Cars are frequently advertised as “garage kept” for a reason. Parking them inside reduces their exposure to pollutants, UV, etc.
Give me 10 minutes to look at you paint and the undercarriage of your car, and I can tell you whether it is normally stored outdoors or indoors.
Put your $30,000 dollar car which is stored outside, next to the same car stored inside, and yes, I’d pay more for the one stored inside. At least a little.
I tend to keep the door closed (detatched garage), but not because I’m concerned about theft.
I do it just to keep critters out and leaves and whatnot from blowing in. If it weren’t for all the squirrels, birds, and whatever else constantly entering our garage, I would leave it open more.
FWIW - I live in the middle of a large, urban area. Crime rate in the neighborhood is low.
And as long as I’m on the topic, what is with the squirrels and birds always going in my garage? When I was a kid, my folks pretty much left the garage door open all the time during the day when someone was home. Except for the occasional chipmunk (which can get in whether the door is open or not, we never had animals in there.
But at my house, I can’t leave the garage alone for 5 minutes without a sparrow or squirrel going in there. There’s no garbage in there, no birdseed, nothing. I don’t get it.
One of our neighbours is a guy who smokes in his garage and he leaves the door open from time to time.
Open garage door.
Get in car.
Back out into driveway.
Get out of car.
Close garage door.
Get in car.
Drive somewhere, come home.
Get out of car.
Open garage door.
Get in car.
Pull into garage.
Get out of car.
Close garage door.
By leaving it open, you can eliminate ten of those steps.
How common are garage door openers these days?
I honestly don’t know anyone that doesn’t have one.
Every single newhouse in the USA which has a garage, also has a remote control opener. At least since 1975 or so.
And for older houses, every single one which I’ve ever seen had added a remote control to the old-fashioned door.
just anectdotal ,of course. Am I wrong ?
My parents leave their garage open when they’re doing laundry (the washer and dryer are in there). I’m not sure why, exactly. Other than that, if they’re not doing yardwork the garage is closed.
Get in warm, frost/ice/heat/whatever free car
Hit button
Back out
Hit button
Drive away.
Now it’s representative of what the average garage owning US citizen does.
I don’t think that my parents had one until their current house, which they got in 1999. I can’t remember if my last GF had one, but she always parked in the driveway anyway.
I bought one nice car for myself, a BMW 3 series. Last year, major hailstorm, packed garage, no more car.
The garage is now cleaned (somewhat).
Get yourself a girlfriend and you’ve got your opener/closer right there in the passenger seat. 
I like the way you think!
Delivering papers every day means you get to see a lot of sleeping homes. I am always surprised at how many people accidentally leave their garage doors open. I assume it’s accidentally, at least, because often the lights are on (even though the house is dark), and the garages are often full of tools and theft-worthy items. Fairly often, I’ll scare off a raccoon who has decided to check out the garbage cans inside the doors.
Other than these, and a few people who leave the doors slightly open (I’m assuming they have pet cats), most everyone closes their doors. I keep mine closed, because I kennel my dogs in the garage.
(You might also be surprised at the number of people who leave their dome lights on or their cars doors open. It’s weird.)
I don’t have one, and my house was built in late 2004. But what I lack in garage
door opening technology, I make up for with cool neighbors.
Used to work in the low-voltage controls biz, including security. Woke up hearing a news report of a big art heist in a town in which we had several customers. I kept saying, “Don’t be one of ours,” but it was. I learned several things from this experience:
[ol]
[li]When you automate your home, buy the security package up front. If you don’t you will do it later and it will cost more and people will make fun of you on the internet.[/li][li]Find a better place to hang your Monet and Renoir than in the hall between the gym and the garage.[/li][li]Some people have too much money.[/li][li]When you drive to WalMart (honest!) close the goddamn garage door.[/li][/ol]
[quote=“dropzone, post:35, topic:639622”]
[li]When you automate your home, buy the security package up front. If you don’t you will do it later and it will cost more and people will make fun of you on the internet.[/li][/QUOTE]
(my bold)
Sorry for being an ignoramus but what do you mean by “automate your home?”
I don’t like garages that open out in the front of the house, especially those that stick out past the line of the living space. It looks as though you’re driving into a giant mouth and the house is going to eat you.
I personally don’t have a garage, but I often leave my house doors open, always leave it unlocked. There’s not much to steal, and if they can get past the two german shepherd, the doberman, giant schnauzer and standard poodle, and the two cops next door, I guess they’ re welcome to my old desktop computer and my TV.
StG
My parents often left the garage open during the day when I was a kid. It had to be manually opened and closed. Quite a bit of effort. They did close it at night.
I guess the rationale was our cars coming and going throughout the day. Getting out and opening the door a half dozen times wouldn’t be fun.
They have a different house and garage today. I think the garage opener closes automatically after they drive in.
What size? I’m in desperate need of an upgrade.
It ranges from simple timers on your lights to make it look to burglars like you are at home to full-bore “control your lights, heating and air conditioning, TV, and security system from your iPad.” They didn’t even bother with the first, but it would not have mattered because it was an inside job.