Sitting Idle

I cannot imagine, unless they believe it takes more gas to restart it than to run it on idle, or if it has something wrong, and it may not restart. In many places, unless you can lock it, it is now against the law to do that, as people steal cars or kids get in and drive into things. I have also been places where it is illegal because of pollution.

I do it sometimes and I don't really think about it. I will sometimes even start my car in the parking lot at work when I am ready to leave and sit there on my phone texting for awhile. I drive a Taurus and I only get about 20 miles to the gallon.

Big truck no room for brains? That is a pretty wasteful thing to do, they could saving on the gas they're buring just sitting there, and I bet the gas prices will go up since it's summer now and people are ready for their vacations. Ya know gas always goes up when people start travelling.

I think this is just a bad habit. They may just have the radio on and not even be aware that they are using expensive gas.

That is indeed a bad habit Gas is becoming more and more expensive wherever you are in the world. I guess they were just not thinking about saving up nor about pollution while being idle. I do not like not turning the engine off when I have to wait for some time. If possible, I would look for a shady spot and then turn the engine off.

I will admit that there are times that I will leave my car in idle for a very short period of time. These times are either when it is extremely hot outside or extremely cold outside. However, I really don't like to do it because of the cost of gas. I think that the reason that people tend to do it, however, is because they cannot stand the thought of opening the windows and using the natural habitat for temperature control.

It's a bad habit,that I do not understand.Gas is way too expensive for that kind of bad habit to continue.

Well, I idle when it is hot and sometimes if it is cold, but if its nice, no, I don't normally idle.

Some people believe that letting a car idle uses less gas than turning it off and restarting it moments later. Though I heard somewhere that it does not take as much gas to start a warm car as people think. I try very hard not to let my car idle, mostly because I never know how long it may idle for. Sometimes when you think you're just going to run in and run out.. you end up waiting a good 5 minutes all the while your car is using up the gas!

It isn't only the price of fuel that you have to consider in this case, but it is also the fact that those who leave their engines running are actually damaging the environment by polluting the air around them. If everyone did this, our world would not last for an awfully long time at all. In addition to this, fuel will not last forever, and it is rather selfish for them to be leaving their engines running as it means that it will run out a lot faster and mean that we will not be able to fuel our cars as easily and will have to buy more expensive cars that run in different ways.

The reason they leave their vehicle idling is because they don't have a mortgage to pay, food and diapers to buy, electric bills to pay.....well, generally kids live off their parents. They don't have to stretch their money in all directions yet.

Could be a ton of reasons, from lazy. How lazy could it be to turn a key. Or maybe if one has an older car that has a hard time starting, and is of no benefit to turn it off and on repeatedly. I had a car that had mysterious problems where I need someone with me to leave it running if I ran in and out. The issues it had were to expensive to repair. New cars have no excuse. Older cars do have a tendency to develop weird problems, and strange behavior. Weak battery (easy fix), clutch is going (no so easy fix), fuel system problems (not so easy to figure out), wild electrical behavior (I knew someone who had a ruthless immobilizer that went bad, and would shut down the car once the key was taken out). Fuel is way to precious these days.

I would say it is not thinking about how they are spending their money wisely. Here the gas is $4.59 per gallon and yes I get about 9 - 10 miles per gallon on mine. So for anyone sitting in idle when the temp is not required to do so I would say simply not using their dollar spending power to it's full potential.