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?

Live on a military base...nothing!

Nothing. I always leave the car unlocked when I pop into the shops after taking the dog off because she sets the alarm off if I lock it. Granted a dog being in there may put people off but she’s not a big dog.

I once forgot to lock it when we were going for a walk in the park, with mobile phone in view in the front cup holder (yes I’m forgetful ) and it was still there when we got back.

Left my car keys in the ignition overnight once, only realised when I was hunting for my house keys on the way out, they were on the same ring as the car keys. Car was safely on the drive, not been touched, house was fine. Very lucky. House keys are now kept separate from the car keys just in case!

Nothing, I have left car windows wide open overnight and doors unlocked before. It is always possible that someone will come along and take it. Game of chance really.

Sunglasses pinched. We also think someone pissed in the car!

I’ve done it twice and had my car rifled through both times.

I’ve forgotten to lock my car a few times while on the driveway. Still here but my estate is very quiet with no through road

Nothing. I live on a fairly busy street. One day I came home to find my son had left his ground floor window wide open - with his expensive gaming computer in full view.
It would take a pretty brazen burglar to go in through a window with everyone stopped at the traffic light watching.
When living in London I left my front door wide open for about four hours one day. Nothing happened thank goodness.

I never lock the car door. We live in quite a quiet area, but last year a group of people went around breaking into people's cars. My dad had 2 grand of tools taken.

I know from experience that on my road someone would open it, rifle through the glove box and side pockets and take anything of value. We don’t ever leave anything of value in there - if a thief wants a battered elderly A-Z and an AA road map from 2015 then so be it.

Where we used to live (zone 6) I left my car unlocked overnight once and came down to find my massage table with all my beauty products to do my job gone!! I had such a pokey car and getting the massage table in and out was quite a hard job so I'm surprised they did this so stealthily.
Ended up costing me £200 to replace everything

While living rurally I left the car unlocked and the back windows open. Completely untouched when I next used the car three days later thankfully!

I frequently forget to lock my car. At least once or twice a week!

Nothing whatsoever. In fact I get a bit irritated if I need something out the car and I realise it’s locked.

We once realised that we had left the house unlocked for an entire week

Usually, nothing. In a village, behind gates.
Occasionally, we get a spate of chancers hitting the villages, where they go through sheds, barns and any vehicles they can get into. They are very keen on expensive tools and agricultural machinery.
My neighbour has one of those desirable Land Rovers, and they have attempted to steal it several times, doing damage to her gates/security system every time. she's giving up and changing it to something less collectable.

Absolutely nothing. I've left it unlocked countless times.

Nothing. We live in the countryside and our drive is very secluded.

However my DD found out to her horror that if you leave your car window open and it rains overnight your seats get very wet!

If mine is unlocked for more than about 10 minutes, the alarm tends to go off.

Nothing.
In fact, I'm not sure when I last locked it. Live on the main road in a village, there is almost no crime whatsoever here, apart from occasional petty vandalism.
Went out on thursday, out for 4 or 5 hours, came home to discover the front door was unlocked, post on the kitchen table.
Postman told me yesterday that he'd closed the door after he'd delivered the post, and that he'd had a glass of water too. I dont even know what his name is

Nothing, never lock mine, live in the middle of nowhere, nothing in it apart from dog hair, mud and straw! Intrigued as to why this would cause the battery to drain as PP user147 said?

An old car we had years ago had dodgy locks so we didn’t bother locking it and it wasn’t worth anything. We just didn’t leave anything in it. One morning I got in and discovered a pizza box on the passenger seat and a flat battery. Also pizza smeared on the back windscreen. I think someone had used it for shelter after the pub to eat and listen to the radio

And more recently, a nice car now, dh forgot to lock it. Someone went through it but didn’t find anything but left the manual from the glove box a bit further down the road.

I left the car key in the boot lock for 24hrs recently, and it was still there when I eventually went back. But I do drive a bit of an old banger, so not too surprising!

Our car locks itself. We think it's if it's left unlocked and the keys are a certain distance away as there have been a couple of mornings DH has found the car unlocked in the driveway so might depend where the keys are in the house.

We've been lucky when it's happened but other people in our street have had people breaking into their cars or rifling through stuff if they've left it unlocked. We don't have anything in there worth taking anyway. Crumbs in the back seat, an empty bottle or cup of whatever DH was drinking which he hasn't binned yet, and a bunch of napkins and a couple of plastic forks in the glove compartment.

I’ve lost my car keys and car is out the front of the house unlocked and has been since last Sunday. I do live in a quiet area though