Now that winter is just around the corner, many Hoosiers have the tendency to start their cars and leave them running until they‘re nice and warm.
While that may serve to keep the driver from getting too chilly, ISP Captain Dave Bursten says leaving an unattended car running — locked or unlocked — is a perfect invitation for a thief to steal the car.
Even if it‘s locked, Bursten says, that is not a deterrent to a criminal because chances are he just wants to use the car to help with a robbery or other criminal act.
Bursten says if the thief has to smash out a window to get inside and drive it that way for a day or two, no problem: he‘ll ditch it later anyway.
The moral: if you want to warm up your car, stay in it. He also says you can put a towel or blanket over the windshield to keep snow or frost off.
