Frosty the Stolen!

December 20th, 2007

All these icy mornings make car journeys all the more hazardous and one of the extra things to allow time for before setting off is defrosting the windows. If feeling particularly sensitive to my fellow passengers, I might also warm the car engine up and get some warm air circulating around the car interior so that it’s a bit more pleasant inside.

There’s two things that I am guilty of that could lead to trouble however: the first is my habit of pouring boiling water over the windscreen as a quick way of defrosting it…As my car gets older and my free time gets less and less, I have come to a less than scientific conclusion - that there is not going to be any damage caused to the paintwork since at the point the hot water touches the frozen surface, the temperature of the water is immediately reduced and thus no harm done.

All was well until the other day when a passer-by called out - “hey - you shouldn’t be doing that”. Now, on the basis that a) I own both the car and kettle b) surely can’t be adding to global warming c) didn’t have the time or inclination to engage in conversation - I never did get to the bottom of why this was such a bad thing to do. Any clues, anyone? Will I really damage the paintwork?

The other potential cause of trouble is connected to heating the car up and leaving the car unattended with engine running. I tend not to actually do this but I do sometimes see cars left this way, and wonder how many actually get stolen by early-rising, opportunistic thieves? My understanding is that in such a scenario you wouldn’t be covered by your car insurance since your insurer would take a dim view of you leaving the car unattended with the keys in the ignition.

Entry Filed under: Winter, advice, insurance, cars