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Time to say Goodbye!! (unless anybody fancies "car-sitting")

Afternoon all,

I've been offered a great opportunity with my current employer and yesterday finalised all of the contract specifics that will see my and my girlfriend moving over to Singapore in January 2015.

It's quite a daunting, yet exciting prospect and it wasn't really an opportunity I felt I could turn down.

Needless to say, and more importantly, it gives me a bit of a dilemma regarding the Z.

I worked hard for 18 months to get myself into a position to be able to afford it, and then looked for extensively for another 6 months before finding her from another forum member (IKZ4) last June.

I don't want to sell her (unless somebody makes me another offer I can't turn down), low mileage, high spec, full service history and a near perfect example in one of my favourite colours (Carbon Black and Midnight Blue favoured equally....Sepang a close third). I bought the Z as a 'keeper' and know that I'll want another when I get back in a few years' time.

I also don't want to put her in storage, my dad has offered to "car sit" whilst I'm away (the car's due new tyres soon and will be getting an Insp II in Dec/ Jan, so won't have any huge maintenance bills due for a while), but he is begrudgingly agreeing to looking after it and I'm struggling to convince him to take as much care with the cleaning regime as I do (he still can't let go of his sponge / chamois) but I've four months to work on him.

Anyway, I'll probably be spending less time on here (ironically I've just achieved 'lifer' status) but am hoping not to leave the Z fold altogether. If anybody wants to make me offer to "car-sit" the ///M for a few years' whilst I'm away, be my guest :wink:
 
Good luck Steven. Yes if you let the car go, sods law you will never find a decent replacement on your return and if you do, god knows what the price would be on a similar mileage. Do you not think professional storage would not be the best option? You'd get back and probably need paint correction doing if you lend it to anybody who doesn't treat it as you do, there's the risk of them crashing it and if I was you; the constant worry of it not being in my hands.

I'd be looking into pro-storage where they keep it ticking over at certain intervals , move the car to rotate tyres etc etc
 
Steven - it's a great opportunity you have - that's the main thing.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to thank your Dad for the offer to car sit, but to stress that certain (reasonable) things needs to be done to the car. No doubt you will be coming back to to the UK from time to time, if things aren't being done to the car, you still have the sell and storage options.

Hope this is food for thought.
 
Cheers Guys.

I've already briefed the "ol' man" on the duties he will need to perform if he looks after it.

I've just heard horror stories of storage. Obviously these cars need to be driven to avoid certain issues. I'm just concerned that I'll return from Singapore to a car that has more problems than I care to deal with if I use professional storage. But it is an option.

Does anybody here have experience of long term storage?
 
First off, congratulations on the opportunity. Grab these things with both hands!

Storage wise, two years isnt a lifetime and I reckon if you kept covered, jacked up and placed on axle stands and did all the basics for medium term storage, you could SORN and return in 2017 safe in the knowledge you'd have your baby back.

The AA guide to storage can be found here...
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/laying_up.html
 
Congrats Steven :thumbsup:

A place I'd love to work, then retire 'next door' to Malaysia.

Perhaps PVR can help - I think he's still he's pining for an M, and he won't even touch your car to dry it. All he needs is another garage, plenty time to get that built :D
 
congrats on the job

i would offer but my drive has a tree on it and it craps on my 35is every night. paying to wash and dry that twice a week annoys the crap outta me :x

personally i would sell the car and not have to worry about it for the 2 years and then replace it with something better when i got back
 
Cheers Guys, storage is maybe looking a bit more of an attractive proposition.

Looking around it's about £125 PCM for the storage, plus say £200 a year for oil changes etc. Maybe I'll drop PVR a PM...exactly the type of guy I'd like to look after it :thumbsup:

Replacement / upgrading isn't really what I'm looking for. My "dream" is to have a multi-car garage.

I'm 27 now, will be 30-32 when I return from Singapore and am hoping to buy either a) E30 M3 or b) E46 CSL when I return, but in addition to the Z4MC, not as a replacement for.

Right now I'm aspiring to a 4 car garage:

-Z4MC
-E30 M3
-E46 CSL
-E9 CSL

My every day car will be "upgrade" car, my "garage" will be my P&J's.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, I want my cars to be not just great to drive, but great to look at too. My Z is really in great condition and a great spec. I'm fearful that in 3-5 years it will be very tough to find one, it's getting pretty tough now.
 
If I had a spare garage, I'd car sit, sadly being a 2 person family with 2 cars and 2 bikes, the garage and driveway are full :(
 
http://www.windrushcarstorage.co.uk

Steve - a mate of mine has worked here for a while now and it's top notch. If if looks like bag , let me know and I can see if we can strike up a deal!
 
Jamie , Cheers for that. As with all of these things "it's who you know". I might well be seeing if you can help us out :thumbsup: . Thanks.
 
Trust your dad - I did when I went to Sydney and my car survived unscathed. You can always have it detailed when you come home with the money you'll save not putting it into storage. I appreciate you'll be away for longer than I was but if you're coming back one day you'll be glad you kept it.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
Trust your dad - I did when I went to Sydney and my car survived unscathed. You can always have it detailed when you come home with the money you'll save not putting it into storage. I appreciate you'll be away for longer than I was but if you're coming back one day you'll be glad you kept it.

My dad's owned a Cayman, XKR, S-Type R, RRS and numerous other powerful cars, so I trust that he'll be able to keep it unscathed. I'd trust him not to land it in a ditch somewhere.

if I get the impression that he really isn't comfortable with it, then I'll explore storage more seriously.
 
I misunderstood, I thought you were saying he wouldn't keep it as shiny as you'd want it to be. It sounds from that history that he'd appreciate spending time with it :driving:
 
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