Wealth

How the super rich store their cars

How the 'other half' parks its cars

CNBC

For the super rich, who spend millions on supercars, parking in a plain old garage just won't do. They want convenience, extra protection and service for their wheels.

Click ahead to see how and where the wealthiest keep their automotive toys.

—By CNBC's Jennifer Schlesinger
Posted 25 March 2015

CNBC unlocks the mansion gates and scores you the ultimate VIP access to an exclusive world filled with unimaginable extravagance and enormous fortunes. New episodes of "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" air on Tuesday, March 31 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

A parking spot with a view

The Sky Garage Penthouse located in downtown Manhattan includes a parking-spot high above the city.
CNBC

The super rich have mansions in the sky, so why not a parking spot in the sky? The Sky Garage Penthouse located in downtown Manhattan includes a parking spot high above the city. The owner of the mega-apartment will have great views of the Empire State Building and so will his Ferrari.

To get to the apartment, you drive your car into a secret elevator off the street that whisks you, and your car, 14 stories up.

The penthouse, plus sky-high parking, is currently on the market for $19.5 million.

Read MoreThis Ferrari has the best view in Manhattan



A supercar gallery

This LA mansion has space for 6 cars including a spinner to see one special car from every angle.
Rodeo Realty | Bruce Makowsky

This billionaire's ultimate bachelor pad in Los Angeles comes with the ultimate six-car garage. It lifts, spins and displays luxury cars like fine art. From the alligator-upholstered chairs in the living room, you can see every angle of that shiny Bugatti.

The high-end auto gallery is outfitted with a hydraulic-powered car elevator and a 17-foot spinner to rotate cars to just the perfect angle.

The mansion was recently purchased for $70 million, cars not included.

Read MoreInside the Minecraft billionaire's ultimate bachelor pad

In a racetrack villa

In order to race your car at The Thermal Club, a country-club-like racetrack, you need to pay membership fees plus build a garage that can cost $1 million.
Source: CNBC

Imagine spending $1 million on a home built just for your car.

The Thermal Club in La Quinta, California, is a V.I.P. racetrack country club that sells real estate on the track for super-rich buyers who want to build insane garages.

In order to race supercars at this exclusive 4½-mile track, you need to be a Thermal Club member. Membership starts at $85,000 a year, and empty lots run between $400,000 and $800,000. On that land, you can build an elaborate garage villa including viewing rooms, elevators and data centers, which can bring the total cost for a single garage to $1 million.

Membership also includes a spa, pool and kid's center, where members can park their children.

Read MoreSupercar club offers $1 million garages

In the penthouse

An under construction luxury high-rise in Miami lets the car be the key to the apartment.
Source: MetroStudio.com

Most luxury condos require a key to get inside, but the super rich can buy multimillion dollar condos where their car is the key.

Miami real estate developer Gil Dezer is collaborating with Porsche to build a 57-story highrise where owners never have to leave their car to get into their apartment.

Dezer told CNBC he's developing technology so that buyers will be able to drive up to the building, and once their car is recognized, be delivered directly to their unit. The glass garage puts their luxury vehicles in their living room like pieces of art.

Reportedly 22 billionaires have already bought units in the Porsche Design Tower, but the penthouse is still available for $32 million.

Dezer expects construction on the giant tower to be completed in 2016.


In a megagarage museum

The Aston Martin DB5 with the ejector seat that James Bond drove in “Goldfinger.”
Source: CNBC

Forget a two-car garage, the super rich need space to store hundreds of cars.

Dezer and his father, Michael, have one of the largest private car collections in the world with more than 1,800 vehicles in a 250,000-square-foot personal megagarage also known as the Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection.

Many of their cars are famous movie cars. Their collection includes Herbie the Love Bug, the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, the Ecto-1 car from "Ghostbusters," and the flying car from "Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang."

Hidden in the back of the garage is one of the largest collections of James Bond vehicles in the world. Their private stash includes the disappearing Aston Martin Vanquish and the green Jaguar XKR that the villain drove in "Die Another Day."

Gil Dezer's favorite car in the lot is the Aston Martin DB5 that was featured in "Goldfinger." It's got many switches inside, including the famed ejector seat. He's actually taken the car for a spin.

Gil Dezer said the Bond collection is valued at around $35 million.

Read More$35 million worth of James Bond's cars

In a personal monument

John Staluppi who made millions selling cars spent $18 million building a replica of his native Brooklyn in Southern Florida, that’s so big he parked 100 collectible cars on its streets.
CNBC

To preserve their legacy, the super rich often spend millions on hospital wings and public libraries. John Staluppi, who made millions selling cars, took a different approach. He spent $18 million building a replica of his native Brooklyn in South Florida that's so big he was able to park 100 collectible cars on its streets.

Among the cars taking up spots in Staluppi's mini-Brooklyn is his first set of wheels, a 1962 Chevrolet Corvette his father bought him for $3,100. Years after selling it, Staluppi tracked the Corvette down again and repurchased it, this time he paid $55,000.

Staluppi's Brooklyn-in-Florida is only open to the public a few times a year for charity events, otherwise you need a personal invitation.


In a showroom covered in dirt

This 1956 Mercedes Gullwing was found in a barn in Connecticut and moved to a classic car showroom without ever being washed. The dirt shows the car is original and has practically never been touched.
CNBC

If you had a car worth over $2 million, would you keep it covered in dirt? That's exactly what rare car dealer Elliot Cuker of Cooper Classic Cars is doing with a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.

Cuker found the car in a barn in Connecticut and transported it to its current parking spot in Cuker's classic car showroom, where it remains unwashed.

The reason? He jokingly says the dirt alone is worth $20,000. The truth is, the fact that the car has practically never been touched, let alone washed, can add to its authenticity. Vintage cars with all the original parts can be worth a lot more than old vehicles refurbished with new parts.

Cuker told CNBC he was offered $2 million for the Mercedes but so far he's holding on to his dirty investment.

Locked in a 'car bank'

Exotic Classics in Syosset, NY may look like a parking lot, but it’s actually similar to a safe deposit box. Here, the super rich can store the cars they bought as investments.
CNBC

Just like you may keep your valuables in a bank's safe deposit box, the super rich keep their collectibles at a bank for cars.

Exotic Classics in Syosset, New York, may look like a parking lot, but it functions more like a bank. The super-rich car collectors store their classic cars here. At any given time, the place holds between 100 and 150 cars worth as much as $2 million each.

Even more amazing, many of the owners of the cars stored with Exotic Classics never even visit, let alone put the keys in the ignition. Many of the cars parked here are part of investment profiles, stored until the owner sells them to cash out.

Cars as an investment may seem crazy, but among collectibles, classic automobiles have been the best performing investment over the past five years.

Read MoreHere's 2014's best collectible investment....

Checked with the supercar concierge

This warehouse hold luxury cars worth millions. It’s owned by Auto Concierge, a company that helps Los Angeles’s wealthiest store and maintain their cars.
Courtesy: Scott Elrod

Having too many Porsches and not enough parking spots in your garage can be a huge hassle, unless of course, you're super rich.

Some wealthy car owners in Los Angeles pay Scott Elrod, CEO of Auto Concierge, to park their cars in a secure 15,000-square-foot warehouse that's stacked with supercars worth millions. Whenever an owner wants to drive a car stored there, Elrod will personally get behind the wheel and deliver it.

On the day "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" was shooting at Elrod's warehouse, he delivered a $2 million dollar Koenigsegg Agera R, a powerful Swedish luxury car, to an owner's home and retrieved not one, but two Lamborghinis the owner wanted stored at Auto Concierge.

Beyond the high-end valet services, the Auto Concierge team can also take care of mundane tasks like filling up the tank, checking oil, taking care of inspections and detailing. Membership starts at $850 a month and can go much higher depending on the number of vehicles stored, their value and the services requested.