Living above a rented garage sounds harmless until a car engine becomes an unexpected part of your daily routine.

One woman had already dealt with noise complaints involving her next-door neighbors, an issue that mostly resolved itself once they made an effort to keep things quieter.

The real problem turned out to be coming from below her, where a neighbor’s Dodge Charger, especially when remote-started, sent vibrations and loud engine noise straight through her apartment.

Worse, the sound consistently triggered a motion-activated cat toy on her cat tree, terrifying her pets every single time.

Now she’s stuck wondering whether this is even worth bringing to management at all.

Keep reading for the full story.

Neighbors with loud car

I live in a 2-story townhouse with rented garages on the first floor below me.

I’ve already had issues with the neighbors who live next door to me as far as noise that I’ve brought up to management.

I can still hear their music from time to time, but it seems they’ve made an effort to keep it down, so I try to keep the peace and just put in earbuds when I can hear them.

But that wasn’t the worst of this renter’s problems.

The biggest issue I’ve had is that they rent the garage right below me, and they have a Dodge Charger.

Every time they start their car (even worse when it’s remote start), I can hear it throughout my entire apartment and feel the vibration.

This noise is really starting to intrude on the renter’s daily life.

It sets off a motion-activated cat toy on my cat tree every time and scares the crap out of my cats. They also let it sit idle for about 5 minutes each time.

I don’t know how to bring this up to management or if it seems reasonable to do so?

I have a recording of the sound when they started it/woke me up at 4:30 one morning, but you really can’t tell how loud it is unless you’re in my apartment.

I just feel awful every time it scares my cats awake.

This would annoy just about anyone.

What did Reddit have to say?

Maybe a solid sound proof job would do the trick.

Sometimes there are problems that are too difficult to solve.

This may not be an issue worthy of bringing to management, according to this commenter.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who was angry after coming home to a surprise hole in their fence.

It’s worth revisiting the rulebook.

Hesitating to report something this disruptive usually comes from not wanting to seem difficult, but at a certain point, she’s going to have to put comfort in your own apartment above this kind of self-censorship.

A car idling for five minutes every time, loud enough to shake the floor and terrify pets, isn’t something most people would just accept without question.

Management exists to handle exactly these kinds of ongoing disruptions, so she might as well give them the chance to try.