Neighbour waking us at 4.50

[soughsigh]

My neighbour has a really noisy car. He usually leaves for work at around 6.15 and wakes us all up then. For the last 4 years, we haven't said anything (especially since the toddler has been struggling with early starts for the last year so we're all up before then anyway). I don't know if it wakes any of the other neighbours up, our bedroom is quite close to their drive but you'd think it would wake the other side up too.

This morning be left for work at 4.50. It's really cold so he spent a few minutes revving the engine to warm it up faster. Needless to say he woke the whole house, and for once the toddler hadn't woken at 4.30.

Do I knock on the door and politely ask if he could take his wife's car to work if he starts before 6? She doesn't use it to get to work, it usually sits on the driveway during the day.

I'm genuinely torn here.
yabu - no don't say anything
Yunbu - your neighbour shouldn't be waking everyone before 5

Sorry if I can't reply quickly, I have a wide awake toddler to deal with.

Err - revving an engine at 4.50am is a dick move. Tell him he's waking you all up at that time and ask him what he can do to solve issue.

You could ask him not to rev the engine but not to take a different car.

@GhoulWithADragonTattoo

You could ask him not to rev the engine but not to take a different car.

Agreed. It is totally fair and reasonable to ask him not to rev the engine. I don’t know what sort of engineer he is, if he thinks that revving an engine warms a car. He is being a d*ck and you are not being unreasonable at all!

Well. This is a little awkward. As the loudest car on the driveway is mine my husband's is the quieter one of the two but on start up they are both quite loud. And your probably be glad your not my neighbor as I leave at 1:20 in the morning to do an 8-10 hour shift. I certainly do not complain if people are making noise whilst I'm trying to sleep during the day.

I do start and leave as quickly as I can but I probably do wake a few neighbours up. Yes I do feel slightly guilty but there is nothing I can do to make the car quieter. And I'm certainly not going to sell it for the reason I might upset someone with the noise. My cars are my pride and joy and they are my hobby, my lifestyle, and I've worked very hard to get cars that I have.

Sadly I would just leave it. There is nothing this person should have to do to their car just to make others happier. You could have far worse neighbours doing and causing trouble then just noise for a couple of minutes each day.

Many years ago we had an issue with the lad across the road. He left for work around 3am. He would drive to the head of the cul de sac we lived in, turn around and pull up under our window, presumably so as not to wake his parents.

Now I appreciate he needed to defrost the car, and that in itself didn't bother me. What did was the bouncing rap music, played at full blast, he'd got on for the 15 minutes he sat there. One morning I got up and went out to him, he saw me coming and sped off but continued to do the same thing.

At the time I worked in a school who had a PCSO who often called in for a cuppa and I mentioned it to him. He knocked on, on his way home and had a quiet word about neighbourliness and potential fines. From then on car was defrosted quietly on his own side of the street, very rapidly and without accompanying music.

No don't do it.

I sympathise but dont think theres much you can reasonably ask, unless he is blaring out music, hopefully the really early start was a one off,
We used to live in a grade 2 listed house, pretty but with no insulation, we had a shared drive with next door who was a policeman and who left for work around 4 am 5 days a week , his car woke me up every time, bloody annoying but couldnt see that anything could be done

I’d be hovering outside, ready to say, “oh hi neighbour! Is everything ok with your car? I was worried when you woke me up at 4:30am, but didn’t have the energy to come & see if you needed help - apologies. But please do let me know if you need de-icer in the morning”!

Given he's usually going at 6 this might be a one off and it might have been an emergency.
Wait and see.

And no you can't suggest he drives his wife's car.

Yabu
I live on a main road. You need to learn to deal with car noises at any time day/ night.