I'm sleeping in my car — how do I stay safe and get help?

Three pages in this library meet you where you are. Keep the engine off while you sleep in the car is written for an adult sleeping alone in a car, and assumes nothing about why. Dig out the tailpipe before you run the heater is for a driver stranded in snow, which is a different night. Make one free call the day you are told to leave home is for someone under about 25 who has been put out by, or cannot stay with, a parent or guardian, mostly in the United States.

If you are sleeping in a car, keep the engine off while you sleep, and tell a housing line that this is where you are living. Some people who have lived this way say there is nothing to be ashamed of in it, and one person says the opinions of people who judge do not matter. This answer leaves that to you. What it covers is the air you sleep in, the weather, keeping clean, where to park, and the phone call that opens a way out.

The safety lines first, from the page. Do not sleep with the engine running. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people who are sleeping, drunk or under the influence of other substances can die from carbon monoxide poisoning before they have any symptoms, and that even a small leak in a car’s exhaust system can build carbon monoxide up inside the car. Do not run a stove, heater or generator that burns fuel inside the car at all, awake or asleep. If you wake with a headache, dizziness, feeling sick, weakness, chest pain or confusion, get out into fresh air now. In the United States call 911. In the UK the NHS says call 111 if you think you have symptoms, and call 999 if you find it hard to breathe, are suddenly confused, have lost consciousness, feel weak, or have chest or muscle pain. Cold and heat can also turn dangerous in a car: the NHS lists shivering, pale cold skin, slurred speech, slow breathing and confusion as signs of hypothermia, and a very high temperature with hot skin that is not sweating, fast breathing and confusion as signs of heatstroke, which it calls a medical emergency. For either, get somewhere sheltered or cool and call 911 (US) or 999 (UK). If the nights feel too dark, call or text 988 in the US, or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK, at any hour.

The engine, and what people disagree about

People who have done this disagree about idling. One person calls it dangerous and costly and says to sleep somewhere cooler, or outdoors in a sleeping bag in mild weather. Another says it is acceptable if you change the oil more often. The page’s answer is that engine wear is one question and the air you breathe is another, and the second is the one that can kill.

A stove or heater that burns fuel makes carbon monoxide too, and the NHS names cookers and heaters among the sources. One person warns that a camp stove used inside the car is a carbon monoxide risk, and the simplest answer is to cook outside and not burn fuel inside the car at all. Some people warn that a cold night in a car carries two serious risks: carbon monoxide if snow or leaves block the exhaust, and hypothermia. More cautions, from one person: look under the car for rust or holes, so that gasoline fumes do not reach you while you sleep, and keep wet towels out of the car. Some people warn that your own breath fills a closed car with moisture and invites mould.

If the weather is too cold or too hot to sleep without the engine, tonight is a night to ask for a place indoors: phone 211, or a housing line, for a warm or cool place that night. They may not have one, but it is the question to ask.

If you are stuck in a snowstorm, not living in the car

Dig out the tailpipe before you run the heater is for the driver stranded in snow, and it covers running the engine for heat while you are awake. Before you run the engine for heat, clear the snow from around the tailpipe all the way to the ground, a space about a foot wide; then run it about ten minutes in each hour with one window open slightly, check the pipe each time, and stay awake. The open window is for fresh air, not protection: in a US test of a snow-blocked car, carbon monoxide reached dangerous levels within minutes even with the windows open, and the car was safe only when the snow was cleared about a foot wide, all the way to the ground. Stay beside the car while you do it: the Weather Service warns that away from it, in wind-driven snow, you can become disoriented quickly. The CDC warns that someone asleep can die of carbon monoxide before they feel anything. The engine page says the same ten-minutes-an-hour rule is advice for riding out a storm, not for sleeping through a night. If you, or someone with you, is shivering, exhausted, confused, fumbling, slurring or drowsy, the CDC’s signs of hypothermia, or has numb, white or waxy skin, the signs of frostbite, get medical help as soon as you can: 911 in the US, 999 in the UK.

When it is too cold or too hot

Some people say to prepare for winter early: wool socks, mittens, a hat that covers the ears, wool blankets, a heated mattress pad run from a portable battery, and a jump pack and spare phone power so the car battery does not go flat. For heat, one person says to find shade, use a fan, eat something frozen and spend the hottest hours in a library or gym. Some people say extreme weather is when car living gets hard or dangerous, even in a mild climate.

Keeping clean, eating, and not disappearing

Many people say a gym membership does a great deal of the work: showers, toilets, a warm place to be. Some people warn that a gym can ask you to leave, or cancel a membership that is only used for showers. One person adds not to sleep in the gym car park, because it can cost you the membership and in some cities lead to arrest. If the gym is out of reach, some people suggest a library, which gives free internet and a place to sit that costs nothing, or public restrooms at parks and gas stations. One person says to pack spare socks and swap them even when there is no laundry.

On food, some people warn that living in a car can make depression and poor eating worse, and one person says to plan for food that keeps at room temperature. Use any stove outside. On being alone: some people say isolation and the fear of being seen are a real strain and that keeping up your connections matters, and one person says local churches, food pantries and college students can offer food, shelter and company without judgement. If the low mood turns dark, 988 in the US and Samaritans in the UK answer at any hour.

Where to park

The page could not check your area’s rules, and says so. Some people say rules about sleeping in a car differ by city and county, and to read the local ordinance, because police or security can fine you. One person warns that police may notice a car that keeps returning to the same area, and that a night in jail could cost a job and the car. Some people say large retail car parks sometimes tolerate an overnight stay, and that policy differs from store to store. One person says to read the posted signs first. In the US, ask 211 whether your area has a safe-parking program, a lot where you may park overnight with permission; the page could not check where they run, and some places have none. In the UK the page does not cover parking rules.

The phone call that opens a way out

In the United States, dial 211, say plainly that you are sleeping in your car and ask what is available. 211 puts you through to a person who looks up local services, free and confidential, and covers help with housing. Ask about housing programs, a safe-parking lot, a warm place for a bad night.

In England the government says the local council can give help and advice if you are homeless or about to lose your home. Shelter’s free helpline, 0808 800 4444, is open weekdays from 8am to 5pm, advises if you have nowhere to stay tonight, and does not provide a bed itself; at busy times the wait can be over an hour. Shelter Scotland and Shelter Cymru cover Scotland and Wales. If you are 16 or 17 in England, ask your council’s children’s services for help.

If you are young, in the United States, and a parent has told you to leave, the third page says to call the National Runaway Safeline on 1-800-786-2929 or dial 211 today: both are free, and they can tell you what exists near you. If someone offers you a place to stay in return for sex, for work you will not be paid for, or for anything that makes you uncomfortable, that page says to leave if you can and call the National Human Trafficking Hotline on 1-888-373-7888, or text 233733, or the National Runaway Safeline on 1-800-786-2929; in the UK, the Modern Slavery Helpline is free on 08000 121 700, or 999 if you are in danger.

Whether a room beats the car depends on local rents, the page says. One person says to get housemates before you sleep in a car, and some people say that in some areas hotels and short-term rentals cost more than keeping the car. One person adds that landlords may want an income that is a multiple of the rent and good credit, so savings alone may not get you through the door.

Who this is not for

If you are in the car because home is not safe, this is not the page for that: a domestic abuse service is, and if you are in danger now, call 911 or 999. If you are saving hard on purpose in a vehicle fitted for it, with heat and ventilation you trust, much of this is a checklist rather than a warning, and whether the saving is worth the toll is yours to weigh; the page does not argue either way. If a child or a pet sleeps in the car with you, keeping the engine off applies to them too, and on the call to 211 or your council say that a child is with you; the page does not cover the rest. Outside the United States and the UK the numbers and rules here do not apply. The page does not cover medical care without an address or insurance, or how to keep your belongings safe from theft. Parking rules, whether a retail car park allows an overnight stay, and whether your area runs a safe-parking program were not checked and differ from place to place, and what the page draws on was written by people who got through the nights; people who did not, or who left quickly, are not the ones who wrote it.