“The best way to warm up your car is to go ahead and get in, dress for the weather, drive the vehicle, and it’ll warm up on its own,” Coleman said.
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Significantly fewer vehicles would go missing if people held onto their car keys.
One in eight vehicles stolen nationwide in 2015 had the keys or fob left inside, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
“Puffing,” which is warming up a parked vehicle before hitting the road, is against the law in Ohio and drivers can be cited for violations.
But more importantly, people put themselves at significant risk of having their transportation stolen, meaning they lose their way to get around to important places like work and school, police said.
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“In this day and age, if people see a car running, they will jump in and they will take it,” Coleman said.
Nationally, January ranks as the worst month for “puffer thefts,” according to AAA.
Thieves can tell a vehicle is running by the puffs of smoke or exhaust coming from the back of parked vehicles.
No one likes climbing into a cold car. But it is better to be cold than to be car-less, and walking is a lot colder than driving.
Police say some residents who fire up their vehicles and then leave them unattended as they warm up often will return to find them missing.
Such cases of auto theft are very preventable but all too common, Coleman said.
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Some people also leave their vehicles running when they stop to shop at convenience stores, gas stations or other businesses, which is also a bad move, Coleman said. Dayton had 665 auto thefts last year.
Some vehicles are not insured against theft, and some insurance policies do not cover theft if the policyholder leaves the keys in an unattended vehicle.
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