Originally Posted by steve32
At least in the Washington DC area, leaving your car running (like having it warm up in the driveway while you go back into the house for a few minutes and pack your lunch) is illegal and can be ticketed, and if your car is stolen, you are out of luck with your insurance company as you failed to reasonably secure your car against theft.
Leaving your car running unattended in DC may not be acting wisely, but it doesn't mean that you
wanted it to be stolen, as
cj001f implies.
One night when I was in college, my girlfriend drove us to downtown Minneapolis in her car. Parked it on the street in a not-great area. Several hours later, she realized she didn't have her keys. After looking for a while, she said 'maybe I left them in the ignition'. We went to look, and they weren't in the ignition--they were in the outside lock of the driver's door in plain view of anyone walking down the street! It was certainly quite negligent of her, but everyone can rest assured that she had
not wanted someone to steal the car.