PREPARING A CARFOR A LONG REST.
Fuel, battery, tyres, fluids, cover, environment. The universal checklist for putting a car away for months or years — and what changes when someone keeps it for you.
A car put away carelessly for a year comes back needing a battery, tyres, fresh fuel and sometimes seals and brakes. A car put away properly comes back needing a wash. The difference is not luck; it is six decisions, made before the cover goes on.
This guide works through each of them in turn — first what to do yourself, then how professional storage handles the same point. It applies to a modern supercar and a fifty-year-old classic alike; only the emphasis shifts.
FIRST, DEFINE LONG-TERM.
Under a month, a healthy car mostly looks after itself. From one to three months, the battery and tyres start to need attention. Beyond three months, everything on this list matters; beyond a year, so does having someone actually look at the car from time to time.
Be honest about the duration before you start. Owners routinely plan for six weeks and return after eight months, and the car is prepared for the stay they imagined rather than the one it served.
FUEL.
Store the car with a full tank of quality fuel. A full tank leaves less room for moist air, which condenses on the tank walls and feeds internal corrosion; on a classic with a steel tank this alone justifies the habit.
Petrol itself degrades in months, not years — lighter fractions evaporate, and the residue gums injectors and carburettors. For any stay beyond a season, add a fuel stabiliser and run the engine briefly so it reaches the whole system.
In professional care this is a service, not a chore: for longer stays with us, fuel stabilisation is available as part of the car's care plan.
BATTERY.
The battery is the most common casualty of storage. Every battery self-discharges, and a modern car draws current even while parked. Left alone for months, a battery sulphates, loses capacity and can fail outright — and on some modern cars a dead battery means locked electronics before it means jump leads.
The answer is an intelligent conditioner: a device that charges, rests and maintains the battery in cycles, rather than cooking it with a constant trickle. On an older car without complex electronics, disconnecting the battery is an acceptable second best.
At Vault 620, intelligent battery conditioning is part of the optional care package, running throughout the stay — the car wakes properly and leaves on its own charge.
TYRES.
Rubber under a stationary load slowly deforms where it meets the floor. Short stays produce a vibration that drives out in twenty minutes; long stays can set the flat spot permanently, and no balancing machine will remove it.
Before a long rest, raise pressures modestly above the placard figure and note the date. Over months, pressures drift down on their own — a tyre that started right can be carrying the car on its sidewalls by spring, so they need checking, not just setting.
That checking is the point of professional care: with the care package, tyre pressures are monitored and corrected throughout the stay.
FLUIDS AND BRAKES.
Change the engine oil before storage, not after. Used oil carries acids and moisture that sit against bearings and bores for the whole stay. Check that coolant and brake fluid are in good condition too — brake fluid absorbs water, and a long rest gives that water time to work.
Leave the handbrake off, with the car chocked or in gear. Pads clamped against a damp disc for months can seize to it. Surface rust on discs is normal after any lay-up and clears within the first gentle stops; a bound handbrake is a recovery truck.
BODY, CABIN AND COVER.
Put the car away clean and completely dry — washed, the arches and sills rinsed, the paint dried properly. Grime holds moisture against metal for the duration of the stay.
Inside, remove anything organic, clean the leather and let the cabin dry before closing up. A damp interior sealed for six months grows things you do not want to meet.
Think about the smaller tenants, too. A car that stands for a year in a domestic garage is attractive real estate for rodents, and wiring looms are their favourite meal. Keep the space clean, leave nothing edible anywhere near the car, and check periodically — or store somewhere kept to a standard that never lets the question arise.
If you cover the car, use a breathable, fitted indoor cover. Never a plastic tarpaulin — it traps condensation against the paint and abrades the lacquer every time it moves. With us, a tailored indoor cover is an optional extra; Bubble Protection, an inflatable capsule of filtered, circulating air, is available on request for the cars that warrant it.
THE ENVIRONMENT DECIDES.
Every point above is halved or doubled by the building the car stands in. A damp garage undoes a perfect preparation; a dry, stable one forgives an imperfect one.
What a resting car wants is stability: moderate, steady conditions, dry enough to hold corrosion at bay, never so arid that leather, rubber and veneers begin to suffer. What it gets in an ordinary garage is the weather, slightly delayed — daily heat cycles in summer, settled damp in winter, and salt air on the coast.
This is the part an owner cannot fix with an afternoon's work, and the reason purpose-built storage exists. Our hall is insulated and naturally dry, holding steady through the seasons — passive, permanent, and the foundation everything else rests on.
THE RETURN TO THE ROAD.
Recommissioning deserves the same care as the lay-up. Before the first start: correct the tyre pressures back to the placard figures, check the fluid levels, look beneath the car for any sign of a leak, and on a long-rested classic turn the engine over gently before asking it to fire.
On the first drive, expect a breath of surface rust to clear from the discs in the first few gentle stops, and keep the opening miles unhurried while temperatures settle and the tyres round out. A car that rested for a year should be reawakened over an hour, not a minute.
In our care that hour belongs to us. Retrieval works on notice — a message ahead, and the car is charged, checked and prepared for the road before you arrive, or before the carrier does.
WHAT A KEEPER ADDS.
The last thing a stored car needs is the one thing a checklist cannot provide: someone who notices. A softening tyre, a conditioner fault, the first sign of damp — caught in a week, trivial; found after a year, expensive.
That is the real difference of professional storage. Each car in our care rests in its own marked space, conditioned and checked throughout its stay, behind an unpublished address with restricted, logged access and monitoring around the clock. When you want the car back, retrieval works on notice — charged, checked and ready, with enclosed delivery organised on request through specialist third-party carriers we oversee at both ends.
The practical questions — cost, insurance, notice, exercise — are answered plainly on our FAQ page. If your car rests in Portugal while you live elsewhere, the non-resident's guide covers the rest.