Not guilty either. I expect it was expedient to have them hosted as near to the shipper as possible. The shippers tend not to like having things laying about before they are ready, but they want everything there the minute they are into loading mode. So a location where all can be shuttled to the shipper in one easy day would seem favourable.
Costs
A council garage around here is anything from £12 to £16 a week. That gives you a rate of a bit over £4 sq ft a year, at the cheaper value. Commercial Units are more than that, and the Council Garage value is used as a yardstick by a lot of casual renters of space. So cheaper than that is good. (I have a shed at £2.30 a sq ft, with a free mezzanine I built in it taking storage of cars down to £1.50 a sq ft per year for the 800 sq ft. Very good). So ignoring insurance etc, a 10 week storage probably has to start from £150, if it fills the council garage space, and no margin is added.
Looking at it the other way, storage attached to automotive businesses can be about £15 a day for a car in a park ferme, outside. The classic car storage outfits with air con buildings are on about £15 a day, depending on contract terms. The latter would be just over £1,000 for 10 weeks, for the same council garage space
Finding economic storage is tricky. We live in a crowded country, and rates are getting higher on official commercial premises. So I would expect our storage rates to be in excess of most other countries. This is why one's personal and private shedding is so important. I am forever talking to folk who describe their investment in a collection as successfully gaining value, but they are not including the erosion of the alleged increase in value by the cost of storage. Add in other costs of logistics, as they might not be stored at home, the reduction in Currency values, the £pound by 15% since 2009, for instance, and you might find your actually looking at a loss, dear investor. The enthusiast will take the hit, as it is part of the cost of his hobby.
No idea on what the arrangements here were. I made an offer as I had space in my overflow shed, but Rob offered first. Clearly another arrangement was already agreed, as I heard no more. The space is now being used by another collector who is marshalling stuff. He is 'paying' via a favour.
