What would happen if you left your car unlocked?

[TinnedPearsForPudding]

Just wondering really...because I discovered my husband hadn't locked our car and it had been in the car park adjacent to our flats unlocked for 3 days and no harm done. Phew. Quite impressive I think bearing in mind we live in relatively central London (zone 2) and on a local authority estate.

Made me wonder...what would happen on your street if you left your car unlocked?

Absolutely nothing, my house is hidden away at the end of a cul-de-sac and the driveway is then again hidden by my house. Most of my neighbours have cctv as a precautionary measure. I once left my (work) mobile lying by the side of my car when it fell out my handbag and no harm done!

I left the car with a door part open. Well I assumed preschool ds had shut it but clearly not. It was rifled through but nothing taken. Not even the fakeOakleys.

God I've done this loads of times, on our driveway though.
Nothing stolen, car not hot wired despite living in Essex

Where we live now...quiet cul de sac, nothing.

On our old road in more inner London, my dh did this and his sat nav got nicked. Chancers walk up and down road trying car doors as they go. I once left a bag of shopping on my doorstep for one minute whilst I transferred my sleeping baby from the car to their bedroom and when I got back, my shopping had been nicked.

Nothing to date thankfully. I normally do it.

In fact 5 years odd ago when ds was about 5 & we parked in busy town centre car park, I came back 3 hours later & saw the back door was wide open. After panicking I realised what happened was I was getting dd into pram & hadn't realised he didn't shut the door on leaving the car. Car park was now full & people had just left the space beside us empty because of open door!

DH once left our car in a car park in an absolute shit hole with the keys in the door. Someone very kindly locked the car and took the keys to the local police station. Where I happened to work at the time 🤦‍♀️. So we and the car keys were reunited.

My faith in humanity was restored (very briefly) that day!

Probably nothing. I have a car I really like now so I’m very careful but my last one was a 13 year old Peugeot that I accidentally left unlocked three times in a pretty rough area and nothing happened - even the local junkies didn’t want it 😂

Absolutely nothing. We’re on a farm, down a rough, long lane, so passers by are rare, and even if someone did come on the rob, they’d not go for my truck when there’s much more valuable and less traceable things in the sheds

If you're very unlucky, someone will try the door. But that's rare. Your insurance is invalid if you don't lock the car. Go easy on him though unless he's habitually careless. It'll be your turn next, a momentary distraction and it's sitting unlocked until you return.

The battery may drain very slowly.

I never ever lock my car and I leave car keys in front driver seat glove compartment

It’s an old nothing special Ford Focus. I am a single parent and lost my keys before and the palaver!! So i don’t lock. Ever. 5 years been doing this. Helps I live in a lovely affluent low crime south east market town I suppose!

I would have said nothing, as we live in a quiet cul de sac in a small mid England town, but there has been a spate of burglaries from cars on drives in the last few months though and NDN's car was broken into two nights ago and some very expensive gold clubs and a leather jacket were taken.

I never used to lock mine, I figured I would rather someone opened the door and took what they wanted rather than smash the window. I never kept anything of value in it though.
DH and I have had several "disagreements" about my wanton disregard for vehicle security. However nothing ever happened except there was no change in the car parking fund one day - to this day I've nobodies whether it was taken or spent, and in any case would only have been a couple of quid.
We've got a new car now and I do lock it, firstly because it's the only way the mirrors fold in, and secondly I have a really sexy quite desirable dog cage in the back now.

Nothing. I did this in a station park for a week and came home to find everything fine.

Nothing would happen here
I park my car on my driveway and have forgotten to lock it on several occasions
Its still there safe and sound

My car locks itself apparently my son was waiting in the car for me and didn't move and my car decided to lock fortunately we have a button

It automatically locks but if it didn’t, nothing would happen. We live in a quiet town on a quiet estate.

Hopefully nothing, but if I had my usual loo roll I use as tissue/ hand wiping etc on show I expect it would get taken

I haven't left it unlocked but the kids have left one of the windows open on occasion and nothing has happened. Various cars throughout the years and nothing ever happened to anyone.

Gated road, then gates at house, alarmed with security lights and cctv. They wouldn't bother for mine but DH's is garaged because they may.

Not be covered under insurance if anything happened to it.

They get in my car, take £5 + change out of my box compartment, take passport photo of my ds, take house keys (luckily not mine) that are also in compartment with money TRY THEM IN MY HOUSE DOOR, walk into my garden, go in my garage and steal 2 mountain bikes

I didn't lock mine for ages (the bipper has stopped working and when I'm getting the DC in of an evening I'm already carrying 2x lunchboxes, 3x coats, a laptop bag, a hand bag, 2x book bags, any arts and crafts I've kindly been sent by the school, etc etc). It was fine and then I went out to the drive one morning and the car had clearly been rummaged through although nothing was taken (my car is basically a mobile skip though, so I'm not surprised). I'm a bit more careful about locking it now 😁. We're in z5.

DH left the car keys in the lock of the open roof box in the car park of a busy tourist attraction.

They were handed in to the tea room.

We did this once about 7 years ago, on the street outside our house (quiet culdesac). The radio was stolen. We didn't do it again.