The manual said it was for an umbrella, so I tried to actually put an umbrella in there to no avail. Guess the manual was wrong again. THe moron at the dealership said it was to put extra papers. There are so many weird and interesting little bells and whistles on these guys, a million safety devices, etc. I seem to learn something new about it every day. Took me 30 minutes to figure out if I even had a door lock button and where it was! classic.