removed
  

All free, fast & easy to do

If you have VCDS you can put the car into sleep/transport mode which shuts down most electrical systems to save power ! cheers - Stuart

If you have VCDS you can put the car into sleep/transport mode which shuts down most electrical systems to save power ! cheers - Stuart

Beat me to it!! This is something I would definately do,

Ctek XS3600 is winging its way from Amazon at the moment (best deal I could find).

I'm going to lock the car, pump up the tyres a bit, disable the interior movement alarm and chock the wheels with the handbrake off .

Only problem I have is squeezing the wifes Yaris in the garage as well, it's going to be a tight fit. Never had to get two cars in before. I reckon on about 50mm to play with with all the mirrors folded in and climbing out the tailgate. That will have the battery disconnected as it has very little electronics to worry about.

Only problem I have is squeezing the wifes Yaris in the garage as well, it's going to be a tight fit. Never had to get two cars in before. I reckon on about 50mm to play with with all the mirrors folded in and climbing out the tailgate.

Leave in neutral & the handbrake off, fold in the mirrors & simply roll it into place? Then chock the wheels etc.Saves the acrobatics getting out... & you can watch how close it's getting to the Octy......

Ctek XS3600 is winging its way from Amazon at the moment (best deal I could find).

I'm going to lock the car, pump up the tyres a bit, disable the interior movement alarm and chock the wheels with the handbrake off .

Only problem I have is squeezing the wifes Yaris in the garage as well, it's going to be a tight fit. Never had to get two cars in before. I reckon on about 50mm to play with with all the mirrors folded in and climbing out the tailgate. That will have the battery disconnected as it has very little electronics to worry about.

Make sure you post again to let us know how things are when you get back.....

Back home to the cold and wet after my 3 months in the sunshine in Tenerife.

Had the Ctek XS3600 connected while I was away and had no problems with starting the car this morning.

Have to mention though that the wife's Yaris also started first go with no charging at all.

Went for a quick blast....all seems well.....had forgotten how good the car was. It was certainly different to the new Astra CDTI I was driving last week, not as quiet though.

Had nasty shock when I went to pay for a full tank of Diesel £1.38/litre, it was only 78p/litre in Tenerife!