Southlander started it, went back in, "defrosting it" and someone stole it. He says the insurance was unfair for declining his claim because "everyone does this in Southland".
Er I never did. Never once left car running, in it or not, first thing in the morning. Got in, started it, waited no time at all, and went.
And yes that is not securing your car IMO, have to agree with insurance on that one.
annie17111,
Sep 28, 7:48pm
I start mine and leave it in the morning to defrost during winter. But it's behind our house and we have dogs running around that don't look very friendly.
budgel,
Sep 28, 8:11pm
I think it depends on where the car was when this happened. If on a street with lots of passing foot traffic, then maybe. If down a long driveway, then not so much. Post which insurance company it was, I'm sure not all are quite so punctilious.
frank1,
Sep 28, 8:16pm
Insurance co was Tower aka State
marmar1,
Sep 28, 8:18pm
Tower, the car was parked about 5mtrs from road front on what looked like a quiet street.
jojo76,
Sep 28, 8:19pm
It was tower. It was on their property, so someone came onto the property and stole the vehicle whilst it was running. I missed the part of how long it was left unattended for. We do this and would leave it running for roughly 10 mins before we are ready to leave, you should be able to do this on your own property. But becomes a grey area when it comes to insurance.
john1623,
Sep 28, 8:25pm
Sounds like someone who knew his habits.
stevo2,
Sep 28, 8:29pm
I begrudge paying my hefty insurance premiums so that people could do something so stupid and get a payout.
clark20,
Sep 28, 10:57pm
I do it on the street, but I have remote start and if you put it in gear it stops.
rhys12,
Sep 29, 5:49am
Tower is not 'Also Known As' State. State is an IAG company, Tower is not.
And no, you can't leave your car running and leave it unattended, then expect your Insurer to pay out, otherwise I might just go leave mine running unattended in the middle of South Auckland next time I want my car replaced.
Knowingly/willingly leaving your car running unattended is gross negligence and certainly not taking due care, which are usually conditions of your insurance policy.
msigg,
Sep 29, 7:15am
rhy12, stevo2 and john162 are on to it, only because fair go got involved did the insurance company pay out and it was only a few grand anyway. Take some personal responsibility.
m16d,
Sep 29, 7:56am
If it was a Falcon it wouldn't get pinched.
amasser,
Sep 29, 9:20am
Not so much stolen as given away. Would you leave the front door open when you leave home? If 'everyone does this in Southland', car thieves would know that too. Don't watch Fair Go as it isn't.
alowishes,
Sep 29, 9:34am
There’s parts of the country where people leave their cars running unattended outside a shop while they buy a pie, smokes etc. and the car is always still there when the get out of the shop.
Not everybody lives in crime central NZ.
gazzat22,
Sep 29, 9:52am
Sounds like parts of Southland are "Crime Southern NZ or is it just stupid people who are everywhere like 2 MP,s.?
nice_lady,
Sep 29, 10:12am
That's downright stupid. It takes a couple of seconds to remove the keys. Why risk all the hassle of someone stealing your car. Laziness should not be rewarded.
kazbanz,
Sep 29, 10:25am
Nope.I totally agree with the insurance companies original assessment. interesting how the "unfair go" story changes from beginning to end. it was stupidity leaving a car running unlocked and unattended.
richynuts,
Sep 29, 10:39am
I have a work van and its parked behind house. In frosty mornings I go out fire up the van and leave it running (for about 10min) Van is warm and windscreen is defrosted. To me it's a safety thing as I now have 100% clear windscreen. I also reverse back up the driveway at night so I drive straight out. Something like a steering wheel lock or another key/ remote so doors can be locked. Sounds like the fella who stole it was a piece of work, service station drive offs and police chases. if he didn't steal that car he would of stolen another one.
kazbanz,
Sep 29, 10:51am
Your scenario is a fair bit different from the situation in the story. The car was left running in a driveway about 10m from the road. Where it was parked it was behind another car from the point of view of the owner seeing it.(they had to look "though" the other vehicle to see it) From the kerbside it could be clearly seen and clearly seen it was running. No gate to stop anyone driving off. I just can't see why such stupidity should be paid out on.
gpg58,
Sep 29, 11:26am
+1 Agree, and also with poster above that using a steering lock would have been using their brains(or other keys to lock), would not take much watching to know that owners habits.
My 2 newest cars have keyless ignition and remote relocking(if set too) if i move away from the car(with keys still in my pocket), unsure what happens though if its running? will try it. 2nd one has a remote warm up function anyway(while still locked), and turns on seat heater too. Think its 10minutes and can be extended another 10 if button pushed twice, but never used it yet - as others say, they warm quick anyway, and the sheepskin seat covers help as well.
tgray,
Sep 29, 11:34am
One word - "Publicity".
lythande1,
Sep 29, 12:55pm
Doesn't matter if it was Tower or not. It's asking for it. Like telling people your bank pin, or leaving house unlocked. And:
We've all heard the idea: In winter, your car needs a little time to warm up before you can drive it.
But it turns out that this idea of idling your car during the winter is just wrong.
Like many misconceptions, the idea behind winter car idling begins with a kernel of truth. Cars do get worse fuel economy when it's really cold out . And it does take longer for the engine to warm up and reach an optimal driving temperature in cold weather.
Moreover, older cars -- which relied on carburetors as a crucial engine component -- did need to warm up to work well, according to several auto industry experts. Without warming up, the carburetor would not necessarily be able to get the right mix of air and fuel in the engine -- and the car might stall out. During the 1980s and into the early 1990s, however, the auto industry did away with carburetors in favor of electronic fuel injection, which uses sensors to supply fuel to the engine and get the right air and fuel mix. This makes the problem of warming up the car before driving irrelevant, because the sensors monitor and adjust to temperature conditions.
Idling in winter thus has no benefit to your (presumably modern) car. Auto experts today say that you should warm up the car no more than 30 seconds before you start driving in winter. "The engine will warm up faster being driven," the EPA and DOE explain. Indeed, it is better to turn your engine off and start it again than to leave it idling.
So idling does nothing for your vehicle, but it does have several big (and avoidable) costs: Wasting fuel, and giving off greenhouse gas emissions and other types of pollution.
To show as much, Natural Resources Canada -- the energy and resources agency of a cold country that also has serious idling problems -- ran an idling experiment, freezing three cars to minus 18 degrees Celsius and then driving each one the same distance. Sometimes the cars were idled five minutes before driving, and sometimes 10 minutes. The result was that the more idling time, the more wasted fuel.
"The test results showed that with a 5-minute warm-up total fuel consumption increased by 7 to 14 percent and with a 10-minute warm-up total fuel consumption increased by 12 to 19 percent," the agency reported.
The Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, which has also conducted much research on idling, reported that "idling fuel consumption is, of course, linear with time, and increases with engine size":
richynuts,
Sep 29, 1:22pm
^^^ It is the defrosting of windscreen more than warming engine up. though is nice to jump into a warm car. Yes if it wasn't a work van I would probably defrost windscreen manually especially if I was paying for the fuel.
intrade,
Sep 29, 2:14pm
in europe there are huge fines to warm up your car. i was thinking hmmm active illegal stuff advertised by ford on there utes with your phone warming up. the car. Just wait till the knotheads in california find out. What we should do is fine california for illegal wilde fires. That would be apply the law equally then.
socram,
Nov 13, 2:52pm
Use a de-icer on the screen. Or, cover the screen at night, but leaving a car anywhere with the engine running or the keys in is a big no-no as far as I'm concerned. How do they think we managed when a heater was an optional extra?
Anti-fog on the inside of the screen (or I have heard of people rubbing a raw potato over it) should be enough.
I take the keys with me when filling up, even if I have a passenger in the car.
Assume that every other driver is a blind idiot and every passer-by is a potential car thief is the safest option. Taking 'reasonable care' to make sure your car isn't nicked or your house burgled, I thought was intrinsic in any insurance policy.
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