It’s early morning, the sky is still black with night, and it’s bitterly cold outside - a skin numbing, bone freezing, teeth chattering kind of cold. And you’ve got to go to work. Those two cups of java have done little to warm your insides enough to compensate for the frigid temperatures on the insides of your car. So you sweet talk your significant other (or bribe your teenager) into running outside, starting your car and turning on the heater until its nice and toasty warm. They come back in, you give the promised reward and you continue to get ready for departure. Fast forward ten minutes and you’re bundled up and ready to run out the door and be on your way to the office. Except for one minor thing: Your car is gone.

Yup, the colder weather presents an interesting opportunity for the cold-hearted car thief, and that’s his pick of empty cars with running engines, just waiting for someone to get behind the wheel and drive it away. While you’re in the house getting ready for your departure, distracted by kids’ lunch boxes, missing homework and changing your clothes one last time, someone has taken advantage of your distraction and taken your vehicle.

Even if you use a remote car starter - a little gadget that can attach to your key ring, which starts your car from within the confines of your warm house without unlocking the car door - you still need to keep a watchful eye on your car. A locked car doesn’t present too much of a challenge to a desperate car thief. If you only have the non-remote type of car starter (i.e. you, significant other or surly teenager) the surest way to prevent your car from being stolen is to stay inside the car. And while you’re sitting (and shivering) in your slow-to-warm car, you can thank your lucky stars you don’t live in Yakutsk, Russia, where the average winter temperature is -40° Fahrenheit. In Yakutsk, it takes 8 hours for a car to warm up.