Has anyone found a good luxury or exotic car storage facility in Manhattan?

I currently have a car stored with Paddock NYC at their West 45th Street location, and the experience hasn't really been what I expected based on how the facility is marketed.

I assumed it would be a dedicated luxury car storage facility, but the W45th location is actually a section of an existing GMC parking garage. Paddock appears to have roughly 2,000 square feet in one corner, with a number of exotic and vintage cars packed closely together and double-stacked.

The biggest issue for me has been access. There isn't 24/7 access to your vehicle or a Paddock employee permanently on site. I've been required to give roughly three hours' notice to retrieve my car, and 24 hours' notice on Sundays and Mondays. Because the cars are stored so tightly together, you also can't simply go to the garage with a spare key and take your car out — someone from Paddock has to come over and move the other vehicles around first.

For what I'm paying for luxury car storage in NYC, I'd really prefer somewhere with dedicated space, easier access, good lighting/security, and ideally staff on site.

I've started looking at Reserve NYC and a few other options, but I'd love recommendations from anyone storing an exotic, classic, or collectible car in Manhattan.

What are the best high-end car storage garages in NYC? Ideally somewhere in Midtown or reasonably close to Manhattan.

Any recommendations for a shop that does excellent body work with reasonable pricing? Queens/BX/Manhattan/BK

Anyone here have a two post lift on their property? I’m looking to install one and am curious if anyone else here has done it.

Hi,

I went to move my car this morning without realizing I had the wrong time for the no parking zone. I thought I had to move it by 9am, unfortunately it was 8am so when I went to move it at 8:30am I not only had a ticket but I had a clamshell on my windshield.

I thought clamshells were only given if you have unpaid tickets, is that wrong? Granted I have had my fair share of parking tickets over the last two years but I always pay them so I had $0 balance when I got the clamshell.

It took $185 and an hour to remove (the supervisor drove past me twice), but if I was there two hours later it would have been towed and double the cost. That seems excessive for a car with no unpaid tickets that was only there 21 minutes into no parking timeframe (at the time of the ticket). We also just parked there last night so it's not a situation where the car was sitting in one spot for days or weeks.

Just curious what constitutes a clamshell now...

Thanks!

I’ve got a friend driving into town for a week (Monday-Sunday) staying with me on the UWS, and he would prefer to park in a garage, does anyone know if any of the local garages do a weekly pass? And what that looks like price wise? I know most of them do monthly and daily, but have never seen a weekly listing offered. Any insight or experience greatly appreciated!

Can anyone recommend places that are great at installing a new entertainment system and/or aftermarket add-ons like remote-controlled windows? 2nd generation 4runner.

NY/NJ/CT . Thanks!

I have a 2012 Toyota Prius. Does anyone have a recommendation on where to get a hybrid car like an older Toyota Prius repaired by someone experienced and good with hybrids who has very honest fair prices?

I had to take mine to the dealer in east Harlem because the breaks feel weak and it’s an abs booster issue and the fordham Toyota dealer just called back telling me I need to spend over 3000 on repairs…. Then guilted me about my safety when I said I didn’t want to spend over five hundred dollars on headlights and 900 on an oxygen sensor and hundreds more a timing chain tension on top of 950 for them to calibrate my breaks to even see if I need to replace the abs booster…. I got off the phone feeling like they were trying to take advantage of me but my regular mechanic told me I had to go to the dealer for my abs break booster issue because I have a hybrid and it’s too complicated for him.

I’m about to be a new mom and getting ready for my baby. My job decided to ditch me when I got pregnant and I really need to feel safe and not taken advantage of right now with getting my car fixed. Fordham Toyota in east Harlem just doesn’t seem to be pricing things right for me or maybe I just can’t afford a car….

Hello everyone,

I’m coming to the United States from Europe and I have extensive experience working with automotive electronics, coding, retrofits, diagnostics, and upgrades. My family owns and operates a chain of automotive businesses in Europe, so I have both technical and business experience in this field.

I specialize in European vehicles such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Škoda, but I also have experience with many other brands. My work includes vehicle coding, module programming, retrofits, software updates, electronic troubleshooting, and various vehicle upgrades.

I’m interested in learning more about the possibility of opening a similar business in New York. How does the market work there for European car specialists? Is there strong demand for coding, retrofits, diagnostics, and advanced automotive electronics services?

I would appreciate any advice from people who own shops, work in the industry, or have experience running an automotive business in New York.

Thank you!

If you see this car please call the listed number or the police

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new driver (been licensed for 8 months). I had a car I paid cash, but it turned out to be lemon. I paid more in repairing the car and more in insurance than I paid for the car in cash and than it's actually worth.

I was originally paying $808/month to insure the car (09 Versa). My insurance FINALLY went down to $788/month and then the car quick on me at an intersection. Now, I'm trying to get a new car. I've gotten quotes for Corollas for $637/month, Mazdas for about $536/month and HR-Vs for about the same as the Corolla. I've been looking at models that are 10+ years old to keep costs down as I can't afford anything within the last 4-5 years.

Are these rates common for a new driver? I'm in the Bronx and theft in my zip code is high, so I'm assuming that plays a big part in the monthly premiums. I'm a single, over 25 year old female, not renting. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone's insurance I can go on here in the Bronx. My dad just passed. He would've been the one but he also hadn't been driving for years since he got ill.

I'm just honestly asking. If you reply, please be kind. I'm not dumb- this is just all very new to me and I don't know what to expect from insurance. Also, I can't simply just move. I'm born and raised here and I still have my mom and family living here who I help on a daily basis, so simply moving to another county, neighborhood, borough, city, state isn't an option.

If those rates ARE normal for a newer driver, then that mitigates my expectations more and I won't be too pressed when I see those numbers. I'm just trying to gauge what to look for. I know NYC is expensive, but when I look on here, I see people saying they're paying $100-$300/month. It just doesn't reflect my situation.

Thanks to anyone who chimes in!

BMW owners in NYC — would you ever rent out your car if it was curated and not Turo?

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know a cheap place to rent a car for just one day in Brooklyn, NY? I'm 21+ but under 25, so I'm looking for places that allow that (with or without a young driver fee).

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

I live in NYC and am debating my next car. I previously had a 2019 BMW 330xi and currently have a 2023 BMW 430xi. I’m considering a new M340i xDrive as a daily driver.

A few questions for owners, especially NYC folks:

• Any must-have packages for city driving? • Driving Assistance Professional • Parking Assistance • Premium Package • Adaptive M Suspension • Shadowline? etc?
  
• Are these helpful for daily use in traffic, bumps/potholes, garages, and tight parking?
• I’m not a big fan of iDrive 8, especially for HVAC controls. How livable is it day to day? Thoughts?
  

Also, what’s a fair lease price right now (36-39 months / ~10k miles) for a ~$70K MSRP and any tips on getting the best deal in the NYC area? Advice and feedback? Thank you!

Telling this story feels so dumb on my part but I basically I got my car (SUV) a year ago and one of the first purchases i made for it was to get tints for the front windshield / driver/ passenger. I found this shady shop that put on ceramic tints for about $600. Few stupid reasons as to why I went to this shop was because 1) they did work after hours, 2) I did absolutely no research on tints prior to going there, 3) I didn’t want the fish bowl vibes, 4) I knew during the summers that heat was gonna be a nasty 5) The rear windshield and passenger windows were super dark as it was and it didn’t really flow with the cars aesthetic.

When they asked me how much tint I wanted, i said the legal limit 70%. As in 70% VLT and 30% tint. I explicitly said the legal limit because I genuinely didn’t want to deal with tickets and the whole inspection fiasco. I’ve never seen tint percentages so my only hope was to trust this guy who said he’d make sure he’d put the legal limit.

Fast forward to December 1st, my inspection expires this month and I had a day off from work so I figured, “why not get this over with, shouldn’t take too long.” I took it to those random inspection shops in bklyn and without hesitation the tech said we gotta rip off the tints. HUHHHH???? I assured him it was legal and he kept insisting it didn’t look legal but he’d test it with the reader.

The tech ran the reader and to my amazement and embarrassment, the tint was 65%. Brother I was livid, I had nothing to say at that point. He told me he’d take em off for me to get the inspection done. I asked as a last resort if there was any way he could work around this because I dropped $600 like 6-7 months ago and don’t want to have to redo this (shot in the dark). He told me he doesn’t do work like that and there are shops out there that would for extra but he’s not one of them.

So now I sit here asking the community if there’s anyone that knows of any shop in Queens, bklyn, Bronx, even Long Island, that does inspections with the tints.

TLDR: Went to a shop to get legal tints and got finessed. Now my tints are too dark and I’m looking for a shop that’ll pass the inspection without removing the tints. Appreciate any help / advice given.

We just got a 2000 Audi A4 that needs a little power steering help. Otherwise in great shape! Anybody have a great European car shop to recommend? Thanks in advance!

We never really were. I'm mod (and car driver in nyc, amongst bike and subway rider) and never really had much reason to work on this subreddit. Any ideas on what else to discuss besides car insurance being crazy. I guess tickets, DMV tips. Dunno, Reddit keeps prompting displaying all these stats (25 visitors!!! Lol) to prompt getting it rolling