Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to leave my engine running for ten mins at 6.45 each morning (M-F)?

801 replies

ThreeJumpersIsNotEnough · 16/12/2018 17:21

Neighbours have just come to the door with a Christmas card and a polite request to be more quiet in the mornings.

I usually leave at 7am to drop dd at breakfast club and get myself to work at 8am (I work Mon-Fri only - no weekends).

Now it's getting colder, the car is unbearably cold in the mornings so last week I started nipping out 10-15 mins earlier while dd was brushing her teeth so the car would be warm for us getting in and the frost/ice would be mostly melted from the window.

Neighbours have revealed that they are normally woken by me leaving most mornings at 7am but they can put up with it as I leave immediately so they are able to go back to sleep. However, they are not willing to put up with what I've been doing recently as they have found it impossible to go back to sleep having been awake for so long waiting for me to leave with the engine running ... Hmm

They have suggested I park further away from the house.

This is my first winter with these neighbours. They only moved in beginning of the year and we're polite to each other but not any more than 'hello' acquaintances. We live very rurally - just our two houses - in woodland area. Any noise carries and it is mostly silent (why I moved here - now I'm the one being a noise pest, it would appear). No street lights. 5 minute drive down our landlord's private (god awful road) onto the public road where there are other houses.

If I parked further away, that is further for me and DD to walk to the car each morning - in the pitch black - with our bags. Likewise, it is further for us to walk to the house each evening when we get back.

Not sure what the solution is. I told them I wasn't keen to park farther away (due to the above concerns) but they've asked me to give it a try at least for tomorrow. I've agreed to try it.

AIBU to ask for your ideas on what a peaceful resolution to this would be?

OP posts:
regularbutpanickingabit · 17/12/2018 13:30

Windscreen guard, decent de-icer and scraper, put the heater AND the aircon on and crank the driver window about an inch. Counter intuitive but the only way to demist my ancient rust bucket. Works fast! Hot water bottles on the seat whilst you scrape the ice off and then pull up further down the road for a couple of mins if needed.

PomMom2018 · 17/12/2018 13:31

YANBU in my opinion... 10 minutes sounds like it may be slightly excessive though but that depends on how long your car takes to warm up. I'm lucky in that my car has remote start so on cold mornings I will start it about 5 minutes before I need to leave so that it is defrosted and safe to drive (and yes, warm too!). I can't hear it running from inside the house and no neighbour has ever complained - indeed they do the same thing! If I was in your position I would minimise the time as much as possible but otherwise I'd carry on... Surely you'd have to sit with it idling anyway until it defrosted so the only difference is you're not in it if you start it first??

BlueJag · 17/12/2018 13:35

Hi you can buy a windscreen protector so you don't have to scrape in the morning.
Also place a lightweight or two blankets in the radiator and take that to the car in the morning.
You'll save on petrol too.

DaffodilPower · 17/12/2018 13:36

I drive with a hot water bottle on my lap.. It helps a fair bit on those super cold mornings..

Plus I use a deicer spray rather than waiting for the windows to defrost, then just get going. It will be chilly for a bit but will soon warm up.

I'd be miffed if my neighbour left the car running for 10 minutes and I didn't need to be up!

BlueJag · 17/12/2018 13:37

I just bought these from Wish to help with the frost in the morning.

AIBU to leave my engine running for ten mins at 6.45 each morning (M-F)?
IsobelKarev · 17/12/2018 13:49

then pull up further down the road for a couple of mins if needed.

No way would I pull off my drive if the windscreen isn't clear. I wouldn't drive even a little down my (residential) road (with lots of kids living there) just to keep quiet.

I drive with a hot water bottle on my lap

That does not sound safe at all.

OP, the car being in a safe condition to drive is more important than your neighbour's sensitivity to noise. 10 minutes does seem excessive though.

BoebePhuffay · 17/12/2018 13:50

Don't be that person.

My options are

  1. let the car run until I can see safely through the windscreen.

Or

  1. don’t go to work.
thatmustbenigelwiththebrie · 17/12/2018 13:57

645 is not early in the week so I don't think YABU making noise.

But what you are doing is not necessary and terrible for the environment. So for those reasons you should stop.

Strugglingtodomybest · 17/12/2018 14:17

I'm really surprised by how many people don't think this is selfish and by how many have no concept of people living on a different schedule to themselves.

Well done OP for taking the comments on board, and thank you to the poster who linked to the dehumidifier thing, I've just bought one.

Dare I also say, chamois leather? I don't think it's been mentioned yet but is great for mopping up the inside windscreen.

MagnificentSevenHeaven · 17/12/2018 14:24

Don't be that person.

Hah! I'm afraid I shall continue to defrost my car so that it's safe & legal to drive before I go on the public roads.

Because I see it from the other side when I'm on my motorbike & arseholes with misty/frosty windows & no all round vision try to kill me.

BoebePhuffay · 17/12/2018 14:27

Dare I also say, chamois leather? I don't think it's been mentioned yet but is great for mopping up the inside windscreen.

You may, and thank you. Adding that to my list of tools for saving the planet. Does it cancel out the benefit if I have to get it delivered from across the water? Wink

PigletJohn · 17/12/2018 14:28

"1) let the car run until I can see safely through the windscreen."

Or (3) defrost the windscreen in some other way.

I find a watering-can filled from the hot tap is convenient, there is plenty to do all the windows, mirrors and lights, and is no hotter than I might use if washing and rinsing the car. The glass absorbs warmth so the water does not refreeze, and dries off.

Have a look at all these people NOT cracking the glass, even when they use a kettle.

MagnificentSevenHeaven · 17/12/2018 14:35

Does it cancel out the benefit if I have to get it delivered from across the water?

Don't forget all the methane emitted by the Chamois goats specially bred just to make it....

Lookingforadvice123 · 17/12/2018 14:36

possumgoddess my old car was likethis. You can get little sponges for the inside to clear the mist.

MagnificentSevenHeaven · 17/12/2018 14:38

Have a look at all these people NOT cracking the glass, even when they use a kettle.

Doesn't it get into your dashboard and electrics when you do the inside?

I'm agog at the amount of people fucking around with warm water when they could just start the fucking engine.

Where does the warm water come from???? Oh, a boiler.

Where does the electricity for the kettle come from???? Oh, a power station.

Enough of the eco one-upmanship. People have been running their engines to clear their windscreens since forever, and I can guarantee that the sum of the fumes produced by all the people on this thread doing it, won't come close to the amount of emissions generated by a Routemaster bus going down the Holloway road with 3 people on it.....

PigletJohn · 17/12/2018 14:46

"Doesn't it get into your dashboard and electrics when you do the inside?"

I mentioned that pouring water over the outside warms the glass. Perhaps you prefer to pour water inside the car.

"I'm agog at the amount of people fucking around with warm water when they could just start the fucking engine."

I'm lucky enough to have a hot tap a few steps from the front door, and to own a watering-can.

chunkymonkeysmama · 17/12/2018 14:59

I don't think YANU. When it's very cold I have to sit in my car with heaters directed on windscreen for minimum of 5 mins or so to get rid of the steam up. I have tried driving off before then and had to pull over/risked an accident as it was too misty to see properly! Your neighbours sound like whingers tbh. 1 car running for a short while whilst demisting is not unreasonable.

DaysOfCurlySpencer · 17/12/2018 15:30

I would be taking the key out and throwing it away if you did that outside my house. I need to sleep, and your right to a warm car is not more important than my health.

Do you also beep your horn instead of getting out to knock a door, if you do I expect you also let your engine run then too.

So many selfish cunts about these days. If I sound deranged it is because I am desperate for sleep and have a dick next door that can barely park his poncy car, and when he starts it up it sounds like a load of tin cans, because he can't manage to get of his own driveway he revs it and reverses out, everyone else coasts out and then turns the engine on. And the lazy bastards opposite that beep beep until someone comes out, there is space for parking, just think of others.

BoebePhuffay · 17/12/2018 15:34

Or (3) defrost the windscreen in some other way.

And again, I’m not talking about defrosting. I’m talking bout de-misting. Which requires the inside of the car to be warm enough to keep it clear.

randomsabreuse · 17/12/2018 15:36

I quite like deicing my car, feels like winter... demisting is the time consuming bit!

Never cracked a window in 7 years of hot water over frameless doors but would not do it on a tarmac drive - the refrozen water left some nice slip hazards- better on a mud/hardcore drive!

BoebePhuffay · 17/12/2018 15:37

I would be taking the key out and throwing it away

Nah you wouldn’t. You’re all fluff.

Christmasgone2018 · 17/12/2018 15:47

I've just bought my dm a 12v heated throw for the car. It's plugged into the cigarette lighter.
Yabvvvu. Did it not cross your mind how terribly anti social leaving a car engine running for 15 minutes is? I've got one terribly tricky neighbour who would have gone mad st this and probably smashed your car windows in! ( he is quite bonkers though)?

AdamNichol · 17/12/2018 15:50

A car that drives past in a residential area is gone quickly. A car that's left running is much worse, for the air and for noise.

No it isn't, it just moves the fumes and noise elsewhere. And if the car is being driven before the engine oil got to temperature, it's pumping out more hydrocarbons from burnt oil than if it had been left idling for 5 mins first.

OlennasWimple · 17/12/2018 15:56

Chamois leathers must be due a come back - they used to be an essential bit of car driving kit

OP - those small hand warmers that you activate by clicking a disc inside them are brilliant and last for ages. You can put them in your gloves, boots or tucked inside your coat

Strugglingtodomybest · 17/12/2018 17:14

I've just bought my dm a 12v heated throw for the car.

I think you've just solved the question if what do I want for Xmas!