If you don't protect your vehicle from the elements, your car could incur damage, need costly repairs, and lose value, fast. That's a frustrating truth for drivers who can't afford garages, which often cost tens of thousands of dollars to build. The good news is that you don't need a garage to give your car some protection.
A carport is a more affordable alternative to an enclosed garage. It's true, they don't offer every single benefit garages do. Still, for a couple of thousand dollars, you get a ton of protection compared to parking your car in an uncovered driveway or outside, covered with a car cover made of thin fabric or plastic.
Take a look at these four handy benefits of metal carports.
1. Block Hazards Falling From the Sky With a Carport
Hail is one of the most unpredictable and universal weather threats to cars. It can strike at any place and any time, no matter whether rain or shine, hot or cold. An icy hailstone the size of a pebble can do a good amount of damage to your car—Forget about larger hailstones, sometimes as big as a softball.
Lightning strikes during stormy weather also do major damage to cars. If you have no choice but to park near trees, fallen branches or even an entire tree could crush your car. Surprising threats include humble pinecones, which crack windshields, and gooey tree sap that ruins paint jobs.
If you don't have comprehensive insurance and a low deductible, you could pay thousands of dollars to repair damage from these threats. Paying more on your insurance premium may not be worth it to you if you don't live somewhere with a lot of other random threats to your car, such as theft, storms, falling trees, and so on.
Even with comprehensive, it's not ideal for that to be your only back-up option. You'll still have to pay a deductible for every claim or else have a huge premium.
2. Weather the Elements Without Any Issues
Some outdoor threats to your car aren't covered by most comprehensive insurance. These include sun damage to the paint and interior of your car and anything else that insurers considered regular wear and tear. If your car gets buried under snow all winter and rusts as it all melts away, insurance won't cover that either.
Steel carports provide shelter to protect your car from elements like sun and snow as well as from things that comprehensive insurance does cover like branches and hail. You can pick up a basic carport for not much if any more than you'd pay for the deductible on an insurance claim for major damage. If you have to choose, the savings are even higher when considering that your premium would cost more with high-quality comprehensive coverage, too.
That's not to say that a carport, garage, or any structure is a full replacement for comprehensive car insurance. What is true is that a carport is a one-time purchase that's affordable for many who may not be able to commit to more expensive car insurance. Many merchants offer payment plans that make the cost even less of a barrier.
3. Don't Feel the Need to Cut Down Trees
If you don't have a lot of space, building a garage can mean a total reset of your property's landscape. You may have to say goodbye to a large chunk of lush grass and some of your favorite yard plants and trees.
Or, don't say goodbye...and install a carport garage like a metal lean to instead! A majority of these structures install over part of your already-existing driveway, so you don't need to worry about demolition to give your car some protection. Carports don't require as much cleared ground space because a handful of narrow posts anchor them in most cases.
The lack of demolition for carport installation means you don't have to puzzle through a new yard configuration. It also means you save money, and not just because most prefab carports cost a lot less than even the simplest enclosed garages.
Demolition is tough on your wallet as well as being tough on your heart. Getting crews out to your property to remove trees and prep for garage installation is a hassle and a huge expense.
4. Enjoy the Outdoors With Added Covered Space
One awesome advantage of carports over enclosed garages is that one is a great place for all kinds of things including but not limited to: a place for kids to play, somewhere friends and family to gather, or a spot to chill alone and drink a beer or smoke at the end of a long day.
If you host events at your home, covered outdoor space is a huge convenience.
There's no bigger nightmare for a party host than dealing with a sudden rainstorm or—worse—hail. Rushing everyone inside isn't always practical or, in some cases, possible at all.
Say you can get everyone inside to avoid bad weather. Are you prepared for them to see your very lived-in home?
With a covered carport, making space for guests inside even though your event is outdoors isn't a concern. You won't need to bring everyone in for some rain or hail unless you're dealing with strong wind along with them or other severe weather.
Keep in mind that all steel carports can get hot in the sun. While they make an excellent shade in those conditions, they also come with a potential for burns.
Many solutions to this issue are cheap and easy with some DIY skills. For example, consider building planters or simple, short concrete columns around the lower parts of the poles or columns holding the structure up.
It's not the focus of this article, but it doesn't take long to brainstorm more fixes to that problem. You don't need to do anything elaborate if you choose to take those precautions, and you'll find the trouble is worth an added covered space to gather and play.
Polish Your Lifestyle With Great Tips
After reading these reasons to get a metal carport, you can buy one and protect your car from hail and other threats.
For more choice tips to help make your stuff last and live your best life, take a look around the site. Click on another article to get more information so good you'll wonder how you ever went without it.
