Why do people leave their cars running while they run into a store (or bank, or to pay for gas, or whatever)?

Does it really take that long to turn a key? I just don't understand it. The negligible gains combined with the risk of leaving your doors unlocked and keys in the ignition just make it seem like the stupidest thing imaginable.

Because they are dumb.

There's some woman near here who leaves her car running every morning while she gets ready to go to work. I guess it's so it'll heat up, but it's not exactly cold around here. And she's not in an upper-class neighborhood, either.

I just figure if I ever need an emergency car, I'll know where to look.

I've never seen anyone do that

But they are dumb and deserve to have their vehicle stolen.

If it's diesel it's a good idea.

Otherwise not so much.

Yeah, the only possible reasoning I could come up with is if they often have trouble starting their car, or possibly to save gas. I think I've heard that if you're going to be stopped for less than a minute it's better to leave the car running, but anything over that you should shut it off (this was in relation to being stuck in gridlock). Still, I'd rather take my chances with starting the car, and waste the $.25 of gas.

I only leave my car running when I am going to be out like 30 seconds (not even running into stores), or when it needs to get warmed up. And even then I only do it at my house, cause I can trust it to be okay there.

I leave mine running to warm it up in the winter.

I leave mine running... but then I have to chase it around the neighborhood! *badump-che*

A lot of turbo cars have turbo timers so they will still be running after the owner walks away.

Actually even if you dont have a timer but have a turbo car it's a very good idea to let it idle for about a minute after a moderate or heavy drive before you kill the ignition. Turbos run extremely hot and you can cause serious damage if you dont give it a chance to cool down under idle.

If it's -20f outside, people want to keep their heaters running..happens all the time up here during the winter.

I can... ignite? my car, and then remove the key from the ignition and lock the doors, and have my car still running.

<3 my car.

My father has pre-heating in his car (at least he will have it, when he finally gets a new car, because he wrecked the old one in an accident). He'll just have to drive to Holland so that he can make it programmable for a few Euros instead of many Euros which it would take to do it officialy.