Rural property: storing unattended vehicle

BullOnParade

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Eastern Ontario
My wife and I bought a remote 10 acre plot late 2018. The property is a 1.3km hike from the end of the road off a bulldozed trail, but that road is a little rough for my daily driver. We'd like to buy a vehicle for the property, something to allow us to start bringing in building materials and start construction on a camp.

Leaning towards an older 4x4 pickup truck and keep it off the road. Advantages: enclosed cab, keeps a couple people and some gear out of the elements. Easy to work on, (relatively) easy to find parts. Best capacity for bringing materials in to the property. Cons: higher operating cost to other options.

While I considered an ATV style vehicle, they seem to hold value much better than a pickup. A 20 year old pickup can easily be found for $2k or less compared to ATVs at double that.

I've met most of the neighbours, it's all hunting properties, with a couple farms at the start of the road, so far from a high traffic area, deer season aside. An ATV is easier to secure, but a truck is harder to steal.

I've talked about the idea with my boss, and he strongly advises against leaving vehicles unattended. With anicdotes of his own hunt camp being burgled many times.

How do you feel about leaving a vehicle unattended in a remote area? Which style of vehicle would you choose with a $2k budget for the use on and around hunting property on unassumed roads?
 
Always a risk to leave stuff unattended in the woods for any length of time. But I agree with your choice. You can get an old pickup that will be a bigger help (than a quad) moving stuff around to build your camp. Of course, you could insure it against theft & damage, but that would likely require registration & licensing (unless you can get 'storage' insurance that isn't so expensive?). Otherwise, maybe put a sign on the dash of your locked truck: "Please don't mess with my truck - it's all I can afford"
 
Take the wheels with you when you leave it there, it will almost certainly be there when you get back. But it still might be vandalized.
 
Maybe if you talked to one of the owner's of the nearby farms you could park it there when you are not using it. You could even offer to pay a small fee to park it.
 
Buy a beater truck and dont worry about it.

Maybe if you talked to one of the owner's of the nearby farms you could park it there when you are not using it. You could even offer to pay a small fee to park it.

Both good ideas, if I had a good neighbor in a situation like the op’s they would be able to park on my property when not around.
 
I am in a somewhat similar situation. Personally I would get to know your closest neighbours. They are your best resources in these situations. Gifts of booze go a long way. May take a while but best option.
 
I would try to leave it where there is people all the time even if I had to pay
Here even a junker someone will strip it clean or burn it for a rush
Different world today
Cheers
 
The closest neighbouring properties (both the 100 acres behind me and the 10 acres north of me) are owned by the same guy, a local cop, who I haven't met yet. I think he's the guy I want to meet the most. There's a trail from his two plots that crosses the corner of my lot I know he uses to access his own. I have no problems with it, like I said, everyone has been great so far. But he'd be the best, most likely to notice something off.

I'm also considering one of those cell service trail cameras focused on the truck while parked.
 
Id be more worried about animals making a home in it and chewing through wires, rendering it useless when you need it.

Your best bet would be to buy a 2nd vehicle (like it was suggested to get a beater truck) and use that to make your trips from home. Drive it once a week when in town to keep the seals from drying out and other parts from siezing up. Yes you gotta pay insurance on it and plates but you also have a backup vehicle incase something goes wrong with your daily driver.
 
Your other option is to buy a new daily driver that’s capable of the drive in, once we bought our rural property the first thing I did was sell my car and buy a 4x4 truck. We moved up full time about a year or so later, buying the truck was a good choice.
 
Leave the doors unlocked put a bottle of booze on the seat and as them to leave the truck but take the bottle. This works on the res when we have to leave something overnight

Great idea,,,, they should have done this with the protesters, have a free bar set up close by ... none of them would have made it onto the tracks lol
 
If you end up having to leave it parked by it's self on your property, have a mechanic wire in a secret toggle switch under the dash or hidden somewhere under the hood that will shut down electricity to the ignition coil or whatever they are using now a days. My friend did this on an old ford and it worked quite well.
 
If you end up having to leave it parked by it's self on your property, have a mechanic wire in a secret toggle switch under the dash or hidden somewhere under the hood that will shut down electricity to the ignition coil or whatever they are using now a days. My friend did this on an old ford and it worked quite well.

Actually it didn't work quite well... :D

Not a bad option, and a good way to reduce theft. However I must mention it will do nothing to prevent damage or destruction.

Where you park it, how much traffic there is in the area, rodents, and just rotting away, are all factors to cosnider.

A road legal vehicle that is plated is much more useful.

I have a 2008 ford ranger 4x4 manual that is my hunt and utility truck. Works very well.
 
With today's cordless power tools, nothing is secured if unattended for more than a week. I'd rather leave a truck outside and risk it being destroyed or vandalized than have the doors to a sea-can cut open. The can itself would cost more than the vehicle budget, plus shipping. Finding a delivery truck willing to drive back there and then I'd probably need a crane truck to lift it into place unless I clear 100 feet of fully wooded lot.
 
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