Garages? Turn a waste of space into an exercise place

According to research by Admiral Home Insurance only a third (33%) of homeowners use their garage every day for its intended use while most treat it as a dumping ground for unwanted clutter.

With the latest government announcement stating people must self-isolate and maintain social distancing, this could be as good a time as any to have a spring clean and sort through the spaces around the home that have become full of unused household items.

A garage could be a good place to start as according to Admiral research, nearly half (45%) of homeowners never or rarely use their garage to park their car. For more than half of those who don’t keep their car in the garage, it’s because there’s no space as it’s filled with other items ranging from garden tools to furniture and household items, including fridge freezers and washing machines.

Clearing out the junk from your garage could have the added benefit of creating extra space to work from home while we are all staying at home during the Coronavirus outbreak.

With gyms and numerous parks closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, many Brits will be relying on home workouts to keep fit. Creating space in your garage could provide extra room to store home workout equipment, such as large cardio machines or heavy weight sets.

While converting your garage into an office, or home gym can create extra space in your home, it’s important to make sure your garage is secure to avoid break ins or equipment damage. Admiral warns that making simple security errors, such as leaving your garage unlocked, could lead to your home insurance being invalidated. It’s also important to check your policy cover as some insurers might have lower limits for items stolen from garages, or might not cover them at all.* With Admiral, you will need to specify on your policy any gym equipment worth more than £1,000.

Despite many wasting the space they have in their garage, almost half of homeowners (46%) admitted that not having one would be a deal-breaker when it comes to buying a new home, so if you ever think of selling up in the future, when the world returns to normality this could be a good time to sort through your garage and make it as attractive to potential buyers as possible.

Noel Summerfield, Head of Admiral Home Insurance, said: “Our research shows as a nation, very few of us use our garages to park a car in and instead use them as a dumping ground. Now could be as good as time as any to have a sort through so you can make the most out of this additional space during the UK lockdown. Especially because it could provide some much needed extra space to work in or to work out in.

“Looking through things you no longer need or use could turn out to be incredibly valuable for someone else, so you could consider donating your unwanted household items to a charity that is supporting the more vulnerable people struggling during this time. Just remember to check before you donate as charities might not be able to accept physical donations right now but could be looking for more donations in the future.”

*Theft from garages only covered with Admiral Gold and Admiral Platinum policies.