Perfectly legal to do what you like with your car on private property with the property owners consent. There is an offence called “quitting” in a Road Traffic Act, but that applies to roads. I warm mine on the drive for 10 mins or so, locking it with the spare key, the blipper doesn’t function with the ignition on. Does not invalidate insurance either, since it is locked.

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.

Fire engines are exempt 😀

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.

Doesn’t say you have to be sat in it either

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.

Doesn’t really answer the question, now does it?

…attended by a person duly licensed to drive it…

Which would cover the skip lorries and recovery vehicles I mentioned if attended means in the immediate area..

It’s not moronic at all to do this, although risky with insurance etc.

It is moronic though if the car in question is a Landy with 2 rifles and a few boxes of ammo in it, not in a locked case 🙄
Bye bye job(gamekeeper)

To be fair to the guy it hapened in a wee village in the middle of nowhere in the West highlands at 7.30 am. Local teenage scrote happened to pass by after a busy night of joyriding in a road roller and a snowplough 😆

He met his maker a couple of weeks later in a nicked tranny van.

I never said it would change engine wear rate, but if your sat in it its less likely to be stolen than if your in the house locked gate or no locked gate.

I’d be very surprised if any officer wanted to book me for leaving my engine running for 5 minutes, regardless of what the absolute word of the law says. Contrary to popular belief most police officers do apply some discretion and common sense 🙄

stumpyjon – Member
Or possibly use a scraper, warm tap water or at worst de-icing spray. Personally I use warm water, works a treat, pour it on slowly so the glass warms up, quick flip of the blades once you’re in to remove excess water and stop it refreezing, works everytime.

On the inside?

Just drive along with your head stuck out of the window until it warms up. 🙄

here you go
£30 fine

A good way to crack your windscreen. And when really cold, the water just re-freezes.

Which is why I said to use warm (not hot) tap water. Also if you pour it on slowly the glass warms up (defrosts the inside) and helps stop it refreezing until the cabin temperature is up. I also said to flick your wipers on to clear excess water which also stops it refreezing. Works for me anyway and stops me needing to leave my car running unattened, uninsured (possibly illegally) wasteing fuel and polluting the air uneccessarily. It also means I don’t have to go out to the car twenty minutes before I want to leave.

Driving a car that is heavily misted up inside is silly. I’m sure TJ would be far happier to have cars driving down his street ready to knock him off his bike because they were heavily misted but had avoided the terrible henous crime of warming the car up prior to travel. 😕

Like most things in life a little moderation and common sense normally prevail. Put cover on screen the night before -> start car & set heater or climate to demist -> remove cover & give car a bit of a helping hand to sort exterior whilst finishing morning coffee -> wait a bit longer if the car is still misted up -> drive with care for first mile or so whilst remainder of car’s vitals come up to speed.

When I flew part of the preflight routine was to find a quiet corner and raise engine revs to a bit above idle until Ts and Ps were within acceptable range before trudling out for take off. Often wondered if this would be good practice in a car. I guess the difference in a car is that you can drive gently to start with whilst everything comes up to temperature but in a plane the first thing you do is give it full beans to get airbourne.

whats wrong with a scraper?

Leaving your engine idling to warm it up increases engine wear.

Really? How, exactly?

Keys left in cars

Not always clear cut with regards to insurance, I remember another article dealing with defrosting cars but can’t find it. Though there are more articles on the site if you want to read up more.

Surf-Mat – Member

Or possibly use a scraper, warm tap water or at worst de-icing spray. Personally I use warm water, works a treat, pour it on slowly so the glass warms up, quick flip of the blades once you’re in to remove excess water and stop it refreezing, works everytime. Probably OK on your own drive, not so good maybe if you’re parked on a public road.

this may be OK for a bit of frost but we have had temps of 15 below and consistantly 7 or 8 below, the water just re-freezes on the screen, plus the excess water makes new ice on your driver. If people are that bothered about using a scraper you can get them with a built in glove!

on my old series 3 land rover i had been known to stand on the bonnet and use a bodily function to clear the split screen of ice; i’m suprised that nobody else uses that trick?

kenneththecurtain – Member

Leaving your engine idling to warm it up increases engine wear.

Really? How, exactly?

Saw this on PH:

Because the oil is cold and thick at startup it takes some pressure to get it around the galleries, especially to the head and valvegear. At tickover the pressure is quite low, driving it, even gently, raises the oil pressure and ensures proper lubrication – check out the oil pressure figures and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, the flip side is that whilst oil is cold it doesn’t flow very well which is why we have to be gentle until the oil warms up.

link

Not sure how accurate it is

convert – Member

Driving a car that is heavily misted up inside is silly. I’m sure TJ would be far happier to have cars driving down his street ready to knock him off his bike because they were heavily misted but had avoided the terrible henous crime of warming the car up prior to travel.

Why not simply wipe the window with a cloth? Is that too difficult to do?

I say it once again – heated windscreen. An absolute boon at this time of year – window clear (having been solid with ice or even snow) in a couple of minutes.

For some bizarre reason, not many manufacturers use them.

Warm water – how warm? How do you know it’s not too hot? Windscreen glassed is “pre-stressed” so the surface is under a lot of pressure. Adding hot or even warm water could shatter it. Did a fair bit on glass in my degree. Twas fascinating…

A cloth won’t clear ice.

Tell you what TJ, next time it’s -11C and I need to be out early in the car next day, how’s about you cycle out to Balerno first thing and show me how it should be done?

Surf-Mat – Member

I say it once again – heated windscreen. An absolute boon at this time of year – window clear (having been solid with ice or even snow) in a couple of minutes.

For some bizarre reason, not many manufacturers use them.

Because until this year or last year, Ford owned a patent on some critical part of it.

Surf-Mat – Member
I say it once again – heated windscreen. An absolute boon at this time of year – window clear (having been solid with ice or even snow) in a couple of minutes.

For some bizarre reason, not many manufacturers use them.

I really don’t like driving with them at night, though I’ve been assured that you do get used to them.

Forgot about heated screens even though our little fiesta has one.

druidh – the cloth suggestion was in response to the person who was talking about a misted car.
Back in the day I used to do this every morning – when I travelled from north to south glasgow with my mother in the car. Simple routine. start engine, deicer outside widows and scrape / wipe, wipe inside windows scrape ice of inside if nessasary Minus 26 was rthe coldest we recorded there. Drive off.

If you want to shorten the life of your engine by leaving it on tickover and also increase pollution its up to you.

Retro83 – interesting.

They seem to be talking specifically about a dry sump engine over there. I wonder though if most cars would get oil pumped up to the top end rapido on startup. Might look into that.

I say it once again – heated windscreen. An absolute boon at this time of year – window clear (having been solid with ice or even snow) in a couple of minutes.

+1 heated windscreen + heated seats makes getting going on a frosty morning a whole lot easier. 😀

I take perverse pleasure in smugly watching the poor sods hacking away with scrapers and sucking down lungfuls of lovely de-icer.

farmer giles – Member
on my old series 3 land rover i had been known to stand on the bonnet and use a bodily function to clear the split screen of ice

farmer giles’ windscreen yesterday;

TandemJeremy – Member

convert – Member

Driving a car that is heavily misted up inside is silly. I’m sure TJ would be far happier to have cars driving down his street ready to knock him off his bike because they were heavily misted but had avoided the terrible henous crime of warming the car up prior to travel.

Why not simply wipe the window with a cloth? Is that too difficult to do?

Well yes! That will clear the mist on the windows AT THAT TIME, but will not prevent its return! All dependant on humitity, water bearing objects (people etc). Have you really not seen people wiping at their screens as they travel along? Once the screen is warm the problem disappears.

My old VW Vento 1.9 TDI explicitly stated NOT to run the engine at idle to warm the car because the diesel engine will not reach operating temperature unless driven, thereby accelerating engine wear. I can confirm that it would take eight miles before it had any functional heating!

As for frozen condensation inside the car – clean the windows. The water droplets condense on minute dust particles. Clean windows minimise this bit can’t do anything for the outside.

LOL at user-removed 😆

I cannot understand what the problem is with scraping.

It takes me about 2 minutes, wastes no fuel and does not risk anyone stealing my car.

De-icer? Wtf? Never bought a can of that in all my life. Heated windscreen? Good waste of £200 or whatever it is, and I have one on my car.

I just use warm water, always have, clear windscreen in 10 secs, then just drive off. Don’t even know where my scraper is….

Is no-one answering this? Or does it not serve to back-up their arguments to accept it is not illegal to run your car on your own drive with no-one in it?

Well, I was first to say it’s illegal. And then I went out on my bike. It was lovely.

I’m sure you can do whatever you like off the public highway as others have mentioned, however no-one mentioned it being on private property ;-). And aren’t sweeping generalisations de rigeur on here? 🙂

Range rover! Press remote from inside of house, car warms up defrosts etc. Dash from house into rr then stand in cold 30 mins later shooting pheasants or similar!
Also anyone see the sticker on the back of the Scoob posted earlier. “if in doubt, flat out”!!! 🙄

The OP offers good advice, thanks MTG. 😉

I cannot understand what the problem is with scraping.
It takes me about 2 minutes, wastes no fuel and does not risk anyone stealing my car.
De-icer? Wtf? Never bought a can of that in all my life.

2 minutes? No de-icer?

I’ll wager that you sir have never seen a decent frost on your car. 🙂 The cold snap the other week I had a good 2cm thick solid ice under the huge pile of snow on my windscreen. Would have been there for hours with just a scraper.

As it was, I pressed a button and let the car do it for me.

Heated windscreen? Good waste of £200 or whatever it is, and I have one on my car.

Wait, you have one and you don’t use it?? That’s just weird.
It’s also really good for preventing the windscreen from steaming up, but I’m guessing you just use a cloth for that too? 😕

I have had the snow and slush, I just used a decent scraper.

It’s also really good for preventing the windscreen from steaming up, but I’m guessing you just use a cloth for that too?

No, my car has this setting that blows warm dry air on the windscreen. It works faster and better.

But I have also heard that idling a car when its cold is not good for it. The oil pressure is low at idle which means oil’s not circulating as well. Plus it’ll take ages to warm up which means a lot of revolutions on cold. People who are afraid of sitting in a cold car for a few minutes need to MTFU 🙂

Molgrips – your heated screen must be broken then because they are much more effective than blowers. I had one on my Puma years ago and still miss it.