How much warming up to warm up a car?

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

I park in a private lot. A tower has a concession to boot offending cars. He booted my pickup yesterday, the reason on the tag is ‘immobile’. Of course it was immobile: it was parked. All the other cars in the lot were immobile too. There is no rule against immobility. I suspect he meant inoperable, which there is a rule against. Of course my pickup is operable. I maintain it regularly.

I only go on short trips anymore and I have a favorite parking place, so you can’t really tell, if you show up once a day, whether I’ve driven it. I keep it clean, it has new tires, which I keep inflated. The engine delivers book compression, it passes emissions tests well enough for even a new car (as opposed to the looser standards for my old pickup). In preparation for dealing with him when he shows up to tow it later today I started it up (haven’t driven it since February, so it’s balky) and let it run while I inflated the tires and looked for problems (which I didn’t find). After a while of idling the idle dropped. I think it does that when the engine reaches operating temperature. Is that a good landmark for warming it up enough to have it start readily when he shows up?

He gets an F grade from the Better Business Bureau. I suspect no one likes towers. A neighbor posted a picture of his truck’s license plate, last valid in 2024 yesterday. So I expect him to give me grief.

Have you other helpful suggestions? Feel free to snipe if that makes you feel better.

2

The time it takes to warm up an engine depends on if the vehicles sits and idles, or if it’s driven.

Why don’t they just mark one of the tires with a chalk mark to see if the vehicle has moved?

Tester

1 Like
3

How about next time you go on one of your short trips, park it in a NEW favorite spot

Park it in different spots after every trip

Now you know how the “system” works and you have to make sure your truck doesn’t get flagged as immobile

2 Likes
4

I couldn’t drive it, of course. What’s the difference?

I looked for chalk marks. I speculate they’ve found something more subtle, perhaps invisible. I think they probably did nothing.

So I plan to do. I’ve been here for 20 years, never had a problem. I pay for that spot.

5

If you are paying to park there have you talked to whoever owns or manages the lot ?

The towing service is only providing what has been requested of them.

6

When you only drive about 100 miles a year (per you), why wouldn’t they think it was immobile, most anyone in charge would boot it…

db4690 offered good advise, don’t keep using the same parking spot, I will do one better, once a week or at least once a month move it to a different spot, even if you don’t leave the parking place…

3 Likes
7

I was booted Saturday, told I would be towed on Sunday. Management won’t be here until Monday.

I don’t think that’s the case. Inoperability is forbidden, not immobility. I think the tower conflated the 2. It annoys some people that I drive so little.

Immobility isn’t forbidden.

That’s my plan, but it’s an unnecessary hassle.

8

You don’t need to move to a different spot, just turn it around.

2 Likes
9

So is having your vehicle booted and or towed… lol

2 Likes
10

Moving it to a different spot is easier.

Both are unnecessary. I’ve been here for 20 years.

har

11

Being Immobile is the opposite from being mobile…
I think you are splitting hairs here…

immobile /ĭ-mō′bəl, -bēl″, -bīl″/

adjective

  1. Immovable; fixed.

  2. Not moving; motionless.

  3. Not very mobile or agile; capable of moving only slowly.

4. Incapable of being moved; immovable; fixed; stable
.
.
immobility

noun

  1. The condition or quality of being immobile; fixedness in place or state.

  2. The quality of not moving; motionless.

  3. The state or condition of being unable to change one’s location, move or be moved.

1 Like
12

How would they know that? Did they try to start it and drive it? It’s not immobile in the sense of this definition. I started it up and could have driven it anywhere had there been no boot on it. All they know is that they see it in the same place so often.

13

As long as you pay your parking bill, it shouldn’t matter how long the car sits in one spot. Does the lot owner provide some way to show that you rent a spot? IMO there’s no way that the towing company should treat a paying customer that way. If they tow the truck maybe you should report a theft to the police. That’s essentially what it is.

1 Like
14

It seems to me that in a paid parking facility, a decal to be posted somewhere on the vehicle should be provided to the owner of the vehicle paying to park in the lot.

15

Well, we are getting into legal talk!

Time to read your lot rental agreement.

Seems you will be going to small claims court. Perhaps the owner of the lot first then the towing company.

16

You said yourself it hadn’t been started in nine months. So at what point would it be considered still in use? You may find there is no distinction between a vehicle no5 being driven in over 30 days and one with parts missing. How do you wash it in the same stall, air the tires, etc. gotta believe the guy has been looking at it month after month with no change.

In college I argued with a tow truck driver and he was nice enough to let me ride along as he towed my car. Then it was only a few minutes delay to pay the $10 and be on my way.

1 Like
17

If this isn’t too personal to ask: How old is the truck, and what is it’s cosmetic condition?

Anectdotal:

For three years I used to rent an apartment in a building in a light-industrial zone, on the second floor among two other apts which also used to be offices.

Our parking was in back and to the side of the complex, and most of the time us residents could always find spots to park our cars, especially by evening when staff from the surrounding concerns had left for the evening.

One of the businesses, a sporting goods retailer occupying the building attached to mine, apparently had the need for a lot of storage, and so for at least a decade I’m told, keeps an old van in a spot with a sign on the wall marking the spot as for that business.

The van has not moved as I said for years, tires look like they’ve lost half their air, and there are weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement around this van. Other than some rust spots on the bottom rockers, no physical damage, but it could sure use a bath!

No boots on the wheels or orange sign on the drivers window yet.

By the way, when I tapped this thread to read it, the title misled me into believing it was really about how long to let a cold engine run on a cold day.

About three to four minutes for my carburetor-shod 1981 Buick back in college, and just 1-2min for my 2010 Honda.

18

It’s what, a 30+ year old truck (carbureted) that hadn’t moved in 9 months?? Gezz, I wonder why they would think it is not mobile…

Trust me, I know where you are coming from, I have always had a vehicle sitting around for one reason or another, and to keep codes off my back, I have had to move them to a different spot, or drive them around the block or whatever…

I agree, if you are paying for the spot, it’s your spot, but unless they can easily see it is not an abandoned vehicle, they will think it is… We are missing something here, they should have your tag number or something to show that is you vehicle and not be trying to tow it…
But it is not like it is a classic high valuable car being stored, so most anyone would think it is just an old broken down truck that hasn’t moved in almost a year…

1 Like
19

After 2 or 3 months it is usually apparent by the amount of sand or dirt on the pavement around the tires that a vehicle hasn’t moved.

Do you clean the windows once a month?

The property management likely has an arrangement with the towing agency to remove unregistered vehicles, inoperative vehicles and vehicles with parts missing, at the towing company’s discretion. Property managers dislike abandon vehicles.

While some might say you are entitled to a parking space to use as you wish, your lease/rental agreement may have a list of restrictions/requirements that do not allow long term storage of a vehicle. Vehicles that do not move and appear to be abandon or inoperable draw complaint from other tenants.

20

It has that. But even that doesn’t allow junked vehicles.

How would they know that? All my trips these days are short trips. I’ve been parking in the same spot for 20 years - except when someone else is in it.

It’s not in a stall. I air the tires regularly, have replaced the fuel and water pumps, the thermostat, the temperature sender gauge, rebuilt the carburetor… I painted it recently.

38 years, but with new tires. I painted it recently. I keep air in the tires, coolant in the radiator, etc. It’s always ready to drive.

It really was, plus any tips for how to handle a tow truck driver.

How do they know it hasn’t moved? I only go on short trips anymore, often at night, and park in the same spot. People think it hasn’t moved because they don’t see it.

The tow guy was okay. He let me start it up and when it did took off the boot, no fee. A review on the BBB website claimed he charged a fee on a mistakenly-booted vehicle, so I was surprised.

Immobility isn’t forbidden, only inoperability. The boot guy assumed immobility meant inoperability.

I drove it out to Paseo del Volcan, up to Paseo del Norte, to Tramway, emptied the gas tank, bought a can of Sta-Bil and 1 of ‘motor treatment’ (knock-off SeaFoam) and filled up at Murphy Express - a 58-mile trip. It drove like a champ. I parked in a new spot.

Getting it running before he showed up was necessary. I had mistakenly left my battery attached, and there’s something sluggish about fuel delivery (I’ve replaced the pump, filter, and hoses, rebuilt the carb) when it’s cold. I had to use my jumper pack to get it to start and run it for a while to wake up the fuel system. If I had had to do that when the tow guy was around I wouldn’t have gotten off. But I did it first so it started right up for him.