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WATCH: Do you need to warm up your car?

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Photo: Supplied.
Photo: Supplied.

AT the top of winter, many drivers may feel that warming up their cars is necessary on cold mornings.

New technology says the need to do this is not necessary in newer cars, but older models may still require it – but you need to be careful.

MasterDrive CEO Eugene Herbert says while the debate over whether to warm up a car or not is valid, the focus should be on the risks motorists face when doing so.

In 2020, statistics showed that 46 921 cars were stolen in South Africa – this is 129 cars a day.

“In 2019 in the UK, over 84 000 cars were stolen and 11% of these were due to the driver leaving keys in the car. In the UK, in particular, the reason this is done is to warm up cars in winter. While it is highly unlikely the same can be said of South African statistics because of our higher crime levels and the greater awareness of motorists means not many drivers will leave keys in an unattended car, it is still important to pay some attention to these stats,” Herbert said.


If you do warm up your car, there are safer ways to do it than leaving it running in your driveway, outside your flat or at the petrol station because there are people around.

It is important not to be comforted into satisfaction by the potential safety of your yard or of having people around.

Herbert said most of us would be surprised by the efficiency and speed that criminals could operate with to get what they wanted.


While there are no stats in SA about how often this happens, it is likely that at least a few motorists have fallen prey to it.

“Additionally, if you do feel it is important to warm up your car, leaving it to idle for a few minutes is not the best way to do this. Starting your car and driving slowly for the first kilometres is a much more efficient way to warm it up. It uses less fuel and carries a much lower safety risk than leaving your car to idle unattended,” he said.

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