Dear Reverend,
One of my neighbors has a really loud vehicle. Every morning at around 6:15, he starts it up and lets it run for a long time. My bedroom window faces his driveway, and even though I’m a fairly early riser, the noise annoys the crap out of me. I was hoping it would stop when the weather got warmer, but it hasn’t. I don’t know him at all, so I don’t feel comfortable approaching him in person. What can I do?
Exhaust Ed (man, 63)
Dear Exhaust Ed,
You should check your town’s noise ordinance, but quiet time in Vermont generally falls between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., so your neighbor’s noise likely occurs during the shushed segment of the day. Vermont also has a motor vehicle idling law that limits idling to five minutes within any 60-minute period, with some exceptions.
One minute can seem like a lifetime when there’s an annoying noise. The next time you wake up to the sound of your neighbor’s car, hit the stopwatch on your phone and note the exact time on the clock. Maybe what feels like an eternity isn’t as long as you think.
If the car is running for more than five minutes or the noise is truly disturbing your peace, you could report it to the police (nonemergency line, of course). But do you really want to be that guy? Have you considered ways to mitigate the aggravation on your end? Earplugs or white noise may cancel out the auditory offense.
If you want to make him aware of the problem while remaining anonymous, you could write a note and put it in the mail. If you’re the only nearby neighbor, that might not work so well. There’s no guarantee he’ll see it, but if your neighborhood has a Facebook page, Front Porch Forum or other community communication line, you could post a generic anti-idling message and link to beidlefree.vermont.gov.
Although the noise is a bummer, it doesn’t seem like he’s being a jerk on purpose. As you said, you don’t know the guy, so you don’t know his circumstances. There could be something wrong with the car, and he can’t afford to fix it at the moment.
If you can cut your neighbor some slack, hopefully he’ll do the same for you sometime. Better yet, go over and introduce yourself. Nothing beats knowing your neighbors.
Good luck and God bless,
The Reverend
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2025.