Vehicle storage: how car, boat, and RV spaces are priced

Four kinds of space, and the price steps with what is built over the ground rather than with anything you can look up nationally. This page no longer prints monthly rates for cars, boats or RVs, because nothing supported them. What it gives you is the structure of the market, the length-band question that actually determines your quote, and a preparation checklist that is worth more than any of the numbers were.

What changed here on 7 September 2026

Three headline ranges for car, boat and RV storage came off this page, along with the monthly cost column in the storage-type table, the price on each of the eleven option cards, and the figures in two FAQ answers. They were hand-typed and unsourced, and one of them (a boat range quoted to the dollar) was precise in a way that no honest estimate ever is. Nothing has been substituted. The structural content, the protection comparison and the preparation checklist are unchanged, because none of them needed a price to be useful.

What you are actually paying for

A vehicle space is priced on two things: the ground it occupies, and what has been built over that ground. The ground part is large. A saloon needs roughly the floor of a 10x20 unit and an RV can need two or three times that, so vehicle storage sits at the big end of the market where, as the size guide explains, the per-square-foot rate has already flattened out and availability rather than area is what moves the price.

The structure part is a ladder, and it is the clearest thing on this page. Each step adds capital over the same piece of ground: a fence, then a canopy, then walls and a door, then conditioning plant. That is the real reason the four options price in the order they do, and it holds at every site even though the gaps between them do not.

Then there is supply, which is what makes vehicle storage different from household storage. Many towns restrict RV and boat parking on the street or in driveways, which creates the demand, while the yards that could serve it are large, low-revenue-per-acre uses that get outbid for land. In a lot of metros the constraint is not the price, it is whether there is a space at all.

The question that decides your quote

How long is the vehicle, including anything on the tow hitch?

Boat and RV spaces are almost always sold in length bands rather than by unit size, and the bands differ between sites. A vehicle that fits the top of one yard's band and the bottom of the next yard's band will be priced very differently for reasons that have nothing to do with either yard being expensive.

Measure the real overall length, not the model name. A boat's advertised length excludes the outboard, the bow pulpit and the trailer tongue, and those three routinely add several feet. Being honest about it at the counter is cheaper than being moved up a band on arrival, or being turned away.

For enclosed units, ask for the door height and the internal length rather than the nominal size. A 10x20 is 20 feet of floor, but the door opening is what your vehicle has to pass through.

The four kinds of space, in price order

Ordered cheapest to dearest. The order holds everywhere; the size of the steps between them does not, which is why there is no cost column here any more.

Type	What the step adds	What it protects against	Best for
1Outdoor uncovered	Bare ground behind a fence	Security only. Full exposure to sun, rain, hail and snow.	Daily drivers, work trucks, utility trailers, short lets
2Outdoor covered	Adds a steel canopy	Roof over the vehicle. Takes out the two things that do most of the damage: UV on the upper surfaces and standing water.	Seasonal vehicles, boats on trailers, RVs
3Indoor unheated	Adds four walls and a door	Full enclosure. No weather, no UV, no wind-blown debris, and out of sight from the road.	Motorcycles, specialty vehicles, off-season boats
4Indoor climate-controlled	Adds conditioning plant	Enclosure plus managed humidity, which is what protects trim, seals, electronics and paint over a long store.	Classic and collector cars, anything stored more than a season

Rank order only. It says which kind of space costs more than which, not by how much, and we do not publish a monthly figure for any of them.

What differs by vehicle

The four-step ladder is the same for everything with wheels. What changes is which rungs are realistically available to you, and what the vehicle is vulnerable to while it sits.

Cars

The only vehicle for which all four rungs are genuinely available, so the decision is really about value and duration. Stored for a deployment or a season, covered outdoor handles most cars fine. Stored for a year, or if it is a car you care about, the case for enclosure is about seals, trim and corrosion rather than about weather you can see.

Ask about electrical access. A socket for a trickle charger is worth more than most of the upgrades on offer, because a flat battery left flat for months is often the actual bill you pay on collection.

Boats

Priced by overall length on the trailer, and that length is longer than the model number suggests. The genuine fork is between a storage yard and a marina: a yard is cheaper and drier, a marina rack or wet slip costs more and buys launch convenience during the season, at the price of hull fouling and blistering in the water.

Fibreglass fades and gelcoat chalks under UV, so a cover or a roof does visible good. Winterising matters more than the storage type if you are anywhere that freezes.

RVs

Mostly a choice between the bottom two rungs, because a Class A can be forty feet or more and very little indoor space exists at that length. Covered is the meaningful upgrade and it protects the roof, which is the surface that fails first and is the most expensive to repair.

Ask about turning space and gate width before you commit, and about a dump station and water on site. Manoeuvring a large fifth wheel into a tight yard every time is a real cost even though it never appears on the invoice.

What we can show you on price

Two free public sources, both checkable by anyone, and both about the storage industry as a whole rather than about vehicle spaces specifically. Neither is a quote and neither should be turned into one.

Direction of travel

185.5

July 2026, up 1.4% year on year

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for self-storage operators, series PCU531130531130. Still 7.5% below the December 2023 peak of 200.6, and 24.5% above January 2020. It is an index, not a dollar figure, and we do not convert it because that needs a per-square-foot assumption we would be inventing. It is also national and blind to unit type, so it cannot isolate vehicle spaces from household units.

Base December 2003 = 100, not seasonally adjusted. Read 2026-09-13 via St. Louis Fed (FRED). Series page.

One operator's audited rent

$22.54

per occupied sq ft per year, from $22.43

Public Storage's Form 10-K, FY2025, Same Store Facilities, at 92.0% average occupancy. Do not multiply it by the footprint of your vehicle. It blends every size and market the company operates, and vehicle spaces are the case where that blend is least applicable, because outdoor ground behind a fence is not the same product as conditioned indoor square footage.

Filed 12 February 2026, period ending 31 December 2025. Read it on SEC EDGAR, read at source 6 September 2026.

Preparation checklist

The part of this page that saves real money. Almost every expensive surprise on collection traces back to something on this list not being done before the vehicle went in.

All vehicles

■Wash and wax the exterior thoroughly
■Clean the interior to prevent mould and odours
■Fill the fuel tank and add stabiliser
■Change oil and filter (old oil holds acids)
■Check and top off all fluids
■Inflate tyres to the maximum recommended pressure
■Fit a trickle charger, or disconnect the battery
■Place moisture absorbers inside

Cars and trucks

■Release the parking brake and use chocks instead
■Cover the exhaust pipe to keep pests out
■Leave dryer sheets inside to deter rodents
■Close all windows and the sunroof completely
■Use a breathable cover if it is stored outdoors
■Tell your insurer where it will be kept

Boats and RVs

■Winterise the plumbing if it will freeze
■Drain all water tanks and the water heater
■Remove every trace of food
■Leave cabinet doors open for air circulation
■Cover the tyres against UV cracking
■Seal exterior openings against pest entry

Getting a real number for your vehicle

Vehicle spaces vary more between two yards in one town than household units do, because supply is lumpy and the length bands are set locally. Two or three yards, same week, same measured length, and you have the answer that applies to you.

My vehicle is X feet overall including the trailer tongue. Which band does that fall in, and what is the rate? Lead with the measured length. It is what the quote is built on.
What does that rate become in month two, once any introductory offer ends? Compare yards on the month-two figure, never on the headline.
What is the next step up here, quoted the same way? Uncovered to covered, or covered to enclosed. You want the size of the step at that yard, since that is the only place the step is real.
What is compulsory on top: cover on the vehicle, a gate or access fee, an administration charge? And is there power for a trickle charger, and a dump station if it is an RV?

One thing worth knowing before you sign: the advertised rate is an acquisition price and the tenancy is priced separately afterwards. Public Storage's filing states it plainly for its own business: it “We typically increase rental rates to our long-term tenants (generally, those who have been with us for at least five months) every six to twelve months.”. Vehicle yards are no different, and a long store is exactly the case where that catches people. Diary a check five months out.

Frequently asked questions

What does vehicle storage cost per month?+

We do not publish a figure. The national ranges this page carried for cars, boats and RVs, and the per-option prices under each of them, came off on 7 September 2026 because nothing supported them. Vehicle storage is the part of the industry where a national number is least useful anyway: supply is local and often scarce, the price steps with the structure over the space rather than with a standard unit size, and long vehicles are quoted in length bands that differ site by site. Ring two or three yards near you in the same week, quote your length, and ask what the rate becomes in month two.

Does insurance cover a vehicle in storage?+

Your own motor policy is normally what covers it, not the facility's. The facility's cover is for its buildings and its liability, not for your vehicle, and its agreement will usually say so in as many words. Many insurers will let you reduce a stored vehicle to comprehensive-only, dropping collision and liability while it is off the road, which is worth asking about before you store rather than after. We no longer publish a percentage saving for doing that, because it depends on your policy, your state and your vehicle. Tell your insurer where the vehicle will be kept, because a change of garaging address can affect the policy on its own.

Can you store a vehicle at a regular self storage facility?+

Sometimes. Plenty of self-storage sites let a car go into a large drive-up unit, and a 10x20 takes most saloons while a 10x25 or 10x30 takes longer vehicles, but door height and internal length are what decide it rather than the floor plan, so measure both. Many operators do not permit it at all, and some permit it only with the fuel tank low and the battery disconnected. Ask before you book. Dedicated vehicle yards more often have what actually helps: wide turning space, power for a trickle charger, and a dump station if you are storing an RV.

How often should you check on a stored vehicle?+

Monthly is the sensible default. Run the engine long enough to circulate oil and put something back into the battery, look for fluid on the floor under it, check tyre pressures, and look for signs of rodents around the engine bay and exhaust. With a trickle charger fitted you can stretch the interval, but the visual check is the part that catches problems early, and pest intrusion in particular is much cheaper to find in month two than in month ten.

What is the best type of storage for a classic car?+

Enclosed and climate-controlled, if you can get it and the car justifies it. The failure modes for a stored classic are corrosion, perished rubber and seals, cracked interior trim and paint degradation, and those are humidity and UV problems rather than theft problems. Look for a concrete floor rather than gravel or dirt, since a permeable floor puts moisture into the air under the car continuously, plus ventilation and proper security. Price it at the site: the gap between an enclosed bay and a climate bay is a within-site number, the same as it is for household storage.

Is outdoor RV storage safe?+

It is the normal option, because most RVs are simply too big for anything else, and it is reasonably secure at a site with perimeter fencing, gated access and cameras. Weather is the real exposure rather than theft: UV degrades the roof membrane and the sidewall finish, hail dents, and standing water finds seams. A quality cover and an annual seal check do more for the vehicle than the fence does. If you have the choice, a covered space protects the roof, which is the surface that fails first and costs most to put right.