FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi guys,
We're getting very close to our move to Melbourne and would love any advice you can throw our way.
The house we're looking at has no car port only street parking!!!!!!!!!! I suppose Melbournites are quite used to that but being from Brisbane where it's practically unheard of not to have undercover parking I'm freaking out!
Having a red car doesn't help (apparently the quickest to oxidise in the sun). Do you guys put a cover on? What do you do in a hail storm, are they common? Are there covers you can get to protect from hail?
What about security, do you know of the best alarm to install? Am I being paranoid to think it might get keyed just being parked in the street 24/7?
The house we're hoping to get is on Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy (the quieter end) oposite Edinbough gardens, the house has a rear entrance on a quieter street that I hope to park in. Do you think this is a high risk area? Is it common not to be able to park outside your house and have to walk a few blocks? Please excuse my niavety!
I really love a well polished and clean car I don't know how I'm going to deal with it being weathered all the time!
Thanks for any info guys...

You got room for a portable car port. You can get fully enclosed ones for about $300. From a security point of view, while I dont live in Melbourne, so dont know the area, I would recommend 2 things:

1. Remove the internal door rods to your internal door locks. This is the main way that people break into the car (bend the glass out and flick the internal lock). If you remove the internal rod, it just means you cant lock the door from the inside without the remote. It also means that the only way into the car is through the external door lock. Even breaking the glass will not allow the door to be opened.

2. Put in an inline switch to the fuel pump. If you hide this somewhere, while they may get into the car, chances of getting it going will be much less.

Hope this helps

There is no way in hell I would park my car on the street. Just look at the stupid mentality of the young kids today (points at bradgpx)

Easy solved.. Don't move and stay in Brisbane it's obvoiusly better

It all depends where you live, unfortunately in North Fitzroy it isn't the best place to live

My car is always parked in the street, but since my area has a very low crime rate (no train station etc.) it's extremely rare that someone's car is stolen or damaged.

Hail storms? That only happened once, it's not common lol and I wasn't affected either.

I8A4RE wrote:There is no way in hell I would park my car on the street. Just look at the stupid mentality of the young kids today (points at bradgpx)

you meant me then not brent lol

-Nighthawk- wrote:It all depends where you live, unfortunately in North Fitzroy it isn't the best place to live

My car is always parked in the street, but since my area has a very low crime rate (no train station etc.) it's extremely rare that someone's car is stolen or damaged.

Hail storms? That only happened once, it's not common lol and I wasn't affected either.

Lol, I live in Werribee (rough western suburbs, yo) and I park my baby on the street no probs.

Just don't piss any neighbors off and you might be alright

the only problem youll face parking on the street is bird poop.! this year we had the really bad hail storm, first and last one i remember being of such an intensity. in north fitzroy youll be ok though, it was more in the outer suburbs that the storm did its damage.

people dont normally put a cover on their car, it actually attracts more attention of the negative sort.
no, its not a norm to park the car n walk a few blocks home, being that if u have an alarm you wont be able to hear it.
alarms in melb, for insurance (not sure if its the same as all the other states) needs to have a 3 point immobilser (spelling?)..

one thing i would do considering you will have to park on the street is apply for a permit from the city council. because the car isnt there just for business purposes and if its a highly dense parking area on the street there is normally a side that will be permit parking and the other side would be for example a 2 hour parking. the permit will then let you park on the permit side and not have to worry about getting a parking ticket. the way you would go around n do that is find out which city council is the one that takes care of that area, call them and enquire how to go about getting the permit sticker!

for your own benefit, you might want to do like a google maps search of the house n then that way you can see the street parking layout.

any more questions?

brad_gpx wrote:

I8A4RE wrote:There is no way in hell I would park my car on the street. Just look at the stupid mentality of the young kids today (points at bradgpx)

you meant me then not brent lol

Certainly did

Gangs of hoodlums and ruffians rome the streets of Melbourne looking for FTOs to steal. How many shotguns are you bringing down?

I thought Brunswick street was where all those commie houses were...if my guess is correct then it might be a good idea not to park your car off the street. As Nighthawk has said that area isnt the best. I know N. Fitzroy is close to the CBD but if I were you I would look for a place which has a garage or at least a car port. My 2 cents worth.

I8A4RE wrote:

brad_gpx wrote:

I8A4RE wrote:There is no way in hell I would park my car on the street. Just look at the stupid mentality of the young kids today (points at bradgpx)

you meant me then not brent lol

Certainly did

haha

nice editing


just realise it was pretty dumb sh*t what i said before

well was completely dumb sh*t

only took me a couple of months

dstocks wrote:1. Remove the internal door rods to your internal door locks. This is the main way that people break into the car (bend the glass out and flick the internal lock). If you remove the internal rod, it just means you cant lock the door from the inside without the remote. It also means that the only way into the car is through the external door lock. Even breaking the glass will not allow the door to be opened.

2. Put in an inline switch to the fuel pump. If you hide this somewhere, while they may get into the car, chances of getting it going will be much less.

This is great advice.. thanks Dstocks, I'll definitely look into these.

Thanks everyone, I'm definitely going to bid on this baby. There's a back street enterance that's quiet and I'll be able to park very close to the house so with a big alarm I'll be able to sleep at night! I'm flying down today for the Saturday Auction, fingers crossed. Can't wait to join you all in the miserable cold...