Carport or garage, which makes more sense?

Would still select "Car is parked on the street" for insurance. Because of 11€... If you park the car on the street once at night and damage occurs, the insurance will use the fact that it was not in the garage as an excuse, thus no insurance coverage...

I would still choose "Car is parked on the street" for insurance. Because of 11€...
If you park the car on the street once at night and damage occurs, the insurance will use the fact that it wasn't in the garage as an excuse, meaning no insurance coverage...

Understandable approach.
With my insurance and my everyday car, the option "Car is parked on the street" would be standard triple-digit expensive. Locked garage or carport make no difference. In any case, I am grateful for more than 30 claim-free years.

A BIG garage is definitely a nice feature. You can store things well, lock them up, etc. But it’s big. I find the normal prefabricated garages extremely uncomfortable because they are so spatially cramped. With children who just suddenly fling the door open, which then slams hard against the garage wall, it’s probably not an advantage (okaaaay, of course, you can immediately switch to a car with sliding doors if you have kids, then that argument no longer applies). The advantage of the carport is that you have relatively more space. Especially if one or more sides are open. Often they are also not built with masonry walls, but wooden walls. That also provides more space compared to the garage. Sometimes it is also simply visually nicer to have a carport than a garage. Sometimes it is appropriate due to the property and building regulations. A carport can be an extended entrance area that you can walk through into the garden, which provides a protected entrance situation and still space for a car, etc. Especially on rather small plots, a completely enclosed garage is a space eater.

Therefore, I think you can never generally say: a carport is better or a garage is always better. It depends on the circumstances – how much space do I have, where should the carport/garage go and how is it positioned on the property. Do I have enough space for a large garage so that you can comfortably get out of it, etc.

Insurance would certainly not be an argument for me to build a garage at all costs. A workshop probably not either – personally, I would always prefer to have that in a heated or at least warmer room (our old garage was freezing cold in winter – I wouldn’t have wanted to work in there even for 10 minutes). But here too: everyone as it suits them best in their respective situation.

We decided on a 9m long double garage. In winter, both cars are inside, in summer almost only my wife’s. Since we don’t have a basement, I find it practical to be able to leave things there sometimes. The year before last, I worked for about an hour every evening over several weeks and built a large loft bed; last spring a matching cupboard was made underneath. Last year at the start of the school year, we wanted to rent an air hockey children’s table for fun. Since buying a used one cost about the same as the rental fee, we got a used one, which then was available in the garage for the kids for the rest of the summer. It will surely be set up again soon.

That would never have been possible in a carport.

It always depends on the area. Where we live, cars are left open in front of the house for days - often still with the key inside. The most you might get is someone passing by saying, "Hey, you forgot the key in the car!" So we can store just about anything in the carport, nothing will disappear. Only on Freinacht should you maybe put things away.

In less trustworthy areas, a lockable garage definitely has its advantages...

.... In winter both cars are inside, in summer almost only my wife’s...

Confirms my suspicions that the garage is living space, not a parking spot for the car.

.... Since we don’t have a basement, I find it practical to be able to leave things standing sometimes.

That’s the crux of the matter.

That would never have been possible in the carport.

No, if you had had a carport, that would of course not have been possible – huh? Then sentences like these would come up:

“Sorry kids, we can’t set up an air hockey table, we have a carport” or “Oh damn, if only we had a garage, we could set up the air hockey table now” or “If I had a garage now, I could build the cupboard”

:D ;)