The other day, Shane and I went to CVS. Shane stayed in the car while I ran in to buy a cartload of toilet paper. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind opening the windows and turning the car off. After all, it wasn’t hot out, and idling that long would burn quite a bit of fuel.
He didn’t like that idea.
He told me that when the car is idling, it isn’t burning that much fuel since the engine isn’t turning over as fast.
“But when you’re idling, you’re getting zero miles per gallon!” I reasoned.
He wanted a more compelling argument.
Arg. I made my shopping trip as fast as possible, knowing that he’d be sitting with the car running and AC and radio on all the while.
And now, I’m setting out to prove that when your car isn’t moving, you need to turn the dang thing off.
According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, your car does in fact get 0 mpg when idling.
In fact, for every 10 minutes of idling, your car could be using at least 1/5 of a liter of fuel, according to this site. My mind doesn’t work in liters, so I’ll do the conversion: 1 gallon = 3.785 liters. OK…so for every 10 minutes, you’re burning about 0.05 of a gallon of fuel. Not a high number, and it probably won’t impress my husband.
At $4/gallon, idling for 10 minutes would waste about $0.20.
Over time, that adds up!
So maybe he’d say, “That’s not substantial enough to turn the car off when you run into the store.”
O rly?
How about this reason, then?
Idling can damage your car. According to Canadian-based Citizens Environment Alliance:
“Because the engine isn’t working at its peak operating temperature when it’s idling, the fuel doesn’t undergo complete combustion. This leaves fuel residues that can contaminate engine oil and damage engine parts. For example, fuel residues tend to deposit on spark plugs. As the amount of engine idling increases, the average temperature of the spark plugs drops. They begin to gather dirt more quickly which, in turn, may increase fuel consumption. It’s a vicious cycle of wasted fuel and needless greenhouse gas emissions. Excessive idling can also allow water to condense in the vehicle’s exhaust. This can lead to corrosion and reduce the life of the exhaust system.”
We’d like that car to last at least 10 years. Replacing the exhaust or engine before its time would surely be expensive!
I did a quick Google search, because I had heard that starting the car uses a decent amount of gas, as opposed to idling… apparently the amount of gas used to start the car equals the amount of gas used to idle the car for 1 minute- so, unless it’s a really quick CVS trip, you’re right, turning off the car will save gas!
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I don’t know about your area, but here in South Jersey, there are laws against leaving your car idling and you can be ticketed and fined. Just thought you might wanna check that out.
I always turn off my car when I am going into a store. You might think you are just running in but you never know what can happen.
You might just run into the lines from hell and end up spending more time in there than you had planned.
Also, every time I have seen a parked car roll into traffic it was because they were idling. Enough reason for me to turn off the engine.
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Yea, I’d think the last one is the same reasoning I’d hear on it. :) Or how about convincing him to come in with you? Most of the grocery stores have pretty good A/C units in them!
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Well, it’s to hot down here in South Texas for ANYONE to stay in the car with out the air on….even with the windows down…. so going into the store would be the better option if you didn’t want to “waste” gas…. lol
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yea you are right - those men always think they are right don’t they ;)
I remember from writing about hypermiling that it does indeed waste enough gas that some of these guys actually turn their cars off on the highway!! Crazy if you ask me, but gas prices are driving people to do crazy things…
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This was really informative, thanks so much.
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My husband has been telling me that sitting in the car while it is running while my son is sleeping in his car seat will damage the car, I thought he was full of BS…I guess not.
So, how does your husband feel now? Clearly, you have won this argument.
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Looks like you won that one. We rarely let the car idle, although it is blazin’ hot here in SC right now! The AC in our older, smaller car has been working only on-and-off for several years, so many days my husband has to drive home burning up like that! Luckily it’s only about a ten-minute drive.
Ugh! My hubby does and says the same thing! It drives me nuts, but it drives him nuts when I turn the car off for 5 or so minutes as I wait for him to get out of work (we ride to work together). I probably won’t turn the car off though once its winter! brrr!!
I BEG hubby to turn the car off with the windows down if he won’t come in with me. It just kills me that he’s just sitting there wasting my gas!!! (Cause it’s usually my car, not his truck) I get sick thinking about how much gas he wastes. *sigh*
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Good information. It NY is the law — you can’t idle for more than 3 minutes. However, I find it tougher with a baby and no parking — sometimes, there’s no choice.
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