Finding out the right garage size for your car can be hit or miss, but a car size database added to a garage manufacturer's new website should help avoid buying a garage that is too small for you car.

In producing the database, that can be seen at www.comptonbuildings.co.uk a clear trend towards larger cars was noticed - not only wider and longer, but also taller. This is thanks to the increasing popularity of 4x4s and MPVs. This obviously means that bigger garages are needed at a time when space around people's homes (the property footprint) is reducing. Thankfully, the return on investment of a typical garage still makes this worthwhile as a recent building society survey showed a single garage adds 11.1% to a home's value.

It is recommended that the addition of a minimum of 3ft to the width of the car should comfortably accommodate an individual car and provide room to open the car door - this is very important! However, before deciding on the size it is important to consider everything that the garage will be used for and to allow space for it, as very few garages are used solely for storing the car.

In response to the findings a range of buildings has been developed that vary in width, length and height to accommodate all the various shapes and sizes of cars and trucks available. A clear trend towards taller vehicles necessitated the launch of taller garages.

It is crucial to ensure that an up & over garage door has space to open & close whilst the car is in the garage - there is always a distance of about 4ft from the front of the garage to achieve the drive through height, so this means adding an extra 4ft to the length of the garage if you have a tall vehicle.

Also remember to consider that with up and over garage doors, the door height will be about 5" more than the drive through height!

The car size database is an extremely large database with the size details of almost every car being used on UK roads today. Easily accessible, it presents visitors with all the relevant information required to establish the ideal size for a new garage by simply entering the vehicle details.

As well as car sizes the website also has details on the Compton Buildings range and the locations of its displays around Britain.