Help your unaware pal jmac

[prog]

Is it Considered Harmful to leave my car buried until I actually need to make it go somewhere? I don't know, I'm asking.

I look up and down the street and see that every other car has been dug out, at least partially, including those that have clearly not moved since the blizzard. Is there a principle, philosophy, or social agreement that I am overlooking?

Comments

[xymotik.livejournal.com]

Well, you wouldn't want the snow to partially melt, and then have the slush frozen to your car when/if it becomes cold again...

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Agreed... You want to do it before it starts to thaw and re-freeze.
It's a lot easier to unbury your car from snow than it is ice.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Somerville will eventually ticket you if you haven't dug your car out by some period (I think it's 48 hours) after the snow ends. They call it an enforcement of their rule that cars can't stay in one place for more than 48 hours.

City Ordinance restricts any vehicle from remaining in the same space on any street for a period exceeding 48 hours. This violation will be strictly enforced on both the odd and even sides of the street 48 hours after the snow emergency has been lifted. Failure to comply will result in the ticketing and potential towing of the vehicle.
http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/alert.cfm?alert_id=5

You'll probably get leeway on this, given the size of the storm, but it's on the books.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Gah!! OK, this I did not know. I see the page mentions how one's vehicle should be snowless enough to have its permit stickers visible, which is something I should have thought of myself...

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I would not count on size of storm giving you any grace period. I got ticketed after a heavy storm a year and a half ago, because I left the car in the same spot over 48 hours, and I _did_ have it cleaned off. I hate their "no parking over 48 hours" rule, I really do.

[prog.livejournal.com]

One of my neighbors (who didn't know my name and yet knew which car was mine) greeted me as I left my house this morning, and advised me to dig out & move ASAP. I'm gonna do it tonight, and hope they didn't sting me during the day...

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Yup. What hrafn said. It happened to me too after a big storm once (basically after a big storm is the only time they can actually tell whether or not you've moved your car within the last 48 hours).

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Of course, if you have a driveway, you can leave it covered all year. At least I hope this is true as I had to bury the red car even deeper in order to get the blue car out!

[keimel.livejournal.com]

Another plus is that if you do it sooner than later, it's easier for the area arond your car, you know, that car snow chalkline thing, to get cleared by the local DOT types. Shove all the snow from your car out into the travel lane and the plows will come by and move it away from the parking area.

Or so goes the theoretical side. The plow may also chew it up and throw it back against the side of your car....

[ex-colorwhe.livejournal.com]

Shove all the snow from your car out into the travel lane and the plows will come by and move it away from the parking area.

but don't do it while plows or cops or near: technically, that's illegal too.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

lessons learned from the kan:

even if the tempreture does not warm above freezing, the pressure of the snow piled on your car melts the bottom layer, and then it refreezes making it a layer of ice on the bottom. usually it takes vigorous scraping to get this layer off, which is more work than what you would have done if you just cleaned it off with a broom as soon as you could.

it's also good, once you have cleaned up your car, to start it and let it run a little bit, even if you don't plan on leaving your space.

[poetgeek.livejournal.com]

Generally, from what I've read, you want to let it run enough to have things get up to operating temperature and (among) other things cook off any water that's condensed in the oil, etc.

STABIL (the gas additive) will help prevent the gas becoming a lovely thick varnish (this can happen in a couple months..). Run the car for a bit after adding to get the mixture into the fuel lines, etc. Oh and fill the gas tank (water can't condense in the empty space that way).

Now, if it's just for a few weeks, that's one thing, but months and months, that's a horse of a different color.