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

[ThreeJumpersIsNotEnough]

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 ...

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?

Magnificent, God bless you for putting me on your waders and cutting through the bull schiet!! Post of the Day!!!

@ginyogarepeat - was being tongue in cheek! It is of course terrible to leave ones car engine running pre 7am!

Sorry sunshine !!

Get some fleecy blankets to put over your lap and your daughter can put one over her lap and front. You can just leave them in the car. You could even take hot water bottles out with you

YABU, sorry. You wrap up and enjoy the car warming as you drive. It is thus for the rest of us who start early in the morning...you are not the only one

Im surprised at how many people think you are being unreasonable warming your car on a frosty morning at 7 am.. its not 5.am. Builders round here start work at 7.00 am.. If they were getting up at 8.00 am. I also didn't know it was illegal and I do think your neighbours sound like Fusspots. Also. I had to laugh (sorry) at all those people asking how cold could it be? when you are in the northern most part of the country.
I really do sympathise. I think your neighbours have had their say. You don't have to crawl to them. But the tepid water, the hot water bottles, the blanket on the windscreen etc.the radiator flush ( what ever that is) . do sound like a very good ways to shut the old boots up > LOL>

Our local council rules are that builders can't start till 8am

Oops! I thought I'd got to the end before my post but there were pages and pages more!! Probably I've done the de-icing equivalent of cancelling the cheque I'll have a read now...

Don't know if it's been suggested but what about hot water bottles for everyone in the car to cuddle until they warm up. Obviously the drivers one would have to be placed safely and not at risk of becoming too hot for the driver but might be an option of sorts?

Agree with the consensus on the thread, that if poss you might accommodate your neighbours wishes. Perhaps consider parking away, see how that goes.

It's not illegal to do this on your own drive 🙄

I'm gonna go against the grain and say YANBU. 7am is not 2am, tell them to buy earplugs.

It's not illegal to do this on your own drive 🙄

I'm gonna go against the grain and say YANBU. 7am is not 2am, tell them to buy earplugs.

An ex-neighbour used to do this with his taxi every morning. The noise was bad enough and then in the summer the diesel fumes used to come in my open bedroom window. Really inconsiderate when you live close to other people.

I do it, 7am every morning, but only for 5 minutes, 15 minutes seems a long time. My neighbour goes to work about same time as me but DH is usually asleep and has just said he never hears the car. If it bothered my neighbours I would apologise and stop doing it.

I do this OP, but on my drive. Not quite for 15 mins but definitely 5 mins each morning. Others on my road do it too. I recently had a rescue service out to repair a puncture and while chatting they advised me to warm my engine up throughly each morning before commencing my journey, thought I was doing the right thing tbh - with the obvious added benefit!

I don't see any harm - Next door do it most mornings, they have a big Volvo jeep and I can't say I've ever noticed the noise of their engine! Having said that, if my other neighbours requested I stop, I would.

I really feel the cold and it makes leaving for work on a winters morning a little more bearable.

Just posting to say.... get a Citroen c4 Picasso..... out of all the cars I’ve had this one warms up so quickly!

You Ones talking about "Fumes" Crack me up!
Unless it's and Old POS running super rich with High CO, or had a cylinder not firing producing High HC, (unburned gas) today's cars are prcatily 0 emissions!

Mr reezet1 then why do we have a pollution problem from cars?

Do you work for Audi mr breeze?

I have never seen anyone coming outside with a hot water bottle or a blanket. Pillows - yes, for sleepovers Most people I have seen switch the car on to demist and then drive off. I also do it even though my kids may complain that it so cold in the car but they would never expect me to sit there and wait for the car to warm up. We only wait for the car to demist and it will warm up while driving.

not ten minutes but about five ive done it-using de icer aswell it just takes that long to demist it-but i dont leave it and go back inside

YABVU I'm afraid. I would be less annoyed about the time of morning, it's the 15 minutes of unnecessary emissions that angers me. Yes it is cold, it's winter and it'll toughen you both up. Some people are sleeping out homeless in this.
A milk bottle of warm tap water takes 1 minute to defrost the car and you're good to go.

Yanbu. I do this if its frosty and cold. Even if I defrosted the car with water, it still need warming up otherwise the windscreen will mist up in seconds nce we get.

Damn @mrbreezeet1, THANK YOU for letting us know there is no longer a problem with car emissions causing pollution. Please do link to your research that proves this, as I have a feeling it's not that widely known.....