By Nick Bilava, Storage.com
Business vehicle storage can be a simple and valuable addition to your self storage facility’s services, and it can easily improve your bottom line. Before you make changes to your facility to accommodate commercial vehicles, here’s what you need to know about your potential clientele and their needs.
Who Needs Business Vehicle Storage?
Commercial vehicle storage is a useful solution for locally-owned businesses within trade professions that require large cargo vans and trucks to do their work around town (Think plumbers, construction workers, landscapers, electricians, carpenters, etc.).
These businesses often encounter issues with where to keep company vehicles, especially if they don’t have a physical location and/or work out of home. Many homeowners associations don’t allow business vehicles to be parked in driveways or in streets overnight, which means these businesses need somewhere to park their company vans and trucks that won’t result in getting towed or receiving a fine from an HOA.
Security is also a concern. Vans and trucks owned by tradesmen usually haul expensive equipment and tools, and the last thing a worker in one of these trades wants is to find both their vehicle and their tools missing.
By offering business vehicle storage at your facility, you can provide local industrial, construction, and service businesses with a safe, convenient place to keep their company vehicles. Most of these businesses may need long-term storage or multiple parking stalls/storage units for their vehicles as well, which means your facility can see more profits by attracting these potential commercial tenants.
Which Features Attract Business Vehicle Storage Customers?
Businesses that need commercial vehicle storage don’t always follow the typical 9 to 5 schedule. Some may even operate on an on-call basis, meaning they could need to access their vehicles in the middle of the night. Extending your facility hours, creating parking lot hours separate from office hours, or even moving to a 24-hour access setup can help your facility draw these commercial tenants.
Another storage feature that businesses look for is security. Businesses expect their vehicles to be secure when they store them, so they want facilities that have updated or new security features in place. Having good lighting, an electronic gate with personal access codes, video surveillance, and a fenced-in perimeter makes your facility a more attractive option for businesses wanting to store vehicles.
More importantly, you should make a decision about whether or not you’ll allow businesses to keep personal vehicles at your facility whenever they take their commercial vehicles out (i.e., “garaging”), as this is something commercial tenants may want. This can be a trickier accommodation because parking at your facility may be reserved for other customers or facility visitors. But if you can, try to work something out. Perhaps you can upsell businesses into drive-up access storage units where they can swap their vehicles when necessary. Regardless, make sure you discuss arrangements upfront.
Nick Bilava is Sales Director at Storage.com and a contributor for Inside-Self Storage, Mini Storage Messenger, California Self Storage Association, Florida Self Storage Association, Massachusetts Self Storage Association, and Connecticut Self-Storage Association.
